The best in leisure communications and marketing

Industry Awards recognise the best in
leisure communications and marketing

Excellence in communication and marketing in the leisure industry in Australia and New Zealand has been recognised with the presentation of the second Australasian Leisure Management Communication and Marketing Awards in Sydney last evening (Thursday 24th August).

Acknowledging how the leisure industry - covering aquatics, attractions, entertainment, events, fitness, parks, recreation, sport, tourism and venues - communicates how it entertains, enriches and improves quality of life as well as how it engages with consumers to generate business success and deals with scrutiny, the awards were presented at the end of a day-long business event at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

Commenting on the awards, Nigel Benton, Publisher of leisure industry business magazine Australasian Leisure Management explains “these awards recognise excellence among individuals, organisations, businesses and government.

“When done well, marketing and communications build a brands reputation and add to the bottom line of any business. At the same time, communications and marketing are also about dealing with crisis and standing up to scrutiny, something that several of our winners have had to face in the past year.

“The awards recognise a cross section of activities from international businesses to start-ups, industry icons and national organisations to small operators, showing that effective communications and marketing is not just for big operators, and is more about a commitment to sharing what an organisation excels at.”

Winners of the awards covered a wide geographical area, from Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island to Western Australia, and from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast.

Commenting on submissions for the Awards, which were presented in 14 categories, Australasian Leisure Management Editor Karen Sweaney stated “we were hugely impressed by the number and quality of nominations and entries that we have had for the awards ... we truly didn’t expect the level of response that we have received.

“What is wonderful is that these high quality submissions show the extraordinary level of professionalism and achievement in communication and marketing in the leisure industry.”

The 14 Award recipients received a simple trophy with, Sweaney explains, “an asymmetrical design that represents the different stages of the journey to achieve best practice with a pinnacle which symbolises that only a few can achieve award-winning excellence.”

Award winners

Industry Association/Peak Body Award
Fitness Australia

Industry Supplier Award
Technogym

Not-for-Profit Award
Royal Life Saving Society - Australia

Business Award
Eden Park

Local Government Award
Cockburn ARC

Government Department/Agency Award
Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board

Ministerial Award
NSW Minister for Sport - Stuart Ayres MP

National Organisation Award
Netball Australia

Public Relations Agency Award
Southern PR

Communications Executive Award (Industry)
Greg Adermann, AEG Ogden/Suncorp Stadium

Communications Executive Award (Agency)
Trena-Louise Lyons, Newsroom PR

Social Media Award
Goldfields Oasis, City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Campaign Award
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
200 years and still growing campaign

Crisis Communications Award
Football Federation Australia

Award winner citations
The following summaries describe the criteria that led to the presentations.

Industry Association/Peak Body Award: Fitness Australia
Fitness Australia is the peak health and fitness industry association providing a range of support services and solutions to over 30,000 Registered Personal Trainers, Registered Fitness Instructors, fitness businesses and suppliers Australia-wide.

As a peak industry association with a highly credible national profile, Fitness Australia is extremely effective in highlighting the importance of the fitness industry to the Australian economy and to maintaining the health and well-being of the Australian community.

The receipt of this award acknowledges Fitness Australia’s consistent communication of its events, initiatives and activities to media, industry stakeholders, investors and government, raising the profile of its members and the industry.

Industry Supplier Award: Technogym
Founded in 1983, Technogym, ‘the Wellness Company’ is a world leading international supplier of technology and design driven products and services providing a complete range of cardio, strength and functional equipment alongside a digital cloud based platform allowing consumers to connect with their personal wellness experience anywhere, both on the equipment and via mobile when outdoors.

With over 2,000 employees and 14 branches globally, Technogym is present in over 100 countries equipping more than 65,000 fitness/wellness centres and 200,000 private homes around the world.

Technogym has also been the official supplier for the last five editions of the Olympic Games: Sydney
2000, Athens 2004, Turin 2006, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 and is now the official supplier for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Technogym’s technological innovation is also matched by its communications excellence with its connectivity with consumers duplicated in the way it connects and communicates across all media.

Global President Nerio Allesandri is a not only a highly successful entrepreneur but is also a powerful advocate for global wellness and related social objectives.

At a national and international level, Technogym’s marketing professionals leverage off the businesses’ global reputation to promote the brand through high quality communications, imaginative events and constant accessibility.

