WDMP Scoops Grand Prix at DMA Awards for Monarch Airlines Augmented Reality Campaign

Direct response and relationship marketing agency WDMP won the top accolade at last night’s 2013 DMA Awards for its Direct campaign for Monarch Airlines, beating off stiff competition from other top agencies including M&C Saatchi, Havas EHS, Publicis Chemistry and Lida to walk away with the Grand Prix award.

The DMA Awards were held last night at the City of London’s Old Billingsgate. To view the full list of winners at the 2013 DMA Awards, please visit: http://www.dmaawards.org.uk/2013-winners.

WDMP’s Monarch campaign, also winner of the DMA’s Gold Award for Best Direct Mail Campaign, was in response to a brief to help the airline punch above its weight and build its reputation and revenue in the competitive ski sector.

It combined strong creativity with clever use of marketing technology to create awareness around Monarch’s new ski routes, while creating engagement and stand-out amongst the key independent skier target audience.

The campaign broke down the barriers between online and offline by using an innovative supersized mailpack to drive customer curiosity when it arrived through their letter box and then create an enhanced experience using augmented reality that enabled skiers to explore the routes via a virtual reality 3D Monarch Mountain for destination inspiration, get ski advice from British Triple Olympian Chemmy Alcott and also book their flights directly.  In addition, it enabled Monarch to reach a bigger audience than its own prospect pool by offering excellent content and ‘shareability’ through social media.

Overall, the campaign delivered over £2.2 million in revenue.

Congratulating WDMP on winning the Grand Prix, Mark Runacus, chair of the DMA Awards committee and director of loyalty & relationship management for Karmarama, said, “The Grand Prix was very hotly contested, so I congratulate WDMP for showing how a genuinely insight-driven, multi-channel approach – without a huge budget – can deliver impressive ROI.” 

Craig Wheeler, Managing Director at WDMP, added, “It takes a brave client to back a brave creative idea; especially when it has never been done before in your sector and you don’t have the budget of some of your bigger competitors.  So I am delighted for the Monarch Team, and the team here at WDMP, that all our hard work has been recognised with such a prestigious award from the DMA.  It doesn’t get better than this.”

The Grand Prix is selected from amongst the 39 Gold Award winners over the night, recognising the ‘best of the best’ in direct marketing across the UK.  The DMA Awards is the most prestigious awards programme to recognise and celebrate the best and brightest talents working in today’s direct marketing industry. Entries were judged by 200 senior professionals with judging teams comprising copywriters, art directors, data planners, media buyers, planners, clients and sector specialists. Each campaign was judged individually and then by group discussion on three key criteria: strategy, creativity and results.

The DMA Awards were held last night at the City of London’s Old Billingsgate. To view the full list of winners at the 2013 DMA Awards, please visit: http://www.dmaawards.org.uk/2013-winners.