Awards Review of 2007

As the December issue of Promo News is being issued, the British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) is about to make its annual awards during the Association's annual Christmas lunch in London on 19th December.

Awards will be made for The Entrepreneur of the Year, The Most Innovative Product or Service, The Company of the Year, The Website of the Year, Best Newcomer and Employer of the Industry. The announcement of winners will be posted on the blog here on Promo News as soon as we receive the info and pics following the event.

It's not surprising that awards abound in this industry, which is, after all, all about incentives and rewards, so let's look back at some awards announced during the past 12 months.

BPMA AWARDS
It was at about this time last year that the 2006 BPMA Awards were announced.
The winners of the fourth annual BPMA Awards were announced at the BPMA's annual Christmas Lunch at the Langham Hotel, London, on Thursday 14th December 2006.

The winner of the Best Newcomer Award, Sponsored by Sanford Brands, was KYP Systems, with the award for the Most Innovative Product or Service, sponsored by Promotional Marketing Exhibition 2007, going to Bedlam Puzzles. Danny Bamping, the driving force behind the Bedlam Cube puzzle, also won the first ever BPMA Entrepreneur of the Industry Award.

The Promotional Marketing Exhibition 2007 scooped the Best Website Marketing Award, sponsored by 3M with the Make it Happen Award, sponsored by The National Incentive Show, going to John King of Sweet Temptations (picture below).

Pace Network, a global transport and distribution specialist, won the prestigious Company of the Year Award, which was sponsored by the BPMA.

A long-standing member of the Board of the British Promotional Merchandise Association, Margot Parker, was awarded the BPMA Sword of Honour. The sword of honour also confers fellowship of the BPMA. This prestigious honour is granted to those who have demonstrated dedication to the promotions industry and to the service of the BPMA. www.bpma.co.uk

PROMO NEWS AWARDS
The Promotional Marketing Exhibition at London's Olympia in April was also the scene for much award giving, in fact Promo News itself gave awards for the website of the year. The Gold Award went to Oldeani for the company's healthcare website, the Silver going to Groovy Chocolate and the bronze to Leighman's Group. Pictured above are L to R Ash Ali – Marketing Manager, Promotional-Merchandise.org.uk, Andy Fairburn – Groovy Chocolate (Silver Award), Malcolm Fritschy – Oldeani (Gold Award) , Gail Holm – Promotional Marketing Exhibition, Carol Blackford-Mills – MRS Web Solutions, Mike Rea (MRS) and Ian Allchild – Chairman of Promotional Marketing Exhibition (on behalf of Leighman's – Bronze Award)

PROMOTIONAL MARKETING EXHIBITION AWARDS
Volume Exhibitions, organisers of the Promotional Marketing Exhibition also made a number of awards at the show:

Most Innovative Product was won by 'i name it' for their personalised calendar,

Most Innovative Service was taken by Pace Network for the company's on-stand one-to-one consultancy service on fulfilment, distribution and global logistics, (Picture shows L to R - Simon Tilley – MD, Promotional Marketing Exhibition, Bhavna Mistry – Editor, Promotions and Incentive Magazine (judge), Andy Smith – Development Director, Tina Dormer – Director, Tom Doll – Director Pace Europe.)

Best Pre-Show Promotion was awarded to Procurement International for their co-ordinated pre-show advertising and e-shot, and Best Exhibitor was judged to be Business Baubles.

The Promotional Marketing Exhibition team also chose to make a one-off award at the show, in memory of Victor Rosewell, a founding father of the promotions industry, who died in December 2006.

The Victor Rosewell Award was presented to Liz Karn, MD of Merit Promotional Clothing and a board member of the British Promotional Merchandise Association.

ISP AWARDS
In May 2007 the ISP awards were presented at the annual award ceremony. There were far too many awards to mention here, but I've chosen one or two to highlight.

The ISP Grand Prix was awarded for The Eurostar Quest by Eurostar UK Ltd and agency Space (who also won Gold awards in four categories). www.isp.org.uk

IMC EUROPEAN AWARDS
UK agencies secured three-quarters of the Gold awards as well as the Grand Prix in the IMC European Awards and the above mentioned Eurostar Quest promotion won the Grand Prix and four Golds at a ceremony on December 7 2007 for UK nominees. The campaign to drive sales and boost brand awareness for Eurostar was created by London-based agency Space and qualified for entry by winning an ISP Award in May.

As well as the Grand Prix, UK agencies won 13 Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in total at the ceremony, held as part of the ISP Christmas Lunch at the Langham Hotel, London. They were hosted by BBC presenter, Nicholas Owen.

Pictured here are, left to right: Presenter Nicholas Owen, ISP deputy chair Becky Munday, ISP chair Clive Mishon and the team from Space, with Isabella Prosser of EACA third from right, at the awards ceremony.

AWARDS FROM OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY
Practioners in this industry also nominated for awards from elsewhere. Matt Turner, the 23yr old entrepreneurial brain behind design and print group, Creative Pod and creator of the previously featured Flipmat, has been nominated for several awards during 2007. Among them 'Young Entrepreneur'(Federation of Small Business), the UK, 'Young Entrepreneur of Europe' (Business Week Magazine), where he reached the final 3 and the 'Entrepreneur of Crawley' where he was runner up.
www.creative-pod.com

SUPPLYING AWARDS
The UK promotions industry also supplies awards for other industries, for sporting events, long service awards, etc., etc. Crystal Impressions, who supplied the awards for the Promotional Marketing Exhibition 2007, have also supplied awards for famous names such as His Holiness the Pope, Elton John, and Baron De Rothchild. www.3dcrystalart.co.uk

Stars from the world's of motor racing, including Britain's Lewis Hamilton (pictured right), rugby, football, golf and tennis are included in a glittering line-up of sporting elite to have recently received awards designed and produced by Special EFX.

For the third year running, Special EFX was commissioned to produce the Autosport Awards, where its stunning Art Deco influenced winged figure in solid-cast mirror-polished aluminium was presented to the sport's leading manufacturers and drivers.

Other recent commissions include the production of polished aluminium awards with full-colour decoration for the BlackRock international tennis tournament and a trio of elegantly tapering polished pewter trophies for the Mercedes Trophy 2007 – the world's largest and most popular golf tournament. www.awardefx.co.uk

And it looks like 2008 will see many more awards being made within this industry and that producers in this industry will be supplying even more awards to a wider audience. As Melanie Osborne, sales director of Special EFX, concludes, "Demand for awards has certainly increased in recent years as companies increasingly look for alternatives to pure cash as a means of rewarding and motivating their employees," comments Special EFX's sales director, Melanie Osborne.

"People are working harder and often longer hours than ever and in many cases it's just not possible to recompense them fully financially. However an award has an intrinsic value far greater than any cash payment, as it makes an open public statement of a person's real worth to a company, whatever their status within the organisation."

"Sponsors are becoming increasingly demanding in the quality of awards they present," says Melanie, "whereas something relatively plain and simply personalised would have been the choice a few years ago, sponsoring companies are now demanding dramatic unique individually designed awards that reflect fully the perceived values of their brand and of the scheme itself."

And it is not just larger companies, organisations and public bodies that are demanding unique awards, the trend now spans the market, with entities both large and small requesting their own unique creations.

"Companies want something that truly stands out on the 'big night' of the award presentation," affirms Melanie, "and that the lucky recipient will cherish and delight in displaying to friends, family and work colleagues."

Here at Promo News we are delighted to publicise awards you have won or given, so send us your award news and pics and let the whole industry know just what you or your company has achieved or awarded.

Carole Bull
Editor.

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