“Every year, this competition raises the bar for what great Recruitment Marketing looks like,” said Lori Sylvia, Founder & CEO of Rally. “This year’s winners are proof that the discipline has matured — they’re using data to make smarter decisions and storytelling to build authentic connection with candidates. The impact of their work shows up in employer reputation, in culture and in the business results that follow. Congratulations to all of the 2026 Rally Award winners!”
Among those honored are Brittany Washington, 2026 Recruitment Marketing Rising Star, and Sam Wood, who received the distinction of 2026 Recruitment Marketer of the Year. Their recognition reflects a broader shift across the industry: more organizations are standing up dedicated Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding functions, creating real career paths for professionals working at the intersection of talent, marketing and communications. This year’s Rally Award winners sit at the leading edge of that shift, setting the standard for what’s possible with creativity, rigor and measurable results.
2026 Rally Award Judges:
Winners were selected by an independent panel of 19 peer judges—respected leaders from across the Rally community.
- Phyllis Badgett – Associate Manager, Candidate Marketing
- Nicole Bartman – Director of Talent Attraction & Early Career, Avis Budget Group
- Tammy Dean-Embry – North American Employer Brand Sr. Manager, Schneider Electric
- Vicki Gibbs – Manager, Employee Journey and Brand, Western Financial Group
- Tu-Anh Pham Grabenkort – Employer Branding Manager, Motorola
- Yvette Hansen – Director, TA Strategy & Enablement, Penn Medicine
- Raven Hazlett – Global Early Talent and Diversity Recruitment Marketing Specialist, Eaton
- Anne Hurley – Director, Talent Branding, NBCUniversal
- James Linnington – Sr. Recruitment Marketing Specialist
- Andrew Matthews – Talent Media Lead, GM
- Rachel Mehlan – Talent Management & Acquisition Lead – ANZ, AstraZeneca
- Sarah Osborne – Corporate Communications Manager – Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing, Mutual of Omaha
- Jennifer Pickard – Global Head of Talent Attraction and Marketing, General Motors
- Heidi Raymond – Talent Attraction Manager, Family Dollar
- Mike Russo – Global Employer Brand, Thumbtack
- Vanessa Sain-Dieguez – Sr. Director Talent Attraction
- Shannon Smedstad – Director, Talent Acquisition Excellence – Global Recruitment Marketing and Employer Brand, Fresenius Medical Care
- Robert Stabbert – Employer Branding, Talent Marketing, & Strategic Programs Manager, lifexsight
- Sarah Stotts – Global Employer Brand Marketing Communications Sr. Specialist, Cummins
Many judges are past winners themselves and bring deep expertise in employer branding, social recruiting, content strategy and recruitment marketing analytics. Entries were evaluated on strategy, creativity, execution and business impact.
2026 Rally® Award™ Winners by Category
Best Employer Brand Video
First Place: VEG ER for Pets — “The VEG Beat”
Second Place: Sony Music Entertainment — Lewis Calem, Mike Farrell, Jeff Soto — “What’s it like working at Sony Music?”
Third Place: Highmark Health — Jeannine Volchko, Jeremy Dean, Mike Cope, Amy Feldman — “Remarkable Together: The Wexford Moms Story”
Best Use of Employee Generated Content
Winner: Ford Motor Company — “Ford Intern Social Ambassador Program”
Best Talent Newsletter
First Place: Credicorp — “CREAting Credicorp: A premium talent newsletter that builds long-term executive relationships”
Second Place: ADT — “The Power of Organic Reach: Storytelling that turns clicks into quality applicants”
Best Use of Organic Social Media in Recruitment Marketing
First Place: UBS — “At UBS, you’re in the driver’s seat of your career.”
Second Place: Ford Motor Company — “New Hire Spotlight Series”
Third Place: IQVIA — “Perfectly Imperfect: How IQVIA Transformed Engagement With Real, Relatable Social”
Best Use of Paid Social Media in Recruitment Marketing
First Place: Ford Motor Company — “Ford Places and Spaces Video Series”
Second Place: UBS — “Curiosity powers. AI enables.”
