The Ballard Agency has won plenty of awards in their 45 year history, but this isn’t one they were interested in:
Chris Ballard, President of the the Bellevue-based insurance brokerage was surprised his company was selected. He’d never even heard of the U.S. Local Business Association.
Here’s the email he received, with hyperlinks removed:
I am pleased to announce that Ballard Agency has been selected for the 2008 Best of Bellevue Award in the Insurance category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).
In recognition of your achievement, a 2008 Best of Bellevue Award plaque has been designed for display at your place of business. You may arrange to have your award sent directly to Ballard Agency by following the simple steps on the 2008 Best of Bellevue Award order form.
The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Also, a copy of the press release publicizing the selection of Ballard Agency is posted on the USLBA website. USLBA hereby grants Ballard Agency a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display this press release in any media formats and through any media channels.
In order to provide you with the best possible service, you have been assigned an award code that can be used on our website for quick access to your award information and press release. If you have any questions or comments, please include this code with your correspondence.
Sincerely,
Ashley Carter
Selection Committee Chair
U.S. Local Business Association
After doing a little sleuthing, the folks at the Ballard Agency realized it was a marketing scheme to sell overpriced plaques.
Chris didn’t appreciate having his time wasted, but took the time to share it with me, and now you.
Here’s a marketing tactic I hate: Winning fake awards or being “nominated for a “who’s Who” list, and all you have to do is pay for $100 award!
Clearly, this is a deceptive marketing tactic in the same category as the phony domain name and Yellow Pages bills that are sent in hopes your A/P department will pay them in error.
“The only way they’d ever get our business is on accident,” says Ballard.
And that, my Responsible Marketing friends, is no way to grow a business.
So, have you or ever been targeted for one of these “faux-wards?”
Comment below to share your experience.
UPDATE: Let’s fight vanity scams together is a follow-up to this post.
Full disclosure: Outsource Marketing is a Ballard Agency client.
Tags: awards, Ballard Agency, Best of Bellevue, U.S. Local Business Association, US Commerce Association, USLBA
Just got mine this morning. 2008 Best of Smyrna Award in the Places of Worship category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).
Can you imagine ?? Church is not a buisness by the way…. Thanks Chris.
Rev! Magazine received email notification of our award for best Loveland (Colorado) marketing programs. The irony is that Rev! is a national magazine for pastors and other church leaders. Only a tiny fraction of our total readership lives in our hometown (as is true for any national magazine). I am grateful for your blog for quickly validating my suspicions about “award” and not wasting time on it.
When I received my email proclaiming that I won this award, I had about as much excitement as I do when I see Ed McMahon or Dick Clarks face in my mail box. Where did Dick and Ed go anyways? Don’t get me wrong. I used to love those stickers.
Yay, we just won this award! Our website enables people to send big files that are too large to send using email. Somehow this organization I never heard of discovered us as a local business and issued us an award. Here is the link:
SendToPerson.com wins award. Certainly we are not paying for this rubbish. We believe in creating real value for our customers, not buying silly awards.
I’ve seen this before in other similar forms.
I got one today too. I read it, and had immediate suspicions, since I operate in a little town of about 300 people, and most of my business is elsewhere. Plus, as a home-based operation of one, why would they find me? I figured this was just like the Blue Cross people that continually call me because they’re cold-calling the Yellow pages……
Thanks for this blog, it confirmed my suspicions.
Vicky Rowe
Satori Digital Marketing
We, too, received the “announcement.” Of course, we are the only company in this city that does what we do! My boss is from another country, he was familiar with the vanity scams too!
I do think it is hillarious and I’ve saved the graphic as my desktop.
By the way, we would have won if there was a real competition, our product is that great!
Well, thank you everyone for taking the time to post here. I rarely add comments to blogs but felt compelled to add to the long list of people that saved a lot of time and energy with a quick web search to confirm suspicions. I too received the prestigous Best of Portland award in the Juice category. Since were a Juice bar Chain with stores around the country, but based in the Portland area, i’d say their database is pretty good. All the more need for our testimonials here. Note, the email address to send their scam is ‘enforcement@sec.gov’.
Thanks again for all your input here,
Jon Amack
Booster Juice
This is definitely in the same category as the “Who’s Who” e-mails. If you ever receive an e-mail saying you’ve been selected for your great accomplishments to be included in the Who’s Who, just delete it. It’s the same vanity scam as this, just targeted at individuals. with that one, you get to pay $100 for a book with your name in it. Thanks for the blog and for all the other comments – hopefully more people will become aware of this and then whoever is responsible will have to spend some more time thinking up the next scam. And for those who wrote comments in support of USLBA, I too have something to sell you – a tropical, oceanside cabin in eastern Montana – it’s a steal at $250,000.
