TEQUILA\, PROXIMITY SHARES TOP HONOURS AT NZ DIRECT + INTERACTIVE MARKETING AWARDS

Spectacularly increasing donations on a shoestring budget for Oxfam’s innovative pre-Xmas ‘Unwrapped’ campaign has won TEQUILA\ the top RSVP Grand Prix award at the NZ Direct & Interactive Marketing Awards for the third consecutive year. The other major award, the Supreme NEXUS, went to Proximity iD for the seventh time in eight years. On this occasion, the digital and data marketing agency has been recognised for its highly targeted e-marketing catalogues promoting individual wine offers to Progressive Enterprises’ Onecard members.
For a viral campaign to promote Oxfam New Zealand’s ‘Unwrapped’ promotion. TEQUILA\, together with animation company Krafthaus and digital supplier TouchPoint, made a ‘pop music video’ for the band “Oxfarm”. Their song, “Don’t buy crap this Christmas” enticed more people than ever before to forgo Christmas presents for their friends and family and donate money to Oxfam instead.
TEQUILA\ MD Mike Larmer was blown away by this year’s success: “It’s another great year for TEQUILA\,” he said. “But the best thing about the RSVPs is that it’s about great work that gets results. Our Oxfam piece won because it delivered outstanding results for the client, and indeed for people who need extra help all over the world,” he said.
Group CD for TBWA\Whybin\TEQUILA, Andy Blood, commented: “It takes a whole village to raise a child. And the Oxfam Grand Prix is living testament to that. A seamless collaboration between TEQUILA\ and TBWA creative teams, it also wouldn’t have happened without some very generous help from some unsung players: Joel Tobeck, Bruce at DP, and Krafthouse in Wellington.”
The NZ Direct & Interactive Marketing Awards, organised by the Marketing Association, comprise two series of awards: the RSVP Awards, for the best examples of direct and interactive marketing campaigns judged on strategy, creative, and results; and the NEXUS Awards, for the best products, services and processes that drive campaigns. The full results for this year’s awards are available at www.nzdirectmarketingawards.co.nz

RSVP Grand Prix winner
Sue McCarty, Chief Executive of the Marketing Association, said “TEQUILA\’s ‘Unwrapped’ campaign for Oxfam NZ succeeded on so many levels, not least of which was the worthy cause involving the sending of highly practical and valuable gifts from Kiwis to parts of the world in desperate need. These included teacher training, shares in coffee plantations, as well as donkeys and goats! The fresh approach taken by TEQUILA\, including a humorous viral video, allowed Oxfam to connect to a much wider group of generous New Zealanders. And all of this was achieved on a very modest marketing budget. Congratulations to TEQUILA\ for the third consecutive year!”
In addition to the Grand Prix, the Oxfam Unwrapped campaign secured two gold medals for TEQUILA\ in the Sales Generation and Shoe String Budget categories.

Supreme NEXUS winner
According to Sue McCarty, “Proximity iD has a near stranglehold on the Supreme NEXUS award, having now won it every time bar one in the last eight years. The highly sophisticated personalisation that Proximity iD has achieved with the Onecard Wine programme is truly world class, even attracting the attention of the United States Direct Marketing Association in December with an NCDM Gold medal. Well done again to Proximity iD.”
In addition to the Supreme NEXUS, the Onecard Wine programme secured two golds for Proximity iD in the Strategic Vision and Products & Services categories; four silvers in Customer & Market Insight, Innovation, CRM & Data Management, and Media & Channel Utilisation respectively; as well as a bronze medal in Production & Fulfilment.

Other RSVP Gold Medal winners
Other RSVP Gold Medal awards included three golds to Connect Communications, two of these for the SkyCity Rocket to Riches campaign and one for TelstraClear’s The Lab campaign; OgilvyOne secured a gold for the Life Pharmacy Living Card Loyalty Programme; JustONE picked up a gold for the ADT Burglar Welcome Mat; Origin Design won a gold for Contact Energy’s I Can Make a Difference campaign; Black secured a gold for This Puppy Needs You for the Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind; and TOUCH/CAST NEXT won a gold for Weta Limited’s Rayguns campaign.

Other Nexus Gold Medal winners
Other NEXUS Gold Medal awards included two golds to Tango Communications for the TVNZ OnDemand campaign; a gold to The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi for the Augmented Reality campaign for Wellington Zoo; and a gold to justONE, e-volution and Touchpoint for SUBWAY’s SUBCARD campaign.