Best Use of Video in Recruitment Marketing
First Place: Ford Motor Company — “Ford Places and Spaces Video Series”
Second Place (tie): Westpac — Elizabeth Clerke — “Find your tech happy place”
Second Place (tie): Picnic Technologies — “Back to School”
Third Place: Highmark Health — “The Real Pitt – A Glimpse into Real-Life Emergency Nursing”
Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign (Solo / Small Team)
First Place: VCA Animal Hospitals — Ally Brown — “Your Power Has a Purpose”
Second Place (tie): Westpac — Elizabeth Clerke — “Find your tech happy place”
Second Place (tie): Galt — Lisa A. Doyle — “The Untapped Workforce — Putting Ability to Work!”
Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign (Large Team)
First Place: UBS — “Curiosity powers. AI enables.”
Second Place: Travel + Leisure Co. — “Turning Proximity Into Pipeline: How Travel + Leisure Co. Activated a Sports Partnership to Drive Talent Acquisition”
Third Place: Sage plc — “Atlanta is ‘Ready To Win’ with Sage”
Best Content Marketing Program
First Place (tie): Credicorp — “To The Next Level: A micromentorship content program designed for how Gen Z actually learns”
First Place (tie): Credicorp — “Genias STEM: A content marketing program designed to expand the female technology talent pipeline”
Second Place: UBS — “Curiosity powers. AI enables.”
Third Place: Ford Motor Company — “Ford Places and Spaces Video Series”
Best Employer Brand Launch
First Place: VEG ER for Pets — “Turning #lifeatVEG into a Shared Language”
Second Place: Bright Horizons — “You’re the difference: The secret sauce behind Bright Horizons’ employer brand”
Third Place: Credicorp — “Credicorp Early Talent Strategy: Launching Credicorp’s early-career employer brand as a growth platform for future leaders”
Best Careers Blog
Winner: BASIS International Schools — “Stories That Move Around the World”
Best Use of Recruitment Marketing Technology
Winner: Bon Secours Mercy Health — “Building an internal, Recruitment Marketing engine at scale”
Best Careers Site
First Place: National Grid — Lucinda Thomas, Bryan Adams, Jennifer Douet, Jim Taylor, Grace Kenyon — “Superpowered candidate experience”
Second Place: Sony Music Entertainment — Lewis Calem, Mike Farrell, Jeff Soto — “Sony Music Careers Website”
Best Launch of Recruitment Marketing Strategy
First Place: Gerber Collision & Glass — Lauren Olauson, Veronica Downey, Hannah Busekrus — “Great Teams Don’t Happen by Accident: Architects of the Revenue-Driven Recruitment Blitz”
Second Place: VEG ER for Pets — “From EVP to Ecosystem: Scaling #lifeatVEG”
Best Agency Partner
Winner: Stories Incorporated
Best Technology Partner
Winner: Happydance
2026 Recruitment Marketing Rising Star
Winner: Brittany Washington
2026 Recruitment Marketer of the Year
Winner: Sam Wood
About the Rally® Awards
The Rally® Awards is a prestigious, global, peer-reviewed competition that recognizes excellence in recruitment marketing and employer branding strategy. Created by Rally® Recruitment Marketing, the competition spotlights the professionals who are transforming how employers attract, engage and recruit talent. Now in its 7th year, the Rally Awards celebrates the strategies and results that move our industry forward, with the goal of sharing what works with our global community of 50,000 practitioners.
About Rally®
Rally® Recruitment Marketing is the largest online community for learning modern talent attraction strategies. Through expert-led content, training and technology, we empower practitioners in recruitment marketing, employer branding and talent acquisition to attract top talent and advance their careers. Rally is also the creator of Rally Inside™, an AI-powered recruitment marketing platform that uses data and insights to help employers create content that performs across every recruiting channel. Learn more at rallyrecruitmentmarketing.com.
2026 Rally Award Winner Quotes
Award recipients credited their teams and leadership for championing employer branding and recruitment marketing as strategic priorities, calling out the role that support played in earning this recognition.
Sam Wood, Director, Employer Branding, VEG ER for Pets
“On behalf of the entire VEG team, we are so grateful for this recognition from Rally. These wins belong to the VEGgies across our hospitals and headquarters who bring our culture to life every day and who trusted us to tell their stories with honesty and heart. On a personal note, being named Recruitment Marketer of the Year is one of the greatest honors of my career. I found my professional home in Employer Brand after a career pivot, so this recognition is especially meaningful — not just as a personal milestone, but as a celebration of a profession built on authenticity, listening, creativity, and helping people find the place where they can do their best work.”
