Category: Press Releases

Along with nine client-partners, SweetRush won 40 awards at the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Awards in 17 categories, including multiple wins for learning and development, leadership development, new hire onboarding, and upskilling.

San Francisco, Calif., August 22, 2023 — SweetRush, the industry-leading provider of custom solutions for talent empowerment and people success, along with its client-partners, has won a record 24 Gold, seven Silver, and nine Bronze awards (40 total) at the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Human Capital Management Excellence Awards. SweetRush was named a top overall winner for the ninth consecutive year. 

SweetRush shares these awards with client-partners the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA), Bayer, Bridgestone Americas, Capgemini, Hilton, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Wells Fargo.

“These awards reflect the remarkable relationships and craft we have built together with our client-partners to impact the lives and work of people in some of the world’s most impactful organizations,” said Andrei Hedstrom, SweetRush Cofounder, President, and CEO. “The challenges and rewards of serving so many organizations in so many industries, profit and nonprofit, has made us a rallying point for effective and progressive forms of learning and development. Increasingly, year by year, the advances in consulting, designing, and developing for digital learning experiences are becoming a strategic force in the transformation of people and their organizations.”

Highlights of SweetRush’s 2023 wins include:

• Awards in 17 unique categories focusing on learning and development, leadership development, sales performance, talent acquisition, talent management, and the future of work.
• 15 Gold awards for learning and development.
• Nine Gold awards in multiple categories for professional development certification programs.
• Four Gold awards for leadership development, including learning programs for frontline leaders.
• Four Gold awards for learning innovation.
• Three Gold awards for upskilling.
• Two Gold awards for blended learning.
• Gold wins in hybrid learning, learning in the flow of work, custom learning content, and learning technology implementation categories.

SweetRush’s high-impact collaborations with its clients span subject matters and audiences and drive positive change.

In the words of Jaimie Francis, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Vice President: 

“We’re honored to be recognized by the Brandon Hall Awards for the impact of our Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) framework and the TPM Academy® to advance employer leadership in building high-performing talent pipelines. SweetRush has been an invaluable partner in taking the next step in our evolution to transform our in-person TPM Academy trainings to an engaging, interactive online learning experience. Their stellar team helped us navigate how to create the best experience for our learners so that they are empowered with the tools and information necessary to co-design talent supply chains to help students and workers access and succeed in career pathways. We look forward to continued collaboration and bringing this learning experience to more communities across the world in search of workforce strategies and solutions.”

SweetRush’s other award-winning collaborations with clients:

• Reimagine the virtual new hire onboarding experience with a game-changing, socially vibrant technology platform.
• Help employees step into the shoes of colleagues experiencing microaggressions and recognize the power of small actions to support diversity and inclusion.
• Upskill new people managers with human and technical skills, increasing their confidence and creating more inclusive and effective teams.
• Address challenges in diabetes patient care by teaching healthcare professionals how to treat the whole patient.
• Support leaders managing the “new normal” of hybrid workplaces with impactful approaches to leading with purpose and care.
• Create better career pathways for high-potential employees.
• Develop skills for high-level consultants working with enterprise accounts.
• Offer just-in-time resources that directly impact internal sustainability goals and encourage positive behavior change at home and in communities.

The awards also highlight SweetRush’s breadth and depth in learning design and technology—blended learning, video, storytelling, games and gamification, custom learning platforms, dynamic behavioral assessments, and marketing communications—and its collaborations across industries, including business services, banking and finance, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, hospitality, nonprofit, and pharmaceuticals.

“Beyond the giddy moment of winning so many awards, what’s truly rewarding is knowing we are changing the lives of so many people, helping them advance in their careers,” said Arturo Schwartzberg, SweetRush Cofounder and Board Chairman. “It’s true we are improving the bottom line of our clients, but we never forget the work we do has tangible impact on real people, and that is symbolically what these awards recognize and what feels good and fuels our celebration.”

