Vie Marketing and Nick Baker get top AMI gongs as Lorna Jane founder takes outstanding contribution award
A campaign created by Vie Marketing which helped save an 80-year-old family run farm from closure won the Australian Marketing Institute’s Program of the Year last night, with Tourism Australia’s Nick Baker heralded the year’s top individual marketer.
Brisbane-based Vie developed the ‘Saving a Farm and Family’s Legacy’ campaign for Queensland dairy farm Scenic Rim after the owner, Greg Dennis, could no longer make ends meet by working with his milk processing partner who was intent on slashing rates.
Dennis was faced with walking away from the business or processing, bottling and marketing his own milk – a strategy which paid off.
Vie created ‘Farmer Gregie’ and in an integrated media and social campaign helped establish 4Real Milk as a sought after brand which, judges said “helped carve out a long-term sustainable market free from the market dominance of the major retailers and at a realistic margin”.
The campaign also won the best new brand, product or service launch category.
Nick Baker, who this week announced he will step down as Tourism Australia’s executive general marketing manager in January, was named AMI’s marketer of the year, with judges praising the “outstanding campaigns” run by Baker, including Restaurant Australia. His contribution to best practice in customer engagement and content marketing was also singled out.
“The Institute is thrilled to recognise Nick’s dedication and contribution to the marketing profession. It is fitting and a testament to his dedication that he has received further accolades from the AMI,” chief executive Lee Tonitto said.
Meanwhile, the Sir Charles McGrath Award for most significant contribution to the marketing profession went to Lorna Jane founder, Lorna Jane Clarkson, for her “series of outstanding successes” including the expansion into the US, annual growth rate of 40 per cent and her “contribution to best practice in customer engagement and embrace of digital marketing”.
The Future Leader Award went to Barnardos Australia marketing and communications officer Sarah Mathews with judges impressed with her “clear sense of purpose” and an “inclusive working style”.
Other category winners:
Brand Extension: Fair Go Banking; Newcastle Permanent Building Society
Brand Revitalisation: Taste the Bundaberg Brewed Truth; Bundaberg Brewed Beverages and BCM
Consumer Insight: Pride and Patchy Crops; Bayer
Content Marketing: Content Marketing Strategy; University of Southern Queensland
Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR at Manheim; Supporting Kids Under Cover | Manheim Pty Ltd
Digital Marketing: Monday’s the New Sunday; Icon (icon.inc and icon.pr)
Education: “It’s my university. Make it yours”; Australian Catholic University
Experiential and Brand Experiences: ClicktoSave; St John Ambulance WA
Internal Marketing: Staff Giving Program; La Trobe University
Loyalty Programs: Bayer ‘Accelerate’; Synchro Marketing
Marketing Communications (Business to Business): Reengagement of Aussie Home Loan Brokers; MyState
Marketing Communications (Business to Consumer): How Mr iSelect Became the Unlikely Hero of Health Insurance; iSelect and AJF Partnership
Marketing on a Shoestring: Illicit Drug Campaign; ACT Policing
New Brand, Product or Service Launch: Saving a Farm and Family’s Legacy; VIE Marketing
Social Marketing: Ungiven Gifts; Graffiti Group Pty Ltd
Sponsorship: Wipe off 5; Graffiti Group Pty Ltd
Sustainable Marketing: Sustainability at Mater; Mater Health Services