2007 Big Business Award
Paul Jaju (left) and Norman Fox of NRMA and Lucy Ozcan of CMC Markets
The NRMA has driven off with the Big Business Award from the 2007 National Multicultural Marketing Awards presentations in Sydney.
Hosted by the Premier and Minister for Citizenship, Morris Iemma, the dinner saw the NRMA beat off challenges from other big competitors including Western Union and Telstra Big Pond, to win the coveted trophy.
The National Multicultural Marketing Awards, staged by the Community Relations Commission For a multicultural NSW, have been running for eighteen years, as a means of drawing attention to organisations who work successfully in a culturally diverse society.
The Chair of the Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said tonight: "Curiously the NRMA, which has been a household name for decades, had not previously targeted potential members or customers by way of ethnic background or language. Their success this year is an important lesson for other large mainstream organisations who have not yet embraced the concept of marketing directly to identifiable segments of the community.
"This campaign to boost membership numbers of the motoring organisation and to find new businesss for NRMA Insurance amongst the Chinese community used very clever and professional techniques which the Commission has seen developing over the past two decades", he said.
The promotion, guided by the Sydney company Multicultural Marketing Group, (MMG ), capitalised on the spirit of renewal inherent in the Chinese New Year period. With 2007 as the Year of the Pig the concept woven into the campaign was that a pig person is perceived to be someone you can trust, someone who wouldn't let you down, just like a car under NRMA care.
That message was reinforced by special advertising during this auspicious time, an NRMA presence at New Year celebrations and by relevant front line staff in NRMA local offices specially briefed to deliver accurate messages to Chinese speaking clients.
"An obvious reason for the success of this campaign, which reportedly pushed up membership by 18 percent and insurance business by 37 percent, was that it was specifically designed for the Chinese community. It was not a translated version of a mainstream campaign. In other words they made the campaign culturally relevant and unique to that community.
"For 18 years the Commission has been encouraging this approach. Each year there have been success stories just like that of the NRMA emanating from government business and community, as managers fully appreciate the benefits of speaking directly to potential customers with messages that always hit the mark, " Mr Kerkyasharian said.
The Big Business Category is sponsored by CMC markets.