When I saw I had to fill out a form with my name and address, and presumably pay something to “order” my award, I knew something was fishy. I’m flattered that Discount Solar won an award, albeit a phony one. Lol.
Because my “award” notification sounded so fishy, and because I am always looking for new material on bottom line: integrity in a new book, I of course googled the marketing assn. whose name I have already forgotten.
Reminds me of a time when I was a struggling free-lance writer and I got an offer to make up ideas for inventors who had sought help from a supposed invention submission company. They said they would make it easy for me to use their template! They were rather gleeful that so many suckers were willing to pay big bucks for my “expert” opinion on how good their invention was.
I was so mad I slammed down the phone. I wish I had instead hooked them in so I could bring in the FBI or other authorities.
Pat McHenry Sullivan, co-founder of Spirit and Work Resource Center because I hate fraud and love any business that increases integrity, purpose and joy in the world of work. Best wishes to you all!
I received an email this morning, saying that my Inn/fine dining restaurant had “won” this award for 2008. Funny thing is, my business has been closed and for sale since 2007 and the building is days away from being foreclosed on (was once successful business co-owned by me and my wife, but our messy divorce has ruined the whole thing).
If this is not an indication of this “award” being bogus, I don’t know what is!
One of our clients received this “award” and while it’s technically a legitimate business operation and not a true scam (in the sense of the word) it certainly makes a mockery of all other business-peer awards that are interested only in recognizing greatness in the small business community.
Unfortunately, these people are tapping into the pervasive attitude held by many marketing managers across the country – “Now that we’ve won an award, how can we make money from it?”
The USLBA is simply providing an award (for a price) that allows marketing managers of shady operations to boast of their company’s “greatness.”
Who in their right mind would pay for a plaque if they won an award? If it was totally legit, there would be sponsers who would cover the cost of the “$10″ plaque…. Wonder how many idiots have fallen for that one….
We deserve the plaque because afterall we are the Best Engineering Firm in Kelseyville, CA. But then again, we are the only Engineering Firm in Kelseyville. We’re going to make our own award.
I am always skeptical of these things even though I think I do deserve a reward for not killing the owners of all these little overpriced rag “mailers” that I have advertised in! LOL
Seriously though, its hard enough keeping one’s business going without all of these predatory advertisers/marketers.
We need to put a stop to this crap. Ive had it with all the Search Engine marketing scams out there.
Business must be slow over there, as I got “awarded” for being the “Best of the Best” in my category of…”Business Marketing Services.” Folks, scams are easy to spot, and this one was a dead give-away when they proved insensitive to the need for my “award” to come in walnut, rather than the standard ebony frame. Good luck with this.
I don’t care if it’s fake or not, I took the fake press release and the plaque image and posted both on my blog as my own press release. So far everyone seems to be impressed with my new award!
I don’t need the plaque, I work out of my house, am I supposed to hang in on my living room wall? I wonder if this is the same type of thing that newspapers do when they give out plaques for best ??? in town.
I just received one of these today.
Two minutes on the website, and I too was convinced it was a scam. My customer service department who received the email initially believed it to be true, though. If they weren’t required to forward messages on, we might have ended up with a plaque for a fake award.
When the email from USLBA came in Outlook sent it straight into the “Junk E-Mail” folder which is where it stayed. To the person who is using the fake press release and image on their website they are only perpetrating the scam and giving the scammer credibility. Good move though, I may do the same. Just kidding.
We won “Best place of Worship” for our church…lucky us!
I wonder who has a plaque hanging on their wall. It would be hilarious to see which places bought into it.
I just received the same notice of award. What is very disconcerting to me is that it was called the “Best of Aurora” award. I have seen many businesses in Aurora with “Best of Aurora” awards on their walls. Those are real awards coming from a local newspaper which makes this USLBA scam more problematic. People here are aware of the Best of Aurora Award from the paper.
But then I googled “Best of Aurora” award and found several local businesses that have the award announcment from USLBA posted on MSN money, business newswire, etc.
We got it, too. Thanks for the info.
We “received” one of these awards as well. Quite an honor – now not only are we University Place’s ONLY bike shop, we are apparently the best as well. My BS meter was pegged immediately and I deleted the post. I did not bother to do a google search until I got the ’second notice’!
