Marketer Of The Year Award; Merino NZ Takes Three

Two Claim Marketer Of The Year Award; Merino NZ Takes Hat-Trick Including Supreme Award

Strategies for taking New Zealand's comparatively small Merino wool clip to international markets and world fashion houses has seen Merino New Zealand score a hat-trick of "firsts" in the 1999 Television New Zealand/Marketing Magazine Awards.

As well as taking the Supreme Award, Merino New Zealand also took the top prize for business to business marketing, with chief executive John Brakenridge being named one of two winners of the coveted FCB Marketer of the Year Award.

It is the first time in the 8 year history of the TVNZ/Marketing Magazine Awards that two people have been named as FCB Marketer of the Year.

Chris Caiger from Winstone Wallboards is also a winner of a Marketer of the Year Award for his strategies behind the Gib Living Solutions brand.

The judges - Barbara Chapman , general manager, marketing and HR, ASB Bank; Sandy Burgham, an independent strategist; Rob Lawson, Professor of Marketing at Otago University; Janine Smith, general manager, Arnott's New Zealand and Glyn Williams, sales and marketing manager for the TAB - considered that under the direction of John Brakenridge, Merino New Zealand has established an international brand of considerable value by building superior customer relationships and holding to a vision of unrivalled quality.

The creation of customer value is also at the heart of Winstone Wallboards strategy to place the consumer in control and change focus from being production to customer-driven. Higher performance, in product performance and margin have all resulted from the strategy Chris Caiger has put in place for Winstone's Gib Living Solutions brand.

TVNZ/Marketing Magazine Supreme Award: Merino New Zealand

The efforts of Merino New Zealand to turn a small and once undifferentiated part of the world's total wool clip into an exclusive product, commanding premium prices and a high profile in world fashion have won for the organisation, The TVNZ/Marketing Magazine Supreme Award, and the Gallagher InforManagement Business to Business Award.

Colmar Brunton Consumer Services Award: GlobalPlus

GlobalPlus, a combined credit , phone and air points membership card is cited by judges as a leading example of contemporary marketing relying on the special attributes and power of alliance partnership to achieve results. Involving Air New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, Telecom New Zealand and MasterCard International, the launch of the 3 in 1 card has been described as the most successful co-branded card ever launched in New Zealand.

Actmedia Award for Fast Moving Consumer Goods: Arnott's Tiny Teddy biscuits

How big is a 230 tonne pile of biscuits? It's hard to imagine that Arnott's New Zealand planned to sell that many Tiny Teddy biscuits in one year. But they exceeded that amount and in doing so pushed the Tiny Teddy creation into fourth spot in the plain biscuit market. Judges described the strategy as a "brilliantly executed, killer application" in an extremely competitive market.

Bascands Pacific Magazines Consumer Durables Award: Winstone Wallboards Gib Living Solutions.

Where do you go if you already hold a 95 percent market share? Winstone's answer in the plasterboard market; add value, rather than volume. The resulting research -backed strategy was Gib Living Solutions, aimed at taking the existing Gib brand from being a generic building commodity to a "solutions provider" for homeowners based on their emotional needs of comfort, warmth, security and quality.

Maxim Group Charity/Fundraising/Non-Profit Award: Standards New Zealand

Fight or fold. Survival for Standards New Zealand has demanded taking a non-traditional approach to its marketing. It's an approach that's paid off and in the opinion of judges, provides a clear case study for taking an organisation from loss to profit through disciplined marketing and customer focus.

Morton Estate Wines Retail Award: Caltex Star Mart.

Star Mart -branded 24 hour convenience stores developed by Caltex, have been around since 1997. They arrived on the back of an industry trend to supplement petrol sales and attract new custom by offering convenience items from a one stop shop. Now though, the Star Mart brand is moving towards standalone operation as 24 hour, 7-day convenience stores in their own right. Now Star Mart has its own identity and operates with clear consistency through its branding, communication and in-store environment. Judges say the combination of this uniqueness, determination and clear results rates Star Mart as a clear category winner.

ENDS....

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