SweetRush’s 2023 Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards include:

24 GOLD AWARDS

Best Advance in Creating an Extended Enterprise Learning Program (4)

Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program (4)

Best Program for Upskilling Employees (3)

Best Advance in Leadership Development (2)

Best Development Program for Frontline Leaders (2)

Best Use of Blended Learning (2)

Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development

Best Advance in Custom Content

Best Advance in Learning in the Flow of Work

Best Advance in Learning Technology Implementation

Best Hybrid Learning Program

Best Program to Improve Individual Development Planning

Best Sales Leadership Development Program

 

7 SILVER AWARDS

Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development

Best Advance in Custom Content

Best Advance in Learning in the Flow of Work

Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy

Best Learning Team

Best New Hire Onboarding Program

Best Use of Video for Learning

 

9 BRONZE AWARDS

Best Advance in Competencies and Skills Development (2)

Best Advance in Leadership Development (2)

Best Advance in Succession and Career Management

Best Development Program for Frontline Leaders

Best New Hire Onboarding Program

Best Program for Upskilling Employees

Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program

“Excellence Award winners are shown to be organizations that truly value their employees and invest in them through their human capital management programs. These HCM programs have been validated as best in class for business value and the impact on the employees themselves,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, HCM Excellence Awards program leader.

Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based on these criteria: 

• Alignment to their business need and environment
• Program design, functionality, and delivery 
• Adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, and creativity
• Overall effectiveness, impact, and measurable benefits

About SweetRush

SweetRush is trusted by many of the world’s most successful companies to help them improve the performance of their employees. We are known for exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of instructional design with highly engaging delivery. Beyond custom learning, we offer clients temporary staffing, the latest in immersive technologies (VR, AI), and LMS consulting. Our collaborations with clients have earned us long-term successful relationships, which we value greatly. Discover more at www.sweetrush.com.

About Brandon Hall Group™

Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era.

For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized, and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.”

The awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. We are honored to receive applications from organizations worldwide ranging from small, medium, large, and global enterprises to government, not-for-profits, and associations.

San Francisco, Calif., August 1, 2023 — SweetRush is thrilled to be named the No. 1 Content Provider for Immersive Learning by eLearning Industry for the second year in a row. This exciting announcement follows on the heels of new innovation by the SweetRush XR team, including the launch of WebVR learning experiences and the LMS Integration Tool, which together solve L&D’s challenges of distributing and scaling virtual reality enterprise-wide.

eLearning Industry Founder Christopher Pappas cites the SweetRush team’s learning-first mindset, consultative approach, and singular ability to engage learners as central factors contributing to its success. He adds, “You can count on SweetRush to be innovators! VR, AR, AI, simulations, and interactive video—they’re creating effective immersive learning. Collaborate with them, and they’ll show you how to put these tools into practice.”

As an increasing number of L&D leaders seek the benefits of immersive learning, SweetRush’s XR team is committed to innovations that enable technology adoption and tracking. In a recent eLearning Industry webinar, WebVR = L&D’s VR Gateway To The Enterprise!, the team unveiled their latest answer to pressing client needs: WebVR content, learning experiences that leverage new technology to overcome scalability and hardware challenges. 

Another recent innovation from the team is the LMS Integration Tool (LIT), a game-changing technology that allows immersive learning experiences to live in, and launch from, an organization’s LMS. Through a custom analytics dashboard, L&D teams and stakeholders can track learner performance data of their choice. 

For clients like Coursera and Hilton, SweetRush XR is bringing engaging, effective immersive learning to a wider learner audience. The team will unveil their latest developments, integrating AI into VR experiences to enhance skill development with authentic practice and feedback, later this year.

Adrián Soto, SweetRush Director of Immersive Technologies, shares: “The immersive learning and advanced technology landscape is rapidly changing, and that makes it challenging for our clients. We’re excited to meet our clients where they are and be a partner in bringing new ways of learning to their people. Whether it’s an initial proof of concept or multi-year roadmap, our team provides the research, thought partnership, and development skills to create amazing learning experiences and help clients prepare for the future.”

Danielle Silver, XR Solution Architect, adds: “This is such a testament to the capabilities of our team, but also the innovative cultures of our client-partners who are ever willing to experiment, prototype, and push the boundaries of how we can use immersive technologies to elevate learning and offer learners more impactful ways of becoming better at the work that they do.” 

Clients love the team’s customer-centric approach, which one client describes as “second to none,” adding that SweetRush’s “ability to wrench on the creativity nerve was amazing.” 

