SINGAPORE - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has won recognition for two of its branding and marketing initiatives from a major international newspaper industry group.
"See The Big Picture", a campaign organised by SPH in celebration of its 30th anniversary last year, came in second in the category "Best Use of an Event to Grow a News Brand".
The New Paper walked away with the second prize for "Best Idea to Grow Subscription Sales" for its "The New Paper Big Walk 2014" campaign.
The awards from the International Newspaper Marketing Association (Inma) were handed out at the Edison Ballroom in New York's Times Square on Wednesday morning (Singapore time).
The Inma awards, created in 1935, honour excellence in newspaper marketing worldwide. This year, there was a total of 578 entries from 38 countries.
Mr Alan Chan, chief executive officer of SPH, said: "These awards are testimony to our unending quest for innovation and creativity, which is important in face of the challenges in today's media industry."
The "See the Big Picture" campaign organised by SPH and Germs Digital featured autistic savant Stephen Wiltshire, who drew Singapore's cityscape from memory at Paragon in July 2014. It attracted over 150,000 visitors in five days.
SPH also invited special needs and underprivileged children to meet and interact with Mr Wiltshire.
The 4m by 1m Singapore panorama was presented to President Tony Tan Keng Yam last September, as SPH's gift to the nation for Singapore's 50th birthday. It is now on display at URA's Singapore City Gallery.
SPH has given merchandising rights of the artwork to Pathlight School. Pathlight, the first autism-focused school in Singapore, has produced exclusive prints and unique merchandise adapted from the artwork. All net proceeds of the sales will go to Autism Resource Centre, in aid of people with autism.
The New Paper Big Walk is a mass-participation walking event held annually in Singapore since 1991. About 18,000 participants took part in the 2014 edition.
The New Paper Big Walk also won a bronze award for "Best in Newspaper Marketing" at the 2015 Asian Media Awards.
Prior to the Inma Awards, "See The Big Picture" also won a few other marketing and media awards.
