Nerves, excitement & bubbles at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards

Friday 20th March is a day that will remain in my memory forever. It was the spring equinox, a time of new beginnings and the International Day of Happiness. Most definitely a day for celebration, but I had no idea when I woke up that morning quite how much celebrating I would be doing…

That night we joined Uba Studio and CI Travel Group at the CIM awards. The awards were the culmination of almost 2 years of hard work in partnership with Uba Studio. Putting together a highly strategised multi-media marketing campaign that would help us get the Healthhaus message out to the people of Jersey and contribute hugely to to the early success of the business. Our ‘Taking FitnessPersonally’ campaigned was launched with a teaser ’It’s going to be different’ and slowly built to our current campaign You’ve taken the ‘gym’ out of gym’. The line that so many members exclaim – that’s why we’re different!

The venue was changed at the last minute so we had no idea what to expect. The format was certainly more casual than previous years. Coca-cola were the main sponsors, so tables were adorned with coke bottles and scantily clad Coca-cola girls posed for pictures. We were slightly disappointed with the location of our table – right at the back. We’d booked early and had been told we would be sat near to the front. ‘Maybe it’s a bad sign’, Glenda said. ‘Maybe we’re going to have a long walk of fame!’ I tried to reassure her.

Judges and sponsors picked up on the informality of the event and kept the presentations short and sweet. There were 10 awards, which were judged by a panel of marketing and brand experts. We had entered and reached the final of 3 awards, so nerves were running high.

The first award to be announced was ‘Best Brand Campaign’. This is the one we particularly wanted to win. Glenda and I squeezed each other’s hand as the finalists were read out; a comforting touch to say, whatever happens we’re here to celebrate for the team.

…and the winner is … eyes closed, heart in my mouth … Health … screams all around, champagne glasses are scattered across the table … haus! We made our way to the stage with our team and the Uba girls to accept our award. 8 of us eagerly trying to squeeze into photographs and clamouring to hold the award! Smiles all around as we proudly retraced the long walk of fame back to our seats. The evening could have ended there and we would have been delighted.

The second award, for which we had reached the final (Best Use of Media) went to a very well deserving Jersey Business.

Before we knew it, our name was being read out again for Best Integrated Marketing Campaign. Wow – we’d won 2 out of 3! This really was beyond our expectations. By now the champagne was flowing (yes even fitness professionals let their hair down from time to time!) and our team were busy texting, tweeting and posting news of our success. A marketeers job never ends! This meant that we had a serious chance of winning the big one!

The final award of the night the Overall Award for Marketing Excellence, was The People’s Choice award; voted for by the public. Texts were hurriedly sent, votes were counted and before we knew it Healthhaus had come away with a hat-trick of awards! Dizzied with excitement and slightly confused by the meandering layout of the room, we got a little lost making our way up to the stage! This time partners were dragged up too and more photos were snapped.

Whilst I’m not one for formal photos, the fact that we were sat right next to the photo booth, complete with vintage props, provided much entertainment for the night! The rest of the evening was filled with celebratory handshakes and kisses, a little more of our favourite tipple and dancing until our feet were too sore to continue.

What a night – I can honestly say I’ve never been so proud.

Thank you to Uba Studio for helping us bring our vision of our brand to life.

Nathalie Le Mottee Manager