Financial Services Forum Awards: Results bring rewards

A low-budget campaign by The Derbyshire building society has won Most Effective Advertising Campaign at The Financial Services Forum Awards for Marketing Effectiveness.

Entries to the awards, which are now in their fourth year, are judged on the results they have achieved, rather than creativity or budget size. The Derbyshire campaign was based on research which uncovered 'fairness' as a customer motivator. The work helped raise the company's profile to a national level.

The Forum is an invitation-only organisation comprising 300 members, 67% of whom hold roles at chief exec-utive, managing director or head of marketing level in financial services organisations.

The body, which has added 100 members in the past 18 months, excludes agencies, consultants and other vendors. However, the awards are open to all financial services companies or their agencies based anywhere in the world.

'Our awards remain the only ones committed to recognising and rewarding marketing effectiveness in financial services. Size of budget doesn't matter and creativity isn't judged - it is effectiveness that counts,' said Forum chief executive Anthony Thompson.

'This year's winners represent large and small brands and their work covers everything from small, very targeted tactical campaigns to multimillionpound rebrands. The one thing they all have in common is effectiveness.' THE DERBYSHIRE: Industry and bespoke research helped this regional building society identify that the notion of 'fairness' could be used as a motivating proposition. After just four months' marketing activity, it grew its customer base and boosted hits to its website. In 2004, it achieved record gross mortgage-lending and retail savings.

CHELTENHAM & GLOUCESTER: For years, C&G had mailed holders of fixed-rate bonds just before they matured, notifying them these would automatically mature into a standard savings account. When C&G decided to add the option of choosing another bond instead, it increased customer retention more than threefold during most months.

MORE TH>AN: The insurance firm successfully realigned its business strategy from being an entirely phone-based operation to one that generates a significant volume of sales over the internet. The addition of an online channel increased efficiency, reduced operating costs and has proved a success in all the company's product areas.

DATA FILE - CATEGORIES AND WINNERS MOST EFFECTIVE AD CAMPAIGN Winner - The Derbyshire Commended - Loans.co.uk - Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks - Virgin Money MOST EFFECTIVE INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN Winner - AXA - UK brand campaign 04/05 Commended - Sainsbury's Bank - The Derbyshire MOST EFFECTIVE DIRECT MARKETING CAMPAIGN Winner - Cheltenham & Gloucester - Fixed-rate Bond Maturity Commended - Co-operative Financial Services - Loans.co.uk - National Australia Bank Group MOST EFFECTIVE E-COMMERCE CAMPAIGN Winner - More Th>n Commended - National Savings & Investments - Portman BS MOST EFFECTIVE INTERNAL MARKETING Commended - Lloyds TSB - Commercial Finance - VOCA MOST EFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN Winner - Morgan Stanley - The Savvy Shopper programme - SAGA Services Good Hospitals Commended - More Th>n - The Motor Risk Report - Prudential - Lansons Communications and Prudential MOST EFFECTIVE MORTGAGE INITIATIVE Commended - Ulster Bank Group - First Active Current Account Mortgage MOST EFFECTIVE NEW PRODUCT, SERVICE OR INNOVATION Winner - Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks - ATM text-to speech audio lead-through solution Commended - Skipton Financial Services - Bank of Ireland - Britannia Building Society MOST EFFECTIVE SPONSORSHIP CAMPAIGN Commended - Norwich and Peterborough BS - Anglia TV Weather sponsorship JUDGES' SPECIAL AWARD FOR CUSTOMER INSIGHT Winner - Bank of Ireland - Amaar Property Finance (Islamic finance) JUDGES' SPECIAL AWARD FOR MARKETING LEARNING Winner - Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks - ATM text-to-speech audio lead-through solution MARKETER OF THE YEAR Winner - Peter Stringham, group general manager, marketing, HSBC Holdings Other finalists - Trevor Field, marketing director, Virgin Money - Colin Fyfe, marketing head, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks - Jim Hytner, brand and UK banking marketing director, Barclays - Jeremy Nicholds, general manager, Europe sales and marketing, MasterCard Europe

This article was first published on Marketing