Australasia’s Promotional Product Association (APPA) last night announced the winners of the 2015 APPA Excellence Awards at an exciting award ceremony held in Sydney.
Proving the value of tangible branding as a means of brand activation, the award winners used a unique range of promotional products to drive strong one-to-one engagement.
Dominating the awards, Flourish Marketing won four of the ten Gold Awards for its clients and also took out the prestigious Platinum Award for Overall Excellence.
The Platinum Award showed creative thinking and marketing savvy with a special Magnetic Story Gift for Panterra Press, designed to secure book orders for author Rowland Sinclair’s latest book series.
Other winning entries covered the broad range of promotional brand activation campaigns, including: retail gift with purchase to increase sales; political stakeholder communications to influence actions; B2B marketing to drive conference engagement; internal branding to reinforce values; merchandise for sale and fundraising; community issues awareness that goes viral; competitions to drive engagement; and social media to increase reach.
“This is a very exciting time for the promotional products industry. As the award winners demonstrate, promotional products have transitioned into a truly creative marketing form that creates one-on-one brand activation opportunities,” said Trish Hyde, acting CEO, APPA
“A great promotional product makes us think, or smile, or share, or do all three. It represents the company and can add to brand equity that goes well beyond other campaigns.”
Other finalists included: New Zealand company BTL, Brand Promotions, Chilli Promotions, PPI Promotion and Apparel International, Sister Kate Marketing and The Promotion Shop.
“This year we saw over 100 submissions in ten categories with one linking theme. At the heart of every submission was the desire to enhance the marketing value and experience for the brand. As one-to-one marketing and customised experiences become more widespread, the promotional product becomes a key point differentiator,” said Dr Marion Steel, awards judge and course coordinator and lecturer B@B Marketing, RMIT University.
About the Awards and Winners
| Award | Winner | Campaign |
| Platinum Award for Overall Excellenceand
Gold Award for Limited Budget (under $5 per unit) |
Company: Flourish MarketingClient: Pantera Press
Campaign: Book Launch Magnetic Poetry |
Gift with purchase to secure book orders for Rowland Sinclair’s latest book and promote the other books in the Mysteries series.The gift had to respect shelf space, be pack-and-store friendly, create a link with the book/series and author, and reflect the innovative, creative approach of Pantera Press.
A Magnetic Story Set was created using words and imagery from the series focussing on keywords from the new title, A Murder Unmentioned, and original illustrations by the author. The gifts were sent to bookstore reps preparing for the Christmas sell-in and were distributed to leading bookstores, used at author appearances, and given to key media reviewers, supporting Pantera’s publicity strategy. |
| Gold Award for B2B |
Company: Flourish MarketingClient: Banjo Advertising and InvoCare Ltd
Campaign: InvoCare Infusing Values Program |
Internal branding to launch and reinforce InvoCare’s values. The creative chosen was to infuse the values, which lead to the development of a Tea theme – creating a number of promotional elements to communicate the InvoCare Way.Branded tea bag boxes, with each variety of tea representing a different value, were given to General Managers to launch the program with staff
Employees received similarly branded tea mugs as an enduring workplace reminder. These are used daily and for monthly ‘Tea Talks’ – discussing InvoCare values amongst team members |
| Gold Awards for NFP or Charitable Organisation | Company: The Promotion ShopClient: Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation
Campaign: Stiches Bear
|
Branded merchandise to raise funds for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. The answer came in the form of a cute collection of branded bears based on the hospital’s mascot, Stitches the Bear.The appeal targeted supporters, patients, patients’ families, and the public via direct sales, online orders, and the hospital store.
The initial collection of plush bears included Angel, Chef, Doctor, and Firefighter. When Santa and Miner bears were added to the collection, both sold out. |
| Gold Award for Consumer Programs | Company: Brand PromotionsClient: Merial Australia
Campaign: Safecard Tick Identifier |
Driving sales in a highly competitive market through a timely gift with purchase. Merial Australia, owners of Frontline pet care, sought a promotional campaign to drive purchases of tick prevention products in the lead up to the tick season.The brief stated that the gift-with-purchase needed to be useful for pet care, but not a toy, and small enough to be shrink-wrapped onto product packaging.
Brand Promotions sourced a unique and ideal invention from Denmark known as SAFECARD™ – a credit card sized plastic card incorporating a magnifier and two very clever slots for safe removal of ticks. The card was decorated with the client’s logo and message, including full-colour illustrations of the most common Australian ticks. |
| Gold Award for Collaborative Creativity in Manufacturing | Company: PPI Promotion and Orso InternationalClient: NCI – National Credit Insurance Brokers
Campaign: NCI Cookbook and Apron Gift Set |
Showing how much you value the relationship through a special one-of-a-kind gift as a tangible long-term reminder.NCI wanted to engage staff and clients using a bespoke personal gift that reflected their business values and acted as a reminder of how much they are valued by NCI.
