Rory Bremner, MC for the evening, presents Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Ann McGregor with the Best Not for Profit Marketing Campaign award at the UK CIM Awards

Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce has been crowned winners at the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards in front of 800 of the UK’s leading marketers at a glittering black-tie event on 23 February 2012 at Grosvenor House London. 

The Chamber won the highly sought after award for Best Not for Profit marketing campaign for their ‘One Voice for Business’ membership campaign following stiff competition from nineteen other entrants including the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, NHS Blood and Transplant and the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce is the largest Chamber of Commerce in Northern Ireland and one of the fastest growing in the British Chambers of Commerce network.  Formed in 1782, the Chamber has represented the interests of business and commerce across Northern Ireland for nearly 230 years.  The Chamber currently has a large and active membership of almost 1,000 businesses, from the smallest SME and sole trader to the largest corporations, plcs and institutions.

The Chamber has ambitiously set the target to double its membership by 2013. Through the use of a marketing plan, new marketing material and a series of initiatives, the Chamber is on the way to achieving the overall objective by the end of year one.

Commenting on their success, NI Chamber Chief Executive Ann McGregor commented:

 “It is a huge job to increase the membership of any organisation, especially in times of recession. Under a new Strategic Plan with clear objectives to double membership, the Chamber has used simple but effective marketing tools such as good literature, press coverage and sales promotion to achieve an increase in what is a depressed market. Our communications plan was highly focussed and has achieved excellent results.

The Chamber is extremely pleased to win this award and I am delighted for our team to gain recognition from the Chartered Institute of Marketing for their dedication and continuous hard work.

The CIM awards are a highly respected measure of marketing and sales excellence and are extremely sought-after.  Given the criteria and the strong competition NICC faced, we are very proud to be Northern Ireland’s sole winners.”

The Chamber’s success at the CIM UK awards follows their November 2011 success at the CIM Ireland Marketing Awards where they won the award for Best Sales Campaign Using Traditional Promotional Mechanisms and Chief Executive Ann McGregor won the award for Senior Marketing Professional.

Above: Rory Bremner, MC for the evening, Ann McGregor, Chief Executive of NICC and Mary Davis, Vice Chairman of The Marketing Trust