The winner was announced at the closing session of the 52nd ICCA Congress, taking place 2-6 November in Shanghai, China-P.R.. Gdansk Convention Bureau was awarded for its Christmas CSR Campaign held during EIBTM 2012.

When EU funds dried up, Gdansk Convention Bureau used their creativity to re-imagine their impact on the market. Their goals were to attract 8-10% more guests to their stand at EIBTM 2012, to have higher quality meetings at the stand, to meet more association and corporate meeting planners (instead of the rising number of agencies) and to attract the attention of international media.

They reached these goals by creating a Christmas atmosphere at the Gdansk stand, and engaging visitors to make their own personal Christmas bauble. All baubles were sent to a chosen Children organization in Barcelona. They also donated 250 EUR to bring Christmas gifts for the children from the chosen Children’s House, and exhibitors and buyers were informed and inspired prior to EIBTM about the possibility to join the project and bring gifts to their stand. After the tradeshow, Gdansk Convention Bureau encouraged all exhibitors to bring promotional gifts that were left over to the Gdansk stand, to subsequently donate to the children. 

Simone Sfeir, General Manager of Bedouk Event Sourcing Solutions, the sponsor of ICCA’s Best Marketing Award and part of the judging panel: “Gdansk Convention Bureau’s campaign stood out because of its simplicity, and shows how you can create a large impact with small means by being creative. We thought their Christmas Baubles Campaign was a great CSR initiative that reached their clearly defined objectives. They won the sympathy vote of many ICCA Congress delegates.”

ICCA CEO Martin Sirk: “It is one thing to create a great marketing campaign when you have got the resources, but when budgets are slashed, that's when u really need to unleash creativity. In a Nutschell: what Gdansk presented ïs one of the best examples I have ever seen of creating a high-impact marketing campaign on a small budget."

Anna Gorska (CEO) and Marta Wisniewska (CVB Coordinator), of the Gdansk Convention Bureau, upon receiving the Award: "We are more than honoured to receive the ICCA Best Marketing Award and at the same time we would like to congratulate the other finalists. We are convinced that even small projects with a very small budget can become a great success when you put your heart in them. We hope the Gdansk Christmas Baubles project will inspire ICCA Colleagues around the world to run similar CSR projects to solve problems within their own community.”

Congratulations also go out to the other finalists of this year's Best Marketing Award: Melbourne Convention Bureau, Palais des Congres de Montreal and VisitDenmark. The four finalists presented their successful marketing campaigns at the the 52nd ICCA Congress in Shanghai, China-P.R..

The ICCA Best Marketing Award, established in 1997, recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of organisations in their effort to market their destination or product. Entries can range from full scale campaigns and branding exercises to individual promotions and events. The ICCA Best Marketing Award is sponsored by Bedouk Meetings & Events Media (http://www.bedouk.com) and is open to ICCA members only.

ICCA celebrated its 50th Anniversary during the 52nd ICCA Congress, which took place in Shanghai, China-P.R. with a record-breaking number of  936 participants from 61 countries; the highest attendance for an ICCA Congress outside Europe.

- ENDS

For more information on the ICCA Best Marketing Award and a detailed description of the marketing campaigns of this year's and past finalists visit: http://bma.iccaworld.com

Download a high-res version of the accompanying picture from our website: http://www.iccaworld.com/cnt/files/PR/BMA_Winner2.jpg

Picture caption: "From left to right: ICCA President Arnaldo Nardone, Anna Gorska (CEO of Gdansk Convention Bureau), Simone Sfeir (General Manager of Bedouk Event Sourcing Solutions) and Marta Wisniewska (CVB Coordinator of Gdansk Convention Bureau)

Download a high-res version of the ICCA Best Marketing Award 2013 logo: http://www.iccaworld.com/cnt/files/IBMA marque 2013_COL.jpg

For more information on the ICCA Congress please visit: http://www.iccaworld.com/dbs/congress2013

About ICCA
ICCA - The International Congress and Convention Association - represents the main specialists in organising, transporting and accommodating international meetings and events, comprising almost 1,000 member companies and organisations over 90 countries worldwide. ICCA is the only international meetings association specialised in the international association meetings market, and has been tracking international association meetings for 50 years; ICCA is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013. ICCA has five regional offices in addition to its Head Office in Amsterdam, with established operations already serving Asia-Pacific, North- and Latin America, and new regional offices in the Middle East and Africa. For more information about ICCA visit www.iccaworld.com. 

For background information on ICCA please check out the ICCA Press Kit: http://www.iccaworld.com/npps/iccapresskit.cfm