Alan Parker honoured with long time contribution award by Hotel Marketing Association
Alan Parker, former chief executive of Whitbread, has been presented with the Long Term Contribution to Hospitality Marketing award from the Hotel Marketing Association (HMA).
He was given the prize at the 20th anniversary of the awards, marked by a celebratory lunch at London's Savoy hotel. However, he is seen here being presented with the award prior to the Savoy lunch, which he was unable to attend due to a prior commitment to sail the Atlantic.
Linda Moore, chairman of the HMA, said: "We could not think of a more worthy recipient for a Long Term Contribution to Hospitality Marketing award than Alan Parker who has clearly carved a highly successful career in the industry from a strong marketing background."
Parker oversaw the expansion of the Premier Inn and Costa Coffee brands during his tenure at Whitbread until his retirement in 2010.
"The judges were posed with a difficult task as we had some outstanding candidates this year. However, Karla was considered to be a worthy winner because of the way she took on the marketing manager's role and made it her own with great results," said Moore. In addition to her award Pearce received a one-day course at the Chartered Institute of Marketing at Moor Hall and a bottle of Champagne.
Other winners included Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons for Best Website; InterContinental Hotels Group and its agency 360i London for Best Use of Social Media in Marketing; Edwardian Group London for the Best Partnership Marketing Campaign and Ibis Hotels for Best Media and Public Relations Activity.
The judges praised Le Manoir for producing a website with "fantastic imagery that enticed you in", while Hoax Liverpool and UmiDigital were highly commended for the website showcasing the boutique hostel.
Ibis Hotels produced a highly creative Science of Sleep campaign, which combined an app to measure sleep patterns with a research study into sleep to win the Best Media and Public Relations Activity. Highly commended in this category was the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, which received widespread coverage for the launch of a living wall at the Rubens hotel.
Edwardian Group London ran a successful campaign combining social media with traditional marketing channels in conjunction with Historic Royal Palaces to win the Success in the Best Partnership Marketing Campaign award.
Meanwhile, InterContinental Hotels Group gave its Best Use of Social Media in Marketing award to its digital agency 360i London for the campaign Franchise Social Media That Works.
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