Of course maybe I am taking the wrong attitude here. Maybe I should go ahead any buy my award, and I could buy some of the University degree diplomas I get e-mails about and hang them all on my wall together!
We just received this email today and right away I knew there was something fishy about it. It would have been possible for our company to have won an award such as this, considering that we’re the only asbestos abatement company in this town. I googled USLBA and found their website, right away i knew it was a scam. It lacked any sort of information on local businesses. The next search results was to this site. Reading the blog confirmed my suspicions.
I hate people who don’t seem to have the time to get an actual job, but plenty of time to develop a website and distribute email in order to scam companies and individuals out of money. Something should be done about this, what this company is doing should be illegal.
I received my “notification” this morning as well recognizing that St. Patrick’s Catholic Church had been selected for the 2008 Best of Norcross Award in the Places of Worship category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA). It also said “Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.”
Marketing? I didnt that places of worship was a business catagory! Thanks Chris for your time and efforts for this blog.
Today I received an email notifying me of the Best of Encinitas 2008 award for Word Processing Service. While initially a little flattered, I quickly Googled USBLA only to find a shell of a company wanting payment for this so-called award. I’m pretty sure the lure of an award will net them some income but perhaps these posts will show the USLBA up as the scam that it really is.
Yes, we got one this morning, too. It was my “Second Notice,” though I never received the first one. Like several others, we received a best in business category when we are the ONLY business of that kind in town. Stiff competition when you are competing against yourself! Thank you for your posting!
I’m glad somebody else has caught on to these con artists at USLBA. What’s funny is that my company won an award in a town we were no longer even doing business, that’s quite an achievement! I have sent several nasty e-mails to these jackasses. These people need to be shut down as soon as possible.
I can’t imagine any business owner paying $100 for useless plaque, but I guess there are a few suckers out there.
Thanks,
doug
http://www.dirtbagclothing.com
Yep, I got this one today. Ticks me off that people are so damn underhanded that they do this crap. As another poster said. GET A REAL JOB!!
I posted the ‘award” on my entertainment web site, then I saw the same “award” on my competitors site. My suspicions immediatly took over and I Googled the truth. Thanks!
By the way, I posted my phony award on my site with a link to the truth. As of this writing my competitor is still proudly displaying his phony award!
Thank you Chris for posting this blog. I almost missed it because my award was from “Ashley Carter, Selection Committee Chair, USCA (US Commerce Association)”, not the USLBA. Only two items came up with USCA. But the plaque is identical!
They obviously have variations on the name to keep the scam going! I wonder how many other names they use?
Our vanity scam e-mail came in the same format but from the US Commerce Association – thanks folks for posting so that name shows up with this search as well. I’m sure they’ll have a new name shortly. Keep posting! (P.S. We are an award-winning non-profit – and “buying” an award is not anywhere on our list of priorities!)
Adding “US Commerce Association” to the tags so it will come up in search. Thanks, all.
Our company got the email today. I think it’s quite ingenious and funny. If you fall for it, perhaps you…no, I won’t go there.
But, as an aside, didn’t all of you feel quite self-satisfied when you figured out the scheme? You can’t buy that kind of satisfaction. Bravo to Ashley Carter of the US Commerce Association. I appreciated the “a-HA!” moment immensely.
Our company just got the email yesteday. Thanks for the heads up! What an honor to be picked as one of Ashley’s SCAM’s.
Our business “won” the same award. What’s worse, the award shares the name of a local award that is actually awarded. The category was what made me investigate the situation further, as “best massage school” in town was kind of a giveaway that this wasn’t legitimate. BEWARE! I like to call this ego-marketing.
Just got an email for our family business. Have to admire their persistence, but it doesn’t take much research to realize it’s bogus. Again, we’re the only business of this type in our community.
Received our “award” notification yesterday. Wasn’t surprised because we actually do earn quite a few legitimate awards (like recently, a much respected R&D 100 one for introducing one of the top 100 technologically significant products to the marketplace in the past year: http://www.rdmag.com/Awards/RD-100-Awards/R-D-100-Awards/).
So, at first I assumed this was a local “follow on” to that “buzz”.
Was confused though because since 2007, our business has operated under a new name, yet the 2009 best in Mountlake Terrace WA for medical equipment and supplies “award” was under the old name.
