SPH lauded at INMA Awards 2015

SINGAPORE - Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) won two accolades at the INMA Awards 2015, held at the Edison Ballroom in New York's Times Square this morning (Singapore time).

"See The Big Picture", a campaign organised by SPH in celebration of its 30th anniversary last year, came in second for the Best Use of an Event to Grow a News Brand category. The category recognises the most creative selection and execution of an event tied to and enhancing a news brand or key segments of a news brand and/or generating revenue. The New Paper, a tabloid-sized publication by SPH, also walked away with the second prize for Best Idea to Grow Subscription Sales for its "The New Paper Big Walk 2014" campaign. This category recognises the best marketing activities to acquire and retain subscribers of a publication in print, digital, and/or across platforms.

Into its 80th year, the coveted INMA Awards represent the pinnacle in media industry creativity to energise news brands, stimulate audiences, innovate in product development, and grow revenue in transformational times. This year, a total of 578 entries from 190 market-leading companies in 38 countries were generated.

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. We will continue to pursue excellence in all our businesses and events to engage all our stakeholders."

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. As part of its active corporate citizenry, SPH also invited special needs and underprivileged children to meet and interact with Mr Wiltshire. The 4m X 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 that offers a unique blend of mainstream academic curriculum and life readiness skills, 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. For enquiries, please email: mall@pathlight.org.sg .

The New Paper Big Walk is a mass-participation walking event held annually in Singapore since 1991. It has held a Guinness Book of World Record for the largest mass walking event in the world. 18,000 participants took part in the 2014 edition, with tickets being snapped up within 19 days.

Prior to the INMA Awards, "See The Big Picture" also won:
· Gold for Best in Community Service at the Asian Media Awards 2015
· One silver award for Best PR Idea and One bronze award for Most Creative PR Stunt at the PR Awards 2015
· Three gold awards for Best Brand Awareness Campaign, Best Original Content and Best Use Of Mobile For An Event, and one silver award for Best Integration of Mobile at the Mob-Ex Awards 2015
· One gold award for Best Web Video - Documentary by SPH Razor at the W³ Awards 2014
· Three silver awards for Best Consumer Event, Best Exhibition Event and Best Multi-Channel Campaign at the Marketing Events Awards 2014
· One bronze award for Entertainment & Branded Content - Live Experience at the Creative Circle Awards 2014

In addition, The New Paper Big Walk also won bronze for Best in Newspaper Marketing at the Asian Media Awards 2015.