Brittany Washington, Certified Recruitment Marketing Leader
“Being named the 2026 Rally Recruitment Marketing Rising Star is a meaningful milestone in my professional journey. It reflects not only the work I’ve put into developing my skills in recruitment marketing and employer branding, but also the curiosity and commitment that have driven me to keep learning and improving in this space. I’m grateful for the guidance, collaboration, and encouragement from the people I’ve learned alongside, and I’m excited to keep pushing forward—continuing to grow into a more thoughtful, impactful contributor to recruitment marketing and employer brand work in the years ahead.”
Kayla Branham, Head of Employer Brand & Recruitment Marketing, ADT
“We’re incredibly proud to be recognized by the Rally Awards for Best Talent Newsletter. This award reflects our focus on delivering meaningful, engaging content while amplifying the authentic voices of our employees. It’s a testament to the collaboration across our teams that enables us to bring ‘Life at ADT’ to life and attract talent that continues to propel our industry forward. Thank you to Rally and the judges, and congratulations to this year’s winners advancing talent marketing.”
Allison Crenshaw, Senior Manager, Employment Marketing, BASIS Overseas Educational Services
“We are honored to receive recognition from the Rally Awards for our Best Careers Blog. This award is especially meaningful to our team because employer branding is crucial to our organization, and our blog is a vital part of how we have built one of the most recognizable employer brands in our industry. When a candidate is considering moving across the world for a job, our careers blog provides the location information, first hand experiences, and leadership insights necessary to make a well-informed leap to teach in a new country . We are proud that this award recognizes the comprehensive library of resources and meaningful content we have built, and we are grateful to be named alongside other leading organizations as a winner this year.”
Amy Lane, Recruitment Marketing & Brand Strategy Manager, Bon Secours Mercy Health
“This recognition reflects the commitment, innovation, and creative thinking of the Recruitment Marketing & Brand Strategy team. By centralizing analytics and achieving full-funnel visibility, we’ve enabled faster decisions, smarter investments, and sustained hiring performance across a multi-brand, multi-market health system. Most importantly, these efforts have helped create a more seamless and engaging candidate experience, connecting talented individuals to meaningful careers that support our mission of serving communities with compassionate care. We’re grateful for what we’ve achieved together and remain focused on continuing to innovate, elevate the candidate experience, and deliver measurable results for Bon Secours Mercy Health.”
Susie Billingsley, Director, Candidate Experience & Early Talent, Bright Horizons
“We are honored to be recognized by Rally for Best Employer Brand Launch, a reflection of the passion, creativity, and partnership across our Talent Attraction and Marketing teams. Our ‘You’re the difference’ brand launch was more than just a campaign. It was about bringing our purpose to life in a way that inspires our people and creates meaningful connections with future talent.”
Marie-des-neiges Vendeuvre, Head of Employer Branding and Emerging Talent, Credicorp
“This recognition is a meaningful reflection of our commitment to building a differentiated employer brand grounded in purpose, talent, and long-term value creation. We are especially proud of how this work translates into attracting and developing the next generation of leaders for our organization and the region.”
Employer Branding Team, Ford Motor Company
“The Ford team is honored to be recognized for our work! We are in great company; it’s so nice to see all the creative work our peers are doing across the profession. We’re proud of what we accomplished, but more than anything, we’re proud of how we accomplished it together. It’s truly rewarding for our team to be able to put a spotlight on Ford employees and what working here means to them. To everyone who let us share their stories and experiences – thank you. Thanks, too, to Rally and the judges for the recognition!”
Lisa Doyle, President & CEO, Galt
“We are thrilled to have Galt’s The Untapped Workforce campaign recognized by Rally. This recognition validates our belief that hiring people with disabilities is not charity, it is a strategic business value. Recruitment marketing helps us challenge assumptions, educate employers, and elevate talent that has too often been overlooked. I appreciate Sherry McHale and Allied Insight’s partnership in helping bring this important message to a broader audience.”
Lauren Olauson, Sr. Recruiting Operations Specialist, Gerber Collision & Glass
“We are thrilled to be recognized! Recruitment marketing and employer branding are vital to our organization because our industry is facing a widening technician talent gap and we’re aware that our brand is what sets us apart. Winning this award also validates our core belief that great teams don’t happen by accident. We are incredibly proud of the grit our team displayed. They didn’t just embrace a new way of working; they executed it through cross-functional collaboration—you know, as a great team. This recognition speaks volumes about the culture of innovation we are building at Gerber Collision & Glass.”
