If you have children in house league hockey, you’ll know that when the goal differential exceeds five, they stop updating the scoreboard. At that point, the fans of the winning team shift from wildly cheering to politely applauding any more goals. I felt like the parent on the right side of the five goal differential as Toronto condo builders snapped-up a quarter of the trophies at a recent awards event in Las Vegas.
The Nationals, presented by the U.S.-based National Association of Home Builders, celebrate sales, marketing, design and project excellence with nominations coming from all over North America, and even Saudi Arabia and China.
The evening got off to a great start with local broker In2ition Marketing Insights winning the first two awards for best sales team (for the second consecutive year) and best sales managers and the Toronto contingent in attendance cheering quite boisterously.
Then the parade really got underway with Joe Latobesi of Montana Steele Advertising making the first of what would turn out to be nine trips to the stage on behalf of three different builder clients, including Lifetime/BLVD Developments, who garnered five trophies for Liberty Market Lofts. Respecting the five goal rule, our applause began to die down but the excitement at our table was palpable.
Rounding out the Montana Steele haul were three awards for Bazis International’s One Bloor project and one for Cityzen Development’s London on the Esplanade.
Meanwhile, Context Developments with ad agency L.A. Inc. picked-up two awards, one for The Library District (pending launch), the other for Market Wharf, while SigNature Developments notched a single for Triumph North. As the evening wound down and 14 trophies piled-up on the Toronto table, I started to think less about the goal differential and more about that IKEA commercial where the satisfied shopper whispers “start the car.”
It’s always nice to win awards, but the real point is that Toronto condo builders, designers and marketers are the best anywhere in the world, by five goals or more.
