intu Metrocentre wins accolade for its 1000 crystals community connection

Intu Metrocentre was crowned overall winner at the British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Marketing awards in London last night, as more than 500 professionals from across the retail property marketing industry gathered to honour the best in the business.

The North East shopping centre’s cause-related marketing initiative, The Heart of a Thousand Crystals, won the hearts of a panel of judges for its innovation and community reach, ensuring intu took home the coveted “Golden Apple”, the top accolade of the night.

The awards, sponsored by MK Illumination, celebrate the very best in retail property marketing in a range of categories such as Events, Cause-Related Marketing and Strategic Marketing.

The awards were handed out by DJ and TV presenter Edith Bowman, who was the guest speaker on the night.

Beth Wilson, head of events at BCSC, commented:   “The Purple Apples were a great success again this year and on behalf of all at BCSC, I’d like to congratulate all of our winners. Marketing has such a pivotal role to play in modern shopping centre operations and we are delighted to be able to celebrate the achievements of all those who work so hard to innovate and engage the consumer community in Great British shopping places. With the recent launch of the Marketing Best Practice Guide, BCSC remains committed to promoting, improving and celebrating the best in retail property marketing.”

Sue Boor, Chair of the Judges and head of marketing at Manchester Arndale, added:   “The quality of entries this year surpassed our expectations. My fellow judges and I had a challenge on our hands to choose amongst them but we were universally impressed by the creativity and originality of the intu Metrocentre’s “The Heart of a Thousand Crystals” initiative. It has made an enormous difference to a local cause and brought a community together in an astounding demonstration of charity.”