I’d never heard of USCA, so went to their website to investigate. Got suspicious when I noticed that their business is funded by local businesses across the country. Hmmm, right, so what’s your plan for getting our money??? Pass!
Thanks, Chris, for putting this blog together.
THANK YOU ALL FOR THIS AWARD!
WE KNEW OUR HARD WORK WOULD PAY OFF.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY MOTHER AND FATHER,
THE INVENTOR OF THE INTERNET,
BRITNEY SPEARS AND ALL THE OTHERS THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE.
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR THIS RECOGNITION … SNIFF…SNIFF..
I now have the answers to my questions – at last! Thank you for a great site. Gratefully, Beth
What’s wrong with you people… can’t you accept an award. I got my today and it was well deserved.
I must have worked very hard as a one man home based business that hasn’t lived in the city (but still maintain a phone number) for over a year, or have done any work in the city for over a year.
That’s speaks highly for someone whose past work still gets him elected a year after they went out of business in a city. I still maintain the phone numbers as support for old customers and had 4 customers call in the past year. I get about two calls a week by people that are completely lost and simply going through the category, calling everyone, looking for the best price, in my field of medical equipment repair.
If your business name is Chevy Transmission Repair, you will eventually get a call from some nut asking if you,
“Do you sell Ford engines?”
“Nope, we don’t sell engines, we repair transmissions, and only Chevy transmissions”
“…Oh… OK, Thanks!”
There usually is a long pause and you know they are wanting to ask, “Why not?” because in their mind you should for some reason.
Has anyone really checked into the award… does it cost $100.00?
I get the fake yellow pages invoice too… besides a million and one health insurance companies wanting to cover my “entire” staff.
I usually get rid of them by saying, “I’m the only one that works here but hold on about 5 minutes and let me change my oxygen tank so I can talk to you.
Received mine today and did some investigating- glad I ran across this blog! Saved the graphic for some laughs.
I, too, just received the “award” from USCA! Being scam savvy I typed in the website to review (versus ignorantly clicking the link provided in the email) and followed up with a google search of “USCA Award Scam.” Like Tom, I think I’ll save the graphic for a good FB & blog laugh! Nice try USCA!
Got my email today from USCAAWARD.com which links back to US-CA.com. They gave me one for best in publishing for a book I wrote “Bible Believer’s Archaeology.” which I published originally back in 1997, and hasn’t been available to bookstores for a couple of years now, although you can download it free on my website at Biblehistory.net.
I always thought commerce was something you sell as a business. I have a nonprofit organization.
The Bible says that Satan is a deciever, He must have some of his members handing out these awards.
I was mistaken, USCAAWARD.com links back to US-CA.org not .com
Just got my award. It didn’t pass the smell test. Do they really think that I would believe that they have an award for Cohasset, MN?
File a formal complaint with the FTC here:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
or
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
We got it too…I simply typed the award into google + “is this legitimate?”, and found this thread. With their cheap website, ready-made press release and absolutely no sign of credibility, let alone an explanation of one wins an award, this is a scam at best. It was sad to see all the small businesses who spent money on the press releases.
I got also..
Earlier this year, I sent a notification email to you recognizing that Trimart Inc had been selected for the 2009 Best of Cleveland Award in the Contract Haulers category.
In recognition of your achievement, a 2009 Best of Cleveland Award has been designed for display at your place of business. You may arrange to have your award sent directly to Trimart Inc by following the simple steps on the 2009 Best of Cleveland Award order form. Simply copy and paste this link into your browser to receive your award:
http://cleveland.uscaaward.net/ARBN5-2XDB
Each year, the US Commerce Association (USCA) identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Also, a copy of the press release publicizing the selection of Trimart Inc has been posted on our website. The USCA hereby grants Trimart Inc a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display this press release in any media formats and through any media channels.
An Award Code has been assigned to your company that can be used on our website for quick access to your award information and press release.
Your Award Code is: RBN5-2XDB
Sincerely,
Ashley Carter
Selection Committee Chair
US Commerce Association
I got a rather snippy (almost rude) sounding email today telling me they have made three attempts to present me with my “award” (which they haven’t) and if I did not act soon it would be scrapped and another business here in my town would be selected in my place! LOL! Pretty funny since my friend who also owns a brand new business here in town got the same email and has only had an email address for a couple of months now. Seems all you have to do to win these awards here is to post your email address somewhere on the Internet. That and of course PAY them their “processing” fee of $150. At least it was good for some humor and got a giggle out of me.