Award Recognizes Partners with Outstanding Achievements in Sales, Product Performance and Overall Service

CLEVELAND (Feb. 1, 2016) - Sherwin-Williams announced recipients of the company's 2015 Vendor of the Year Awards, honoring top product partners for excellence in sales, product innovation and performance, as well as service. Award winners were named at the annual Vendor Marketing Presentation and Awards ceremony, held at the National Sales Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The Sherwin-Williams Vendor Awards recognize partners of the company that deliver strong sales performances, develop outstanding products, with quality and value being key benchmarks, and provide exceptional service to Sherwin-Williams stores and distribution centers.

'We're pleased to honor this year's award winners for their unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality products, their continued focus on innovation and their dedication to a meaningful partnership with Sherwin-Williams,' said Tracey Gairing, vice president of marketing and purchasing, Sherwin-Williams. 'In addition, as we celebrate our 150th anniversary with employees, customers and partners alike, we thank all our vendor partners for their contributions to our success over the years as we strive to consistently exceed our customers' expectations.'

2015 Vendors of the Year

Shaw: A fourth-time recipient of the award, Shaw achieved outstanding results participating and investing in Sherwin-Williams marketing and training programs. The vendor works side-by-side with the multifamily and healthcare national account teams to ensure that Sherwin-Williams floorcovering stores are the preferred destination for these customer segments.

Diamabrush: Providing a wide range of products for the growing floor preparation and finishing market, dedicated Diamabrush sales representatives supported the Sherwin-Williams field organization to penetrate the market, which resulted in a strong sales gain in 2015. A first-time recipient, Diamabrush also developed strong marketing pieces, including a custom catalog for Sherwin-Williams employees' and customers' use.

Bercom: Posting sales increases for the third consecutive year, Bercom continues to provide new and innovative products that make painting even easier and faster to complete. As a third-time award recipient, success is further driven by solid customer service and targeted HANDy Paint Products promotions.

SAS Safety Corp.: A first-time winner of the award, SAS Safety Corp. serves an important role in the glove and safety category. The Sherwin-Williams field organization tapped into the brand recognition of SAS Safety Corp. products to drive incremental sales. The field-driven success led to a planogram placement and a distribution center program with a service level at a perfect 100 percent.

Mi-T-M: A five-time recipient of the Sherwin-Williams vendor of the year award, Mi-T-M excels at developing pressure washers that meet specific market needs and expand reach. In 2015, the company developed and implemented a strategy to simplify the selling process for the Sherwin-Williams field organization, including new marketing materials and strong promotional support. The result was a solid sales increase while maintaining exceptional service levels.

Innovative Marketing Solutions: Innovative Marketing Solutions worked with the same excitement as the Sherwin-Williams team for the introduction of the game-changing color system, ColorSnap, in fall of 2015. As the lead point-of-sale engineering company, it led the creation of the main color display, ColorSnap Studio. Every facet of the cost-effective and durable display was engineered and tested, including the packaging used for transportation to Sherwin-Williams stores. A third-time recipient of the award, Innovative Marketing Solutions even beat the production schedule for early completion of the project.

Visual Marketing: As a first-time recipient of the award and lead creative and engineering company responsible for designer ColorSnap tools and secondary displays, Visual Marketing's field research and parallel development of alternative and improved tools turned concepts into reality: a beautiful and functional set of professional tools for the design community. Its work to re-engineer secondary displays led to improved durability and simplified store assembly.

Chroma Source: An integral part of the creation of ColorSnap was the move to create individual 2-by-3-inch color chips. Chroma Source was instrumental in the development of the layout and typeset needed to make the chips bilingual, while also providing additional color information for Sherwin-Williams customers. The company was able to produce the millions of color chips and fan deck pages needed for the launch of ColorSnap. As a third time recipient, Chroma Source was even able to beat the delivery date.

2015 Vendor Product of the Year

The Sherwin-Williams Vendor Product of the Year Award recognizes a single, new product or product line exclusive to Sherwin-Williams that provides breakthrough technology, immediate sales and strong field organizational support.

Titan: With an innovative design and function, Titan's FlexSpray Handheld Sprayer allows individuals to spray a wide range of coatings, as it functions as both a fine finish and production work sprayer; it was immediately embraced by painting contactors and DIYers alike. The innovative FlexSpray Handheld Sprayer, coupled with Titan's superior sales support, led to growth in the Sherwin-Williams handheld sprayer category.

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For nearly 150 years, Sherwin-Williams has been an industry leader in the development of technologically advanced paint and coatings. As the nation's largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies, Sherwin-Williams is dedicated to supporting both do-it-yourselfers and painting professionals with exceptional and exclusive products, resources to make confident color selections and expert, personalized service at its more than 4,000 neighborhood stores across North America. Sherwin-Williams has been ranked 'Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Paint Retailers, Three Years in a Row' in the J.D. Power 2015 Paint Satisfaction Study. For more information, visit sherwin-williams.com. Join Sherwin-Williams on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.

Sherwin Williams Co. issued this content on 01 February 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 03 February 2016 16:05:12 UTC

Original Document: http://www.sherwin-williams.com/press/trade/releases/2016/vendor-of-the-year-2015/