IdeaWorks and Active win top retail marketing prize for Myer Wonderland at 2017 POPAI Awards

Myer has taken home Australia’s top retail marketing prize at the 2017 POPAI Marketing at Retail Awards with its innovative Wonderland concept in Sydney’s CBD, designed and executed by IdeaWorks and Active.

Wonderland took out several of the major prizes at the Awards Gala Dinner, held last night at Doltone House Jones Bay Wharf, including the Tom Harris ‘best in show’ Marketing at Retail prize, Best Design & Innovation, Best Permanent Display, and The People’s Choice Award.

Other big winners were Active’s Disney Incredibly Magical Personalisation Station for The Walt Disney Company for Best Temporary Display, while Best Shopper Experience went to the Supercheap Auto Scan & Discover Kiosk by Selmor Displays and Lateral Systems.

In Grocery, the largest and most tightly contested category of the 2017 Awards, Mondelez Australia took home Gold for its Holographic Box Display by Total Marketing Support in the Grocery Temporary Display category, while Tip Top’s Sandwich Thins Launch, by id8 Studio for George Weston Foods was Grocery’s top performing Permanent Display.

Another important category was Experiential, which has seen exponential growth in the last two years, won by the Captain Morgan Bermuda Triangle campaign by Traffik for Diageo.

Best Sales Promotion went to a New Zealand entry in Raydar’s Anchor Olympics Promotion for Fonterra Brands, while The Idea Shed had a win in Mobile, Social & Online for its Pernod Ricard Bank of Dad campaign.

The annual POPAI Marketing at Retail Awards recognise and reward best practice, innovation, and excellence in retail and shopper marketing across Australia and New Zealand. Now in their 19thyear, the Awards span 26 categories, covering physical display (both permanent and temporary) and shopper experience.

Carla Bridge, POPAI ANZ general manager, said the 2017 Awards maintained the record for the highest number of entries at 157, with a record 1000 votes registered for the relaunched People’s Choice Award.

To achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, entrants must hit set scores – in the case that a score is not met in any particular category for that year, no prize is awarded.

Says Bridge: “The incredible level of innovation coming from Australian and New Zealand marketeers in the retail space is exciting to watch.

“It seems with every challenge the retail landscape faces, the retail marketing industry meets head on and grows stronger.

“Marketing is the backbone of retail, responsible for increasing footfall, basket size and bottom line, and it’s crucial that the sector’s contribution is recognised with Awards programs such as this.

“The Grocery Awards are the POPAI Awards’ most tightly contested Awards categories each year, and 2017 was no different, attracting the largest number of entries from around the country.

“Specialty retailers have also really stepped up their game when it comes to retail and instore marketing in the last couple of years, and this year’s Awards are a testament to those efforts, with specialty campaigns beating out FMCG, the traditional owners of this space, in all the Pinnacle Awards categories.”

The Specialty Retail, Lifestyle & Service Providers, Permanent Category was one of the POPAI Award’s biggest in 2017, and was won by The Disney Junior in Toys R Us campaign by Mills Echo and Spark! for The Walt Disney Company.

Bridge congratulated all the winners of the 2017 Awards, particularly Myer and their agencies IdeaWorks and Active.

“My huge congratulations to Myer, IdeaWorks and Active for their success with the Wonderland by Myer concept, and to all of our very worthy Award winners. I look forward to watching these Australian and NZ campaigns go on to compete on the global stage, I have no doubt our 2017 winners will emulate the outstanding international results we saw off the back of last year’s Awards.”

To view the POPAI 2017 Marketing at Retail Awards entries and images, click here.