Provincial rugby initiative recognised at prestigious ceremony in New York
 |
The Irish Independent has been awarded an international media award at a prestigious awards ceremony held in New York on Tuesday night (12th May).
The International News and Media Association (INMA) awarded the Irish Independent the accolade of ‘Best Idea to Grow Single Copy Sales’ for its provincial rugby supplements initiative. The Irish Independent has become the official partner to Leinster, Connacht and Munster Rugby in the past year. The supplements, which are free to the newspaper on a weekly basis, have helped increase circulation and revenue.
Some 190 newspapers from 38 countries submitted a total of 578 entries to the 80th annual INMA awards which celebrate the best international media sales and marketing initiatives.
Entries were subjected to a rigorous adjudication process, consisting of some 33 media executives from fifteen countries.
As part of the adjudication process, the INMA also looked at different aspects of the initiative including the Irish Independent's presence in the provincial stadia, activation on match days and their key initiatives with other sponsors such as Bank of Ireland and their joint 'Sponsor for a Day' competition as well as the impact of the initiative on product sales and circulation.
The Irish Independent fended off stiff competition from German newspaper ‘Bild’ and Norwegian title ‘VG’ to win the award.
The judging panel commended The Irish Independent for its “Strategic approach to targeting captive audiences with regionally specific content. The content was good, and the design and pictures captivated the hardcore fans. The link to rugby was well chosen, playing on the love of the Irish people for the game, and the regional focus enabled the publication to be very specific in its targeting. The judging panel was impressed by the publications’ embrace of rugby on a provincial and national level and how it developed this sponsorship to deliver on key business objectives.”
Speaking at the awards ceremony in New York, Marketing Director of INM, Geoff Lyons commented; “It is a real honour to see INM's work rewarded on the world stage. Our sponsorship of Provincial Rugby has allowed our brand permeate the game at every level from the Schools game right through to the professional game and has importantly allowed us to deliver a unique content offering for our readers and our advertisers. The project, and this great result for us would not be possible without the extraordinary effort from the team at INM in all departments of our company and of course the great work that the teams in Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby put in both on and off the pitch.”
Photo : Yasmin Namini, the President of the International News Media Association, presents INM marketing director Geoff Lyons with his trophy for the Irish Independent’s provincial rugby supplements at a ceremony in New York.