Bryan Adams, Founder & CEO, Happydance
“We’re incredibly proud to receive this recognition from Rally, because it reflects what we care about most: helping organizations turn employer brand into careers website experiences that genuinely move people. A great careers site is never just a destination for jobs. It should help candidates understand the story, the culture, the opportunity, and whether it feels right for them. I’m especially proud of the energy our team puts into customer success, partnership, and responsive support, because exceptional candidate experiences only happen when great technology and great service work together.”
Lisa Kepler, Associate Director, Global Communications, Talent Attraction & Branding, IQVIA
“At IQVIA, our people’s passion for our mission shines brightest when it’s real and unscripted. In 2025, we made a bold choice to put authentic employee voices front and center, and I couldn’t be prouder of how our team brought those stories to life across our global social channels. This recognition from Rally for Best Use of Organic Social is a powerful validation of that approach — and of the impact our people’s voices can have when we let them lead.”
Jennifer Douet, Lead Employer Brand Specialist, National Grid
“This recognition is a testament to the passion, creativity and collaboration of our team. We set out to create a careers experience that truly reflects the people, purpose and opportunities that make National Grid unique. To see that work recognised by our industry is incredibly rewarding and reinforces the importance of putting candidates at the heart of everything we do.”
Sofia Cassuti, Business Manager, Employer Branding, Picnic Technologies Netherlands
“We’re proud to be recognized at the Rally Awards. Being highlighted by industry professionals is a real honor, and a meaningful reminder of why we do this work. This achievement is a testament to our team’s talent and the authenticity at the heart of the Picnic employer brand. It fuels us to keep pushing the boundaries of candidate experience and employer storytelling.”
Anna Fleetwood, Global Talent Brand and Experience Director, Sage
“What makes this award particularly meaningful to us is that it recognises work that delivered genuine business impact. We partnered with Territorial to solve a very real hiring challenge in Atlanta and created a campaign that cut through a crowded market. The result was almost 9,000 applications in 3.5 months, and a much stronger profile for Sage among sales talent. It’s proof that employer brand can be both creative and commercially effective.”
Lauryn Sargent, Partner and Co-founder, Stories Incorporated
“We are thrilled and honored to be recognized as Rally’s Best Agency Partner. We have tremendous respect for the Rally community and for this awards program, especially knowing the winners are selected by a panel of leaders from across the industry. This award reflects something our team cares deeply about: being true partners to our clients as they bring their cultures and employer brands to life through authentic storytelling. We’re grateful to our talented team for their hard work and dedication, and to the organizations that inspire us every day through the work we do together.”
Jonna Sjövall, Head of Junior Talent & Talent Attraction, UBS
“We’re thrilled to have won four Rally Awards this year and to be recognized alongside the world’s best in employer branding and recruitment marketing. This recognition reflects the creativity, passion and dedication of our Employer Branding and Talent Attraction team, and our commitment to creating campaigns that connect with audiences in meaningful ways. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together and are more committed than ever to connecting top talent around the world with exciting career opportunities at UBS. A big shoutout to all the 2026 Rally Award winners – it’s an honor to celebrate with such an inspiring group!”
Ally Brown, Brand Manager, Employer Brand & Recruiting, VCA Animal Hospitals
“As a past Rally Awards judge, I know it’s tough competition, so I’m very proud to win this award. What I really loved about the campaign is how we recorded the associates’ real stories and overlaid them on top of existing photography and fun graphics. It was a fresh approach that didn’t require additional filming and felt really personal. I really believe creativity is the key to driving better results.”
Elizabeth Clerke, Executive Manager, Recruitment Marketing, Westpac
“I was thrilled to see our campaign recognised by Rally, across both Best Video in Recruitment Marketing and Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign – Solo Practitioner. The campaign was built on insights from our people and reflects the day-to-day experience of the engineering hub, rather than something created from the outside in. That’s what made it connect with candidates. Rally plays a significant role in recognising the craft of recruitment marketing, and in bringing more attention to the impact it can have when it’s grounded in genuine insight.”
Media Contact
Lori Sylvia, Rally Recruitment Marketing, 1 508-372-0744, [email protected], https://rallyawards.com/
SOURCE Rally Recruitment Marketing
