16 October 2009
Marketing professionals from around Wales gathered at Cardiff's Park Plaza last night (15 October) for the Canmol: Wales Marketing Awards, sponsored by University of Wales. Newport.Five winners, including Princes Gate Spring Water, Catnic (Corus UK), South Wales Police, Wrexham County Borough Council and GreenThumb Ltd scooped Canmol trophies at the event, now in its second year.
Launched in July 2008, Canmol was created by The Chartered Institute of Marketing to celebrate and promote excellence in the marketing industry in Wales and to recognise the crème de la crème of marketing practitioners.
Thirteen marketing experts, including Imaginet's Paula Dauncey, judged the entries under the Chairmanship of Jonathan Deacon, Newport Business School and Chair of the Wales Board of The Institute, and with no categories or boundaries, the judges were looking for innovative marketers demonstrating integrated campaigns and brilliant results.
Jonathan Deacon said: "Following the success of the first Canmol Awards, we had high expectations for Canmol 2009, and we were not disappointed. There was a tremendous buzz around the awards and an immense sense of pride from the 15 shortlisted companies. It was a very difficult task selecting the winners from a wealth of excellent campaigns, however five entries stood out in particular for their creative, innovative and strategic thinking, as well as their ability to achieve brilliant results often with reduced budgets."
Caerphilly based Catnic (Corus UK), a leading brand in the building products sector, stood out for the re-launch of its lintel range, while north Wales based lawn care company, GreenThumb Ltd, captured the judges imaginations with its cartoon advertising campaign. Narberth based water manufacturer, Princes Gate Spring Water, impressed judges with its rebrand to appeal to 25 to 34 year old women, while South Wales Police’s campaign to raise awareness of its citizen focused policing approach demonstrated brilliant results and Wrexham County Borough Council scooped an award for its Happy Days library promotion campaign.
Richard Houdmont, Director for Wales of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, commented: "We were delighted by the success of the first Canmol Awards in 2008, and now in their second year they have continued to grow, generating an incredibly high standard of entries and gaining support from marketing professionals across Wales. Proving that Wales is rich in creative and marketing talent and you don’t need a big budget or a huge team to get results.
"This year’s Canmol Awards have set the standard for marketing professionals, while celebrating excellence within the marketing industry and we hope these awards will help spread best practice amongst practitioners in Wales."
Speaking from their offices in Cardiff, Paula Dauncey commented:
"I was very keen to see entries including new media in their marketing mix, particularly those that made innovative use of social media networks, like GreenThumb, which has a very popular Facebook fan page. Hoping to see even more of this next year!"
