APN's Oz campaign wins global award

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Herald publisher APN NZ Media has won a prestigious global marketing and advertising award.

The APN and Tourism Australia: Explore Your Australian Passions campaign won the "Best Marketing Solution for an Advertising Client" category at the International News Media Association Awards (INMA) in the United States.

Working in partnership with Tourism Australia and its media agency OMD, APN created a cohesive 12-month content marketing, media and creative strategy to drive quality audience engagement across mobile, tablet, desktop and print.

APN group advertising director David Hoath described the award as "a fantastic achievement for the team who has worked incredibly hard to deliver fantastic results for our client. This fully integrated campaign across editorial, sales, digital and marketing has delivered unprecedented results with over a million Kiwis visiting Australia for the first time ever in 2013."

The APN marketing team also won second place for the Herald's 150th birthday reader promotion in the "Best Idea to Grow Single Copy Sales" category and second place in the "Best Idea to Grow Subscription Sales" for their "Partnering for Sustained Growth" strategy focused on partnering with businesses to offer their customers trial subscriptions.

APN's chief marketing officer, Kursten Shalfoon, said he was thrilled with the recognition.

"We're standing tall with some amazing brands such as the New York Times, South China Morning Post and London's Evening Standard.

"We're feeling very proud right now," Mr Shalfoon said.

"It's been an absolute privilege working on the Herald's 150th birthday celebration. It's not every day you get to work on such a milestone event with such an iconic brand."

The INMA 2014 Awards, presented at the San Francisco World Congress, recognised 90 marketing and sales campaigns judged the best worldwide in the media industry.