Centenary campaign wins another international marketing award

“We are thrilled to once again be recognised by the international marketing community for a campaign that was very special to all of us and that also required a lot of effort to ensure it was truly celebrated by everyone,” says Susan Russell, GM: marketing for Avusa (formely Johncom) Media Investments, publishers of the Sunday Times.

Earlier this year the Sunday Times received awards in two categories of the 2007 International Marketing Association Awards for elements of the centenary campaign.

Important target audience

The advertising trade is a very important target audience for the Sunday Times and to really involve them in its centenary celebration, Ogilvy Cape Town, who has been its creative agency for the last five years, literally aimed to make them a part of history.

The agency collected over 200 photographs of each of the relevant media directors and advertising department heads and pasted them into a selection of 18 historically significant and iconic photographs. This was then created into a personalised broadsheet with each person's name in the headline and photo caption. Once the high-quality broadsheet was produced it was framed and delivered to the individual's office.

The campaign was such a success that all 64 pages of available advertising space was booked out and the campaign was further extended to staff and top clients who demanded they also receive the same framed broadsheets.

26 countries honoured

The awards, which took place recently in Chicago, saw campaigns from 26 countries being honoured. The DMA received a record-breaking 1124 submissions but only handed out 130 awards in total. The Echo is the only comprehensive international direct marketing award recognising excellence in strategy, creativity, and results.

Entries are categorised into 11 primary business segments and then further divided into 10 advertising media categories. After three rounds of qualifying judging by direct marketing experts, the winners are picked and verified by the Echo committee, a group of senior members of the direct marketing community. Campaigns are evaluated for their response results, marketing strategy, and creative components.

“We would like to congratulate Sunday Times on the award and are glad to be sharing this celebratory moment with them,” concludes Jacques Burger, Ogilvy Cape Town MD.