2007 Advertising Award

Jessie Wong, Managing Director of Multicultural Marketing and Management with Paul Lennon (right) Marketing Manager, Meat and International, Heinz and John Lorenzo  of the Australian newspaper who presented the award

The humble can of corned beef is at the centre of an award winning project which has won the Advertising Award at the annual National Multicultural Marketing Awards presentation dinner in Sydney hosted by Premier and Minister for Citizenship, Morris Iemma.

The project carried out by a Sydney group – Multicultural Marketing and Management - was a simple exercise to boost sales of the Heinz Hamper Brand corned beef, to the Maltese and Filipino communities around the Australia.

The Maltese and Phillipine communities were chosen because it was found they consumed corned beef above the average rate for the community and really liked the idea of getting information, including news of promotions and competitions, in their first language.

Congratulating the winners, the Chair of the Community Relations Commission which has been running the awards for 18 years, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said: “This is a classic instance of a company effectively working the market place, through knowledge of ethnic communities and identification of their specific needs and desires. It was a very simple, clear and professional advertising and marketing campaign, proving yet again diversity is good for business.

“Through careful market research they discovered that one community liked corned beef for breakfast and the other for dinner. MMM geared their campaign to these preferences with translated and carefully-tested advertising material. This included the use of actors with appropriate ethnic appearances for the print advertisements and for recipe brochures.

“MMM created traditional appetising dishes using corned beef and presented them with modern styling and imagery. According to the company, market research indicated that because of the appeal of the advertising material people of both communities said they would in future buy the Heinz rather than any other brand.

“I think there is something very nice about a multinational food giant which is normally associated with basic foods like baked beans and tomato sauce carrying off a major award for successfully targetting specific ethnic communities. This is the kind of entry that keeps these awards alive and fresh after so many years”, Mr Kerkyasharian said.