Mohawk’s “Bring Back the Rhino” campaign has been recognized as a Bronze Stevie winner for Brand Experience of the Year in the Business-to-Business category for the 2023 International Business Awards (IBA).

“Mohawk brought back one of its most successful marketing campaigns in company history to help our customers amplify our new SmartStrand Color Wall and sell more carpet,” said Denise Silbert, Mohawk’s vice president of marketing, soft surface. “The hard part was making the concept relevant. There is a new audience today versus when we originally tapped in rhinos beginning with Ricko of the Birmingham Zoo in 2009. We needed something authentic that demonstrated the reliability of our product along with a bigger purpose that would bring more attention.”

For the “Bring Back the Rhino” campaign, Mohawk partnered with Rhinory in Fredericksburg, Texas, where Blake the Rhino became the latest influencer for SmartStrand’s unmatched attributes along with bringing awareness to the world’s diminishing rhino population.

This spring, Blake the Rhino lived on SmartStrand for two weeks. After he thoroughly lived on the carpet, Mohawk cleaned it up and was able to show side-by-side comparisons. Additionally, retailers from across the country traveled to visit the Rhinory for Mohawk’s brand activation. Since then, Mohawk has released campaign messaging and in-store marketing materials.

IBA is the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide — public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small — are eligible to submit nominations. The 2023 IBAs received entries from organizations in 61 nations and territories.

Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 230 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process in June and July.

To learn more about SmartStrand and the “Bring Back the Rhino” campaign, click here.