The Marketing Society Announces Its Awards For Excellence 2009
The Marketing Society Awards for Excellence 2008 are run in association with Marketing magazine and sponsored by Accenture.
This week saw the country's
best marketers gather for The Marketing Society Awards for Excellence. Now in
their 25th year, the awards are the longest running in the industry
and their purpose is to raise the stature of marketing in business and share
best practice.
The winners
were:
·
Grand
Prix: Sainsbury's
The Grand Prix is awarded to the brand that has pushed the boundaries
of what marketing can achieve, demonstrating a level of innovation, insight and
effectiveness that puts it head and shoulders above the other winning entries.
This year, the judges picked Sainsbury's as their winner. This was not just in recognition of the
supermarket's lauded 'Feed your family for a fiver' initiative - which has
clinched top prize in the marketing communications category - but also a
sizeable nod to the rejuvenation of the supermarket's fortunes.
The judges felt that Sainsbury's timely and clever reaction to the
economic situation was the culmination of five years in which the brand has
been transformed from a jaded retail giant into a national success story, with
marketing at the heart of its strategy.
Last year, the retailer planned to capitalise on the campaign's
success, but the economic downturn brought about a change in the consumer
mood. The strategy needed to be repositioned
to reflect collective belt-tightening, or Sainsbury's faced losing sales to its
rivals, which were perceived as cheaper options.
It discovered that shoppers thought a family meal from Sainsbury's
would cost more than it actually did. So
it challenged this idea by offering a range of family meals that could be
bought for less than £5.
Thirty meals were created as part of the 'Feed your family for a fiver'
scheme, including crispy fish pie and 'lovely lamb burgers'. Recipe cards were
printed and the initiative was promoted in TV ads featuring brand ambassador
Jamie Oliver.
The campaign delivered more than £200m in sales but, more importantly,
helped to improve Sainsbury's value perception.
Sceptics may have scoffed when the retailer announced its 'Making
Sainsbury's great again' strategy five years ago, but few are sneering
now. In the face of stiff competition
from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and the new generation of discount retailers, it
has more than held its own.
·
Best
Leading Edge Thinking: O2 (The O2)
·
Marketer
of the Year: Pete Markey, Marketing Director at MORE TH>N
·
Young
Marketer of the Year: Cheryl Calverley, Marketing Manager at
Unilever
·
New
Brand: Freesat
·
New Brand
(B2B): Thomson Reuters
·
New Brand
(SME): Fever-Tree
·
Brand
Extension: O2 (The O2)
·
Brand
Revitalisation: Hovis
The rejuvenation of Hovis was the turnaround story of the year. The great British brand began 2008 in serious
trouble, losing share to rival Warburtons at an alarming rate. Product quality had become ignored,
advertising spend cut and packaging looked dated. Retailers were watching with growing
impatience.
But by the end of the year, Hovis had pulled off a stunning relaunch,
dramatically improving brand perceptions, sales and share. It also produced one of the most compelling
TV commercials of the year.
The result is a brand in rude health again; or as the brand itself to
so eloquently puts it: 'As good today as it has ever been.' How did it achieve this?
Early last year, Premier Foods appointed a marketing team, led by Jon
Goldstone and Julie Leivers. They wasted
no time in assembling a roster of agencies, and galvanised these into a tight
unit working on a relaunch.
Research showed consumers were differentiating between 'good' bread,
classed as 'processed products from mass manufactures'. Worryingly, Hovis was being relegated into
the latter category.
New formulations were tested, which promptly beat competitors in taste
tests. The packaging was also overhauled,
with a bolder look and stronger colours.
Advertising, created by MCBD, aimed to evoke the spirit of Hovis'
classic 70s' 'Boy on the bike' ad. The
award-winning 122-second spot illustrated Hovis' rich heritage by taking a
condensed trip through British history.
ITV was even persuaded to cut Coronation
Street by two seconds to accommodate the
spot.
Perceptions of Hovis rose dramatically during 2008, and the last
quarter of the year saw 12 consecutive weeks of profitable growth, putting the
brand in a position where it can regain market share.
·
Brand
Revitalisation (B2B): BT Business
·
Brand
Revitalisation (SME): Dylon
·
Marketing
Communications: Sainsbury's
'Try something new today' has been at the heart of Sainsbury's success
for the past four years. It works by
giving people simple, achievable recipe ideas that earn the retailer a little
extra spend from them every time they shop.
Last year was earmarked as the year to build on the campaign's success
and take it to the next level. But the
emergence of the credit crunch and the subsequent changing of consumers' moods
and shopping habits seemed to put this in jeopardy. After all, what use was an idea that was
designed to get people to spend more going to be at a time when people were
trying to spend less?
'Try something new today' had never been intended to shift Sainsbury's historically poor price perception. This was not a problem in the good times, but
was fast becoming an issue among people who were beginning to shop at cheaper
supermarket rivals.
From past experience, Sainsbury's knew that tactical communications
focussing on price and deals were a relatively weak force in shifting price
perception, and that communications would be needed at the brand level.
So the marketing team, with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, took this grand
idea and fine-tuned it for the tough economic climate by building a strong,
everyday low-price component into Sainsbury's food ideas.
They discovered that shoppers thought a family meal from Sainsbury's
would cost much more than it actually did.
So it decided to challenge this perception with the fact that
Sainsbury's could help them feed their family for £5.
The integrated 'Feed your family for a fiver' campaign aimed to offer
people great-value meals items that came to a combined price of less than
£5. In all, 30 meals were created,
including crispy fish pie and 'lovely lamb burgers'. They included a range of items, from the
Basics to the Taste the Difference labels, to show that Sainsbury's offers
value right across the store.
To promote the meals, the retailer produced recipe cards and branded
point-of-sale material. Above-the-line
activity included TV ads featuring brand ambassador Jamie Oliver, as well as
weekly magazine advertising.
Research showed buzz around the campaign from the moment it launched,
with spontaneous recall from respondents.
Tracking revealed perceptions of Sainsbury's value began shifting from
the outset, and the campaign delivered £203m in sales.
An idea that was originally created to earn a little more spend from
existing customers was used to show that Sainsbury's could actually help them
spend a little less, if that was what they preferred.
·
Digitally
Led Marketing: UPS
·
Digitally
Led Marketing (SME): British Heart Foundation
·
Customer
Relationship Marketing: MORE TH>N
·
Internal
Marketing: McDonald's
·
Marketing
Capability: Shell
·
Marketing
Teamwork: Learning Skills Council/ COI
·
Ethical
Marketing: British Gas
·
Cause-Related Marketing: Pedigree
·
International Brand Development:
Ebookers
·
Customer
Insight: Sky
·
Not-For-Profit Marketing: Transport For
London
·
Not-For-Profit Marketing (SME): British
Heart Foundation
·
Marketing
Achievement: McDonald's
The Marketing Society Awards
for Excellence 2008 are run in association with Marketing magazine and sponsored
by Accenture.
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