Not-for-Profit Award: Royal Life Saving Society - Australia
Royal Life Saving Society - Australia is focused on reducing drowning and promoting healthy, active and skilled communities through innovative, reliable, evidence based advocacy; strong and effective partnerships; quality programs, products and services; underpinned by a cohesive and sustainable national organisation.

There is no one reason Australians drown, so there is no one simple solution.

As a result, Royal Life Saving undertakes a range of communication and related activities including research, events and campaigns to target high risk drowning demographics with the aim of influencing community behaviour and attitudes towards water safety to prevent injuries and drowning.

Business Award: Eden Park, Auckland
Each year, more than half a million sports and entertainment fans from around the world enjoy events at Eden Park, New Zealand’s largest venue. With state-of-the-art facilities and services, the venue successfully hosts sell-out crowds of approximately 50,000 on match days and hosts over 1,000 corporate functions per annum.

As the sports and entertainment landscape continues to evolve and stadia are challenged to combat consumption of sport through non-traditional channels, over the past year, Eden Park has repositioned its brand to encourage and engage patrons by creating compelling live experiences in collaboration with its icon partners.

Key to its success has been a wide-range partnerships, retail and merchandise activities and maximising venue assets, with all activities being effectively communicated to all media.

Local Government Award: Cockburn ARC
Opened in May 2017, the $109 million Cockburn ARC aquatic and recreation centre is located in Perth’s southern corridor.

The City of Cockburn facility includes nine aquatic areas with three waterslides, an extensive health club and a six court stadium. It is also the home of the Fremantle Football Club and a learning facility for Curtin University.

Building up to, and including, the opening of the facility, its marketing team had, in just eight months to build brand awareness (while overcoming a perception that it was fully owned by the Dockers) and establish Cockburn ARC in a competitive facility marketplace.

Rather than position the centre under the umbrella of the City of Cockburn or try to leverage Fremantle Football Club, the centre went out strongly on its own with a mission to get ‘More People, More Active and More Often’.

Emphasising that the facility was completely different to anything else that Perth had ever seen, the team developed a strong and consistent brand based on delivering ‘Outstanding Service that People
Talk About’.

Throughout, this was communicated with all levels of media and with key stakeholders.

Government Department/Agency Award: Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board
The Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board is the governing body of Victoria’s Hotham Alpine Resort, responsible for visitor services, asset management, master planning and business development at the second highest resort village in Australia.

The Award recognises Mt Hotham RMB’s work with Melbourne independent creative agency, 10 Feet Tall’ and stakeholders at the resort to create a branding campaign which functions to identify Mount Hotham as the ‘True Spirit of Alpine Australia’.

From long format films to brand and retail spots, online content, digital, press and radio, the fully integrated campaign disrupts expectations in order to reframe the mountain as a destination for the naturally adventurous.

The result of these efforts has resulted in a campaign that is frank, honest and open; and states what the people of Mount Hotham truly believe in. It takes a stand for Australia’s mountains and breaks down the perceived limitations of the Australian snow industry, to build a far broader and more trans-seasonal appeal, which results in high performance messaging.

Now in its implementation stage, the active campaign aims to give the mountain a voice and brings to life the colourful and refreshing views of the locals, as seen in the website testimonials.

Ministerial Award: Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Sport
Stuart Ayres has a high profile in the NSW Government in driving the $1.6 billion investment in sport and entertainment infrastructure that will deliver state-of-the-art venues for Sydney over the next decade.

His commitment to this plan and the final decisions that were reached were shared in all communications issued by Minister Ayres and his team.

What is refreshing is Minister Ayres’ involvement in not only ‘big’ announcements but community level activities and that his communication activities have been delivered free from slogans, spin and political point-scoring throughout the year.

Minister Ayres also received the Award in 2016.

National Organisation Award: Netball Australia
Netball Australia is the peak governing body for the sport of netball in Australia. The organisation's stated objectives for Australian netball are to achieve national and international success in competition, encourage greater participation and spectator involvement, and ensure excellence in all spheres of the sport.

This Award recognises Netball Australia’s consistent high quality communications on all its activities from elite competition to grassroots sport, from its inclusion activities to its sporting integrity.

