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Leading destination marketing agency, AL Marketing, is thrilled to announce that its clients’ won three prestigious awards and two commendations at Thursday’s sensational SCEPTRE Awards in London.
AL’s very own Alice Hammond and Emily Hill, who manage the marketing for Victoria Place Woking, collected first prize for Christmas Campaign of the Year on the night. The campaign encouraged families to bring their ‘forgotten toys’ to the Christmas grotto, which were then donated to local charity Sebastian’s Action Trust, to be given to families that may not be able to afford them. The judges were impressed with the success of the campaign given 2,871 donations were received. AL also won the Global MAXI Award for this campaign in Las Vegas earlier this year.
The Darwin Centre’s operations manager Russell Hall was crowned Operations Manager of the Year, in one of the biggest categories of the night. Russell was acknowledged for his work with local emergency services, proactively setting up new protocols, improving H&S compliance and fundraising efforts. He said on the night that “this was one of his proudest achievements.” This is an exceptional accolade for the Shrewsbury centre, especially following the Centre Manager being announced Centre Manager of the Year in the 2022 SCEPTRE Awards. The Darwin’s Retail Tenant Liaison Manager, Amy Williams, also came runner up in her category, taking the commendation award for Retail Liaison.
Chris Catford, Manager of Lock29 at Castle Quay Banbury was awarded Manager of the Year for a Small Centre, beating off immense competition. Lock29 has continuously evolved and grown since opening in 2020. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, Chris has been able to offer local SMEs short-term license agreements and flexible space to trial out their offer without the risks associated with a long-term lease agreement. Castle Quay’s security team were also a finalist in the Security Team of The Year award.
Shaun Brown, Vicar Lane’s Centre Manager, won second place in the Manager of The Year Medium Centre category. He narrowly missed out on the top spot but walked away with a special commendation. AL Marketing was also celebrating its clients Broadstreet Mall (Reading), The Harvey Centre (Harlow), Vicar Lane (Chesterfield) being finalists in the community initiative of the year award.
The SCEPTRE Awards recognise the best practice and the best people in the retail destination industry. They are the pre-eminent accolades in the industry, putting the spotlight on management teams, retailers and service providers that demonstrate real excellence.
Alan Thornton, MD of AL Marketing said, “It’s been a spectacular year for award wins for us and our clients – across the globe. Our clients were up for nine awards on the night, so to walk away with three wins and two commendations is incredible – I am very proud of what my team has achieved. Every year we want to outdo ourselves and come up with innovative, brave and out of the box ideas that stand out in the market. The pressure is certainly on to plan and deliver some even bigger and bolder campaigns for 2024 – but I have no doubt my team will achieve even greater results!”