NCI worked with PPI to develop a personalised cookbook and apron set. Staff contributed the recipes – showcasing their varied personalities and creating a practical addition to the kitchen. The gift was presented to staff and to clients renewing contracts. PPI collaborated with Orso International, relying on them for everything from manufacture to logistics. The partnership delivered an exceptional result for the client |
| Gold Award for Corporate | Company: Flourish MarketingClient: Leo Burnett Melbourne and Mercer Super
Campaign: Mercer New Product Conference Launch |
Generating traffic and leads at a conference to launch Mercer’s new longevity product.To attract conference delegates (CEOs, MDs, and GMs) to the Mercer stand at the ASFA conference, personalised wooden ‘keys’ were sent out in advance. The keys could be used at the stand to unlock ‘learnings’ and redeem a bottle of champagne.
The beautifully formed, Australian Jarrah wooden hexagonal blocks – representing the Mercer logo – were each hand-painted at one end to match the corporate PMS colours, and then engraved with a unique code. Redemption was tracked through the personalised code and the keys, once redeemed, added to the visual effect of the stand forming a large hexagon. |
| Gold Award for Self-promotion | Company: Sister Kate MarketingCampaign: Sister Kate CAN | In an industry at the centre of branding, reminding clients of core capabilities can be important self-promotion.Sister Kate Marketing’s approach to staying front-of-mind with current and prospective clients and reinforce their CAN-DO attitude was branded cans of sweets. The rationale is that the cans offer a stand-alone message with no other print required, they offer a canvas to show creativity, and they can be used as a pen holder adding longevity to the message.
Sister Kate used a creative play on branding representing their brand like the iconic Campbell’s soup can and their competitors as lesser quality home brands. |
| Gold Award for Merchandise Programs | Company: Chilli PromotionsClient: Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation
Campaign: Yarn Safe ATSI Merchandise Program |
Creating awareness of mental illness and the support services available amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths.This campaign increased awareness of Headspace as a place for to seek information, help, and support for mental health issues in a way that resonated with and reflected the strength and pride of culture amongst the audience.
The Yarn Safe merchandise program was rolled out in three phases: a national launch; regional and rural events; and web merchandising. The merchandise was showcased using social media, including a YouTube video that received over half a million views. |
| Gold Award for Social Media and Web-based Promotions | Company: BTLClient: Television New Zealand
Campaign: Shortland Street ‘Love Hurts’ |
Keeping individuals engaged in the offseason.Shortland Street is New Zealand’s longest running soap opera and TVNZ wanted to maintain viewer interest during the show’s summer hiatus by asking them to create their own endings to each romantic cliffhanger.
BTL were briefed to create 100 bottles of a sexy and scandalous ‘Love Hurts’ fragrance. The result combined the craft of a New Zealand perfumer and beautiful square glass laser-etched perfume bottles to create a rare and highly desirable product. Winners of the ‘What Happens Next’ competition won a bottle of ‘Love Hurts’. The campaign drove online activity, PR and social media |
| Gold Award for Direct Promotion | Company: Flourish MarketingClient: Jack Watts Currie and The Pharmacy Guild
Campaign: Ask Your Pharmacist |
Influencing stakeholders requires both cut through and clear messaging. The Pharmacy Guild, representing its members, had undertaken a consumer campaign called ‘Ask a Pharmacist’ to reinforce the value of pharmacists to the community. They wanted to use the community’s supportive response to focus the minds and to get politicians to hear their concerns on the impacts of funding reductions and competition from supermarkets on local pharmacists.The result was a video mailer to politicians to let them know how Australians feel about their pharmacists to influence the political debate.
A unique folding video mailer was developed, representing The Pharmacy Guild cross. When opened, the video began playing the key television commercial and buttons led to a pharmacist’s testimonial. To extend the longevity and ensure that the piece is passed on within the corridors of the government, a recharging cord was supplied. National TV and print were used to reach consumers and politicians. Pharmacies promoted the campaign with a raft of posters and POS provided. |
The Judges
Rion Shelley, Creative Services Manager – The Wine Quarter (part of the Woolworths Liquor Group).
Dr Marion Steel, Course Coordinator and Lecturer B2B Marketing, RMIT University.
Simon Tebbutt, Head of Shopper & Retail Strategy, ApolloNation, Australia & New Zealand.
Craig Wallis, General Manager, RDI Marketing and Vice Chair ADMA Victoria Branch Committee.