Public Relations Agency Award: Southern PR
Founded in 1996 by former London journalist Fiona Woodham, Southern PR is a Queenstown-based full-service public relations and communications consultancy that earns media exposure for its clients through results-driven communications and marketing campaigns for a wide range of businesses throughout New Zealand.

With expertise including media liaison, social media, crisis management, marketing, specialist writing, events and awards, Southern PR helps clients navigate and communicate through today’s complex media world, offering full PR support and direction and identifying and forging complementary business relationships across a full range of business sectors.

Presentation of this Award by Australasian Leisure Management, recognises Southern PR’s excellence.

Communications Executive Award (Industry): Greg Adermann
Greg Adermann is Group Communications Manager – AEG Ogden and Director of Communications and Marketing for Suncorp Stadium.

He has spent 15 years as a one person department responsible for managing the company’s media and communications strategy; providing market intelligence and strategic advice on media and issues management to the Chairman and Chief Executive; and providing media and issue management services as required to all venues the company manages in the Asia Pacific region.

Communications Executive Award (Agency): Trena-Louise Lyons, Newsroom PR
Trena-Louise Lyons heads Newsroom PR, a boutique public relations and communications consultancy based in Noosa, Queensland.

Our dealings with Trena-Louise Lyons have seen her deliver high quality public relations and communications on behalf of her clients.

Social Media Award: Goldfields Oasis
The Goldfields Oasis aquatic, fitness and recreation centre in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia may be a long way from Silicon Valley or big city creative agencies but its management has been leading the way in understanding the critical importance that social media plays in driving community engagement, brand identity and low cost per lead marketing.

The Oasis consistently interacts with the community via social media avenues with a goal to keep content fun, informative, genuine and ‘on brand’.

The Oasis content strategy has seen a significant increase in the community sharing, commenting and liking the Oasis posts with over 20% of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder population engaged with the Oasis Facebook page.

The Oasis is a pioneer among local government aquatic and recreation centres with its integration of paid Facebook advertising forming a significant part of its yearly marketing plan.

Campaign Award: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - 200 years and still growing campaign
An oasis of green in the heart of the city, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney is among the top 10 most popular destinations for international visitors to Australia. Founded by Governor Macquarie in 1816, the Garden has endured to become the oldest botanic garden and oldest living scientific institution in the country.

Marking its 200th birthday with a packed year of celebrations, including Vivid Sydney, helped to draw a record-breaking 5.2 million visitors in 2016/17.

The celebration saw a distinctive new brand created and applied across all birthday marketing and into 2017. The look and feel was echoed throughout the new easy-to-navigate website featuring improved travel directions and access, facilities information, events, suggested itineraries and optimisation for mobile access.

The strategy encompassed three pillars: celebration, engagement and legacy. A busy, year-long program of events, activations and partnerships was created in these three areas, with an overarching aim to present the Garden as a vibrant, not static, attraction.

An integrated marketing and communications campaign expanded the Garden’s primary USP – our world-class horticulture – with three additional USPs, chosen to spark conversations with visitors, and between visitors.

All four selling points were communicated to target markets through tangible messaging and integrated visitor experiences.

1. World-class horticulture
2. New living exhibition venue, The Calyx
3. World-leading team of scientists
4. Long and significant history

The campaign lifted overall visitation by 4% to a record 5.22 million in 2016/17 on top of a record-breaking 2015/16 year that saw a 29% increase in visitation to 4.99 million.



Crisis Communications Award: Football Federation Australia
Australia’s major sports have had to deal with a range of high profile issues and crises over the past year, frequently being thrust into the media spotlight on a range of off-the-field matters.

Facing a range of challenges this year, Football Federation Australia (FFA) has consistently been clear and effective in its communications informing media and stakeholders of its views and visions.

Frequently thrust into media spotlight in having to communicate on high-profile matters that generate passion and input from a range of stakeholders, this Award recognises the FFA’s Communications, Marketing and Corporate Affairs team for their high levels of skills and professionalism.

Note for Editors: Australasian Leisure Management magazine and the www.ausleisure.com website are the only business media in the leisure industry in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Published bi-monthly since 1997, with news and features covering aquatics, attractions, entertainment, events, fitness, parks, recreation, sport, tourism and venues, the magazine has over 10,500 readers while Google Analytics shows that the website attracts 35,000 page views each month.

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