The Sixth UFI Marketing Trophy is awarded to Suntec Singapore Int’l Convention and Exhibition Centre. The announcement was made at the UFI Open Summer Seminar in Helsinki, Finland. Elena Arabadjieva…
The Sixth UFI Marketing Trophy is awarded to Suntec Singapore Int’l Convention and Exhibition Centre. The announcement was made at the UFI Open Summer Seminar in Helsinki, Finland. Elena Arabadjieva, Director of Marketing Services & Communications for Suntec Singapore, accepted the UFI trophy from UFI President Tom Beyer and Berislav Cizmek, UFI Marketing Committee Chairman. Semi-finalists for the 2006 competition were: CES, USA; CeBit, Hannover; Excel, London; Messe Munchen, Munich; RAI, Amsterdam, and Suntec, Singapore.
The theme of this year’s competition was “Best ideas to Win Customers” and Suntec Singapore’s winning entry challenged its prospective target segment to find out “What is missing in your Strategy.” The Suntec entry was selected for its clear problem definition and effective solution proposals and resulting high return on investment. Suntec Singapore’s entry was clearly a winner with tangible results including a 34% response rate and 21 potential international events under consideration for 2006-2009.
Conceptualised by local ad agency Chuo Senko and produced in-house, the Suntec Singapore direct marketing campaign was designed to attract potential international event organisers, professional associations and corporate meeting organizers to the Singapore venue, by stressing the professional competence of its staff and the flexible quality of its facilities. A teaser chess set, missing the King and Queen, was mailed to a select audience. Personal follow-up calls by the Suntec Singapore team were made when customers requested the missing chess pieces.
The campaign message went straight to the point “You can’t win a game of chess without your key players and you can’t deliver a successful event without a reliable partner.” The Suntec Singapore team made it clear that they are ready to provide the key to a successful strategic partnership.
2006 entries submitted to the UFI Marketing Committee Jury were received from exhibition organizers and venues in countries as far ranging as the USA, Romania, the UK and China. This year’s contest was more competitive than usual as, for the first time, the contest was open to entries from both UFI members and non-members.
“We are delighted and honoured to receive the UFI Marketing Award 2006. It is great to be recognised for our marketing efforts as they reflect very closely the fact that we are the business of delivering customer experience. This campaign’s objective was to develop a creative, modestly budgeted, DM campaign which would educate and entertain potential customers and in the process generate new business – and these objectives were all achieved!” Suntec Singapore`s CEO Warren J. Buckley commented from Singapore.
The UFI trophy provides international recognition for innovative approaches to exhibition related challenges. UFI’s 2006 Marketing Award once again acknowledges a uniquely creative solution to an age-old marketing conundrum.
UFI President Tom Beyer applauded the winner saying, “Suntec Singapore stands out as an organisation able to develop innovative marketing campaigns providing solid results. This campaign definitely merits it’s trophy for the 2006 UFI Marketing Award.”
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