Creative Territory wins national award for innovative campaign
29 October 2009
An innovative campaign to encourage Darwin residents to prove they love their pets has won a national award in this year’s Public Relations Institute of Australia’s Golden Target Awards in Brisbane.
The campaign, conducted by Darwin-based company Creative Territory on behalf of Darwin City Council, achieved an increase in the number of pets micro-chipped and a reduction in reported dog attacks over a six month period.
The Prove that You Love Me campaign was undertaken to promote new animal by-laws, which included stricter controls on dogs and, for the first time, registration of cats.
Creative Territory teamed up with local design agency Sprout to produce a campaign in which pets appealed to their humans to do the right thing and follow the new laws.
“Darwin City Council was taking such a positive step through these new laws, we wanted to produce a campaign that would reinforce the positive message,” Creative Territory director Tracy Jones said.
“Too often governments use a stick rather than a carrot to explain new laws. We felt this was a great opportunity to talk positively instead.”
Golden Target Award judges said that the creative and quirky campaign on the difficult and sensitive topic of animal control achieved significant results from very few resources.
“It is a model for others to follow. The strategy is innovative and creative, and based on a thorough understanding of the target audiences and what motivates them…Presentation and overall professionalism of this entry is outstanding. A model for other government campaigns.”
Tracy said the Award was testament to the virtual agency she created in partnership with Sprout.
“We’ve proven the value of combining strategy with creativity to create campaigns that are targeted, strategic, creative and, most importantly, deliver results,” she said.
Creative Territory’s Prove that You Love Me campaign also won the Northern Territory State Award for Excellence in the Government Sponsored Campaign category.
The annual PRIA Golden Target Awards recognise excellence in public relations and are judged and benchmarked by a national panel.
To view an overview of this campaign, click here.