SweetRush credits its innovations to a highly skilled team whose expertise in collaborating with clients on soft skills, empathy for hospitality, safety and violence de-escalation, complex technical training, and numerous unique use cases have been recognized by 106 Gold Brandon Hall Awards and eight Gold CLO Learning in Practice Awards. 

To learn more about how to augment your learning portfolio with award-winning, highly effective immersive learning experiences, please reach out to Danielle Silver at SweetRush. 

About SweetRush

SweetRush’s focus on team culture and craft is reflected in loyal clients, uniquely low turnover of teammates, a 20-year track record of success, and a remarkable portfolio. Our work with clients, custom solutions for talent empowerment, and people success have earned us gold awards from our peers and high rankings on the top industry lists.

 We are over 200 people strong and have been in business since 2001. Our service areas include Custom Learning (including eLearning, mobile, gamification, and virtual training), Talent Solutions (temporary talent to augment our clients’ L&D teams), XR/Immersive Tech (VR, AR, and emerging technologies), Transforming Leaders & Culture (expert coaching and consulting to create connected, unified cultures, leaders, and teams), and Good Things (amplifying the impact of nonprofits and the social impact space). Every day, we give thanks for the trust of our world-class clients. Learn more and get in touch with SweetRush at www.sweetrush.com.

San Francisco, Calif., July 7, 2023 – For the ninth year in a row, SweetRush is honored to be included on Training Industry’s 2023 Top 20 Training Companies™ list for Custom Content Development in corporate learning and development (L&D). 

SweetRush employs a client- and learner-engaged approach to discovery, analysis, and ideation, led by consultative learning experts, called Solution Architects, providing clients the end-to-end design and development of custom learning programs. As a thought leader in L&D—publishing an annual Trends Reports, ebooks, webinars, and articles that push the industry forward—SweetRush’s success in securing this accolade can be attributed to three distinct aspects: its client-centric focus, array of innovative modalities to choose from, and unwavering dedication to learner-centered design.

“Clients seek us out to solve their complex business and learning challenges, and because they align with our human-centered approach and dedication to the transformative power of education,” said SweetRush CEO and Cofounder Andrei Hedstrom. “We believe that every learner deserves an experience that ignites their curiosity, fosters their growth, and unlocks their true potential while also amplifying their organization’s mission and purpose. Our solutions are effective because they respect learners’ time and energy, keep them engaged through memorable storytelling and relevant practice, and support them through every step of their learning journeys.”

Many of SweetRush’s world-class client-partners bring the learning experts on board early on in the solutioning process to perform primary research, needs analysis, and understand their key performance indicators (KPIs), making it clear what mutual success looks like for each project. SweetRush’s CoDesign experience—inspired by design thinking—brings together learners, stakeholders, and learning experts to create learner-centered design solutions. 

One of SweetRush’s key strengths is storytelling, including diverse, inclusive, and relatable character-avatars that embrace a whole-person view and build empathy. No matter the modality or technique (emerging technologies, gamification, WebVR, and immersive learning), SweetRush has built its organization on centering learners. 

SweetRush employs these award-winning learning techniques with its client-partners, including Hilton, Google, Bayer, Bridgestone, and Mondelēz International. This latest recognition comes on the heels of the company’s #1 best sales training provider award, #1 best diversity and inclusion training provider award, inclusion in the Training Industry Top 20 Experiential Learning Technologies list, 3 Chief Learning Officer Awards, and 23 Brandon Hall Group awards in 2022 (totalling 147 Brandon Hall awards since 2017). The company is also Certified™ as a Great Place to Work®.

Training Industry recognizes select companies that offer “the best training programs, products, and services on its Top Training Companies Lists” through extensive research, interactions with companies around the world, and thorough analysis.

“By developing engaging content, utilizing innovative technologies, offering quality UX design and much more, these companies create a learning environment that’s not only enjoyable but also satisfies the unique needs of the business,” said Tom Whelan, Director of Corporate Research at Training Industry, Inc.

If you’d like to speak with SweetRush about its award-winning approach to custom training programs, get in touch to be connected to a consultative expert!

ABOUT SWEETRUSH

SweetRush is trusted by many of the world’s most successful companies to help them improve the performance of their employees. We are known for exceptionally creative and effective solutions that combine the best of instructional design with highly engaging delivery. Our work has earned a long list of awards and accolades in collaboration with our clients. Discover more at www.sweetrush.com.