Super League marketing awards

Bradford Bulls took two awards, Best Gameday Experience and Best Internet Site, at the engage Super League Awards Night held at Headingley last week.

The Bulls were also nominated in Best PR & Media, Best Mascot, Best Matchday Magazine and Best Community Programme.

Bulls Media & PR Manager, Stuart Duffy said today:

?We are delighted that we have been recognised within the game for the standards we try to set at Odsal. All the clubs have performed excellently this year and to win two awards and be nominated in four others is a great achievement and honour and is testimony to the hard working staff we have at the club who strive to keep it at the forefront of the game.?

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The Huddersfield Giants are today celebrating after winning the 'Most Improved Marketing Operation' title at Super League's Awards Ceremony in Leeds. Pictured claiming the award from the Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications Simon Malcolm, are Giants Marketing Officer Jonathan Wilkinson and Giants Community Marketing Manager Lisa Jagger.

Speaking of the award, Wilkinson commented "It's a massive honour for the club to win this award and represents the huge amount of work done behind the scenes in order for the Giants marketing to function. It's a team effort at the Giants and a massive coup for the club, but we are keen to push on next year and have some exciting plans for the Giants engage Super League campaign."

Giants General Manager Richard Thewlis commented "I am delighted that Super League have acknowledged the fantastic work that is going on at the club which resulted in our gates rising by over 22% and season ticket base by over 80%.

"The staff here work long and hard to spread the Giants gospel and these awards can only help. It would be wrong too not to acknowledge the help of our supporters in creating such a positive buzz around the town at the moment in respect of what the Giants are doing and where we are heading.

"Over 24,000 Community contacts have been made by our development staff alone this year - a figure which I expect to rise next year and we can now confidently say on the back of our Sky TV rating of 10 out of 10 that we offer the best value family day out in the competition in the superb setting of the Galpharm Stadium. Our policy of free admission for all under 12's be they Giants or opposition supporters has gone well as has the Richard Allan backed 7's scheme which enabled around 1000 youngsters to have a 2005 Giants replica shirt. Both schemes are to be continued into 2006 and I am confident both will continue to grow our supporter base which is a clear goal of the club.

"It really is a very very exciting time to be a Giants supporter and I look forward to being able to announce that further marketing goals are being exceeded in the run up to Super League XI."

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Harlequins RL were awarded a special discretionary award at the engage Super League Club Awards on 8th December at Headingley Lodge. The award was given to recognize the excellent transition and re-branding Harlequins RL has made from being London Broncos.

The awards are intended to recognise excellence and good practice by clubs during the 2005 engage Super League season in areas of their business such as PR, marketing, commercial activity and community development.

A number of discretionary awards are also made at the event to recognise activity which does not fall into established categories. The judging was carried out by an independent panel.

Harlequins RL (as London Broncos) were also nominated for Best PR and Media, Best Match Day Magazine, and Best Internet Site.

The club was also recognized as runner up for the special engage Partnership Award by Super League?s main sponsors engage Mutual Assurance.

Chief Executive Nic Cartwright was delighted with the awards, ?Our team has done an excellent job and worked extremely hard to make the transition from London Broncos to Harlequins Rugby League. Our goal was to make the launch as big as possible and we received excellent press coverage.?

?The club continues to work hard in establishing an excellent programme in marketing, community, and commercial work for next season, and we are already beginning to see the benefits of this.

?It is an honour to be recognised for our efforts and with our new name, set-up and stadium, we look forward to challenging for many awards next year.?

Community Marketing Manager Kurt Pittman was pleased for the club to be recognized for its work with engage. ?Our club has always had an excellent relationship with engage. We share many of the same goals for work in the community. We look forward to working even more extensively with them next season.?

2006 Harlequins RL season tickets are now on sale. Prices start at ?99 for adults, and great seats are still available. Call 0208 410 6000 to book now or order online at www.quins.co.uk.

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Leeds Rhinos picked up three awards at the Annual Super League Marketing Awards with Blue & Amber named Programme of the Year for the fourth year running.
The Rhinos programme has now been voted the best in Super League in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. The Rhinos also retained the title of Best Media & PR Department having won the award for the first time last year.
The Rhinos also received an award for Best Strategic Commercial Partner for our partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University.
The club were also nominated for best community programme, best club website and best mascot.
Commenting on the awards Media & PR Manager Phil Daly said, "The awards for the programme and our media and PR work are fantastic and great recognition for the hard work and dedication by a lot of people involved with the club. A big thank you must go to Ignition Publications who design and print the programme to such a high standard. We have worked closely on the programme for the last three years and the results have been shown in the amount of programmes we sell each game. We won the Programme of the Year for the Tykes as well this year so it is a real boost. I must thank Pete Smith and Phil Caplan for their excellent contribution to the programme."
Marketing Manager Abigail Furniss added, "Our partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University is highly innovative and far reaching. This award recognises the unique working relationship we have had with the University this year and hopefully it will grow even stronger in the years to come."

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Wakefield Trinity Wildcats? prolific mascot ?Daddy Cool? has scooped the engage Super League Mascot of the Year award in the 2006 Super League marketing awards. The awards, held at Headingley Stadium, celebrate all the good work done by Super League clubs off the pitch. Daddy Cool fought off stiff competition from Bradford Bulls? Bull-Boy and Leeds Rhinos? Ronnie the Rhino to win the top-prize.

The award recognised the level of entertainment which Daddy Cool brings the Wildcats fans, but also the huge amount of work he does in the community.

Speaking on behalf of Daddy Cool, Wildcats marketing manager Ed Curran said ?It?s a great prize for the Wildcats, Daddy Cool is present in a Wakefield School every single day during the week, backing up the healthy eating assemblies and free coaching that our community department deliver, whilst on a matchday he continues to entertain and sometimes amaze fans with his antics?

The Wildcats marketing department was presented with a commerative plaque in recognition of the prize.

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Warrington Wolves Community Team have bagged the Best Community Programme award for the 5th time in 6 years at the 2005 engage Super League Marketing Awards evening at Headingley on Thursday evening.

Winning the award 4 times in a row before losing out to Leeds Rhinos last season, this years award is testament to the hard work of the Community Team with the programme at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium being held up as the benchmark for other clubs to aspire to.

The Wolves beat top Yorkshire clubs Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls to the award and a delighted Sean Mellor and Community team were on hand to accept their certificate from Simon Malcolm of the Rugby Football League.

The Wolves also picked up one of a number of discretionary awards of the evening for "Best Tactical Marketing Campaign" for the effort and succes of managing the signing and merchandising of Andrew Johns.