What an evening at the Hilton hotel on Deansgate last night as almost 400 of the North’s leading marketers came together to celebrate the inaugural Marketing Society Northern Awards and what was in effect the largest gathering of senior marketers seen in the North for many years.
How-Do and The Marketing Society launched these awards to recognise and reward marketing excellence and to capture and showcase the energy, creativity and achievement of the marketing talent in the North, talent which collectively across the North controls marketing expenditure well in excess of £1 billion.
The response to and enthusiasm with which Northern marketers have taken to these inaugural awards has surprised and delighted us. Cast your eyes across the names of those companies and organisations short listed and you’ll see that a substantial number of the North’s leading brands have participated in year one of these Awards with many others saying they fully intend to come on board next year.
Andy Crane
In the process of creating this new initiative, a first for the North, we hoped these awards would reflect and underscore the huge market clout and economic impact that these marketers exert upon the livelihood of thousands of companies and organisations and hundreds of thousands of employees.
Guests arriving from a baking early summer’s evening outside were welcomed by drinks and snacks provided by Warburtons and the company’s new range of Chippidy Doo Dahs were particularly well received. Surprisingly spicy if you haven’t tried them!
Prior to dinner, The Marketing Society’s chief executive Hugh Birkitt outlined to the audience why the Society had decided to partner with How-Do in the North and updated guests on a variety of initiatives the Society has planned across the UK.
And then onto dinner with KMP Digitata’s TwitterWall providing an excellent backdrop for the guests to enjoy some banter as the palpable sense of anticipation grew over the evening.
The evening’s compere was Andy Crane and the dinner’s designated charity was WellChild and over £1700 was raised by way of a charity raffle. The winner of SSL’s goody bag of Durex and other SSL products was almost as eagerly awaited as the winner of signed shirts from Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips…With the World Cup ghost never far away, Crane had to remind the audience that Umbro, one of the evening’s short listed companies, had no influence on the national team’s performance…
Other prizes for the raffle were generously donated by the Hilton hotel, Classic British Hotels, Bacardi and P&G Fragrances (Hugo Boss), an F1 baseball cap donated by Henri Lloyd, a hot air balloon ride courtesy of Getmemedia.com and the evening’s most substantial prize of a day’s team building immersion session in a radio studio provided by Bauer Radio.
And so to the Awards presentation which compere Crane - a veteran of Royal Television Society do’s – suggested was notable for its striking contrast to RTS do’s where the number of awards is only matched by the length of the acceptance speeches. The winners last night were by and large a modest bunch, happy to have their pictures taken and pick up their awards but they generally shied away from giving acceptance speeches.
There was a total of just 16 commendations and winners on the night – real scarcity value!
Six of these were from the North West, one from the North East and nine from Yorkshire.
SSL, Asda and Magnet were the three most awarded winners from the private sector with Asda also picking up the overall Grand Prix award while Keep Britain Tidy and National Museums Liverpool were notable from the not-for-profit sectors.
An excellent result all round for this inaugural dinner and the after awards conversations and partying continued long into the night, both in the lobby and afterwards in the Cloud 23 bar.
Roll on the 2011 Awards.
Marketing Society Northern Awards 2010 - the judges
• Diana Tickell, UK director of communications, Barnardos • Alex Marks, head of international business marketing, eBay • Paul Berney, managing director, Mobile Marketing Association • Ashley Goodall, managing director, Saatchi & Saatchi Design • Hugh Burkitt, chief executive, The Marketing Society • Gemma Greaves, marketing director, The Marketing Society
Marketing Society Northern Awards 2010 - the categories, the short listed entrants, the sponsors...and the winners
Manchester Airports Group - The Airport Angels Trade Campaign: National Museums Liverpool - Art in the Age of Steam – exhibition marketing: NWDA/PHD North/Viv-id - Tourism Marketing 2009: Welcome to Yorkshire/McCann Yorkshire - A long weekend in Yorkshire isn't long enough
The winner was National Museums Liverpool
Professional and Financial Services
first direct - first direct Live: Leeds Building Society - ISA Campaign: Newcastle Building Society - Northumberland Street Branch Launch: Tenon/Tayburn - The Tenon Wealth Experience campaign
The winner was Tenon/Tayburn
Property and Construction
Bruntwood - Your Festival - Manchester International Festival: Magnet Trade/Refinery - Magnet Trade Promotion Gives 1000% More: Spinningfields Management Company - Screenfields 2009
Aunt Bessie's - Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Puddings Turnaround Plan: Crabbies/MediaCom North - Crabbies Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer: Kellogg's - WK Kellogg campaign: Jammie Dodgers/Savvy Marketing - Give us a giggle/Comic Relief 2009: Golden Wonder/Symington's - Golden Wonder: The Nation’s… Product Launch: Taylors of Harrogate Coffee/PHD North - Establishing the coffee of choice: Vimto Soft drinks - A seriously integrated success: Warburtons/600g Campaign
The winner was Vimto and Aunt Bessie's and Burton's Foods were highly commended.
Health Sciences, Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health Care
Benenden Healthcare Society - Add Family and Friends' Direct mail campaign: SSL International/McCann Manchester - Scholl Summer Range: Bupa Care Services - Connecting with the Community: NHS Calderdale/Principles Agency - Breastfeeding – It’s Only Natural: SSL International/McCann Manchester - Durexhibitions – National Condom Week
The winner was Bupa Care Services and NHS Calderdale/Principles Agency was highly commended
Cheshire Oaks - 100% Bigger Christmas: Greggs the Baker - Return to TV with new integrated marketing campaign: Asda/Savvy Marketing - Asda Sporting Chance: Asda/Lazytown/Savvy Marketing - Lazy Town 2009
The winner was Asda/Savvy and Greggs was highly commended
B2B
Rate Servo/Delineo - Rate Servo: Frank Hudson/Insight With Passion - The restoration of Frank Hudson: Magnet Trade/ Refinery - Magnet Trade Promotion: Tenon/ Tayburn - The Tenon Wealth Experience campaign: Business Link Northwest/Write Angle PR - Supporting Our Businesses
Action Aid/Brahm - Yorkshire Means the World: Calderdale College - Who Inspires You: The Charity Dreamgirls/ Insight With Passion - Eureka! New dimension in charity support: Digital UK - Digital TV switchover: the power of going local: Keep Britain Tidy - Dirty Pig: Manufacturing Institute/ Junction K - MakeIt.org.uk: Stockport Council - Kill the Chill
The winner was Keep Britain Tidy
Best Social Mediacampaign
first direct - first direct Live: SSL International/McCann Manchester - Durex Play O: Things That Make You Go O!: UCLAN/ MediaCom North - Meet the Freshers
The winner was SSL International/McCann Manchester
Low Budget Campaign – under £100k
Tameside College - Pride of Tameside: SSL International/McCann Manchester - Durex Sensilube: NHS Salford - Swine Flu: NHS Sheffield - The Big Health Conversation: Principal Hayley Hotels - Le Tour De Principal Hayley: NHS Calderdale/Principles Agency - Breastfeeding – It’s Only Natural: Sheffield Hallam University - Countdown Campaign: University of Salford - Playback and the video hub
The winner was SSL International/McCann Manchester
The Marketing Society is a not for profit organisation owned by its members. It was founded in 1959 to provide a forum for senior marketers to exchange ideas and share best practice. Over the past 50 years it has emerged as one of the most influential drivers of marketing in the UK business community. Today the Society has a member base of nearly 3,000 senior marketers, across a broad spectrum of companies and sectors, based throughout the UK and abroad.
In the North, The Marketing Society currently has over 200 members.
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