Riverside Museum wins award for engagement

The Riverside Museum in Glasgow has won the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA).

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the museum which opened in June 2011, has received the award for it’s ability to “demonstrate brilliantly how a specialist transport collection can renew its relevance through active engagement with the wider social and universal issues.”

The museum, which has received over 2 million visitors in less than 2 years, was chosen out of 40 museums from 21 European Countries and fulfilled the EMYA's criteria of public quality at the highest level.

The Riverside Museum showcases Glasgow’s transport, shipbuilding and engineering heritage.

Being an award winner

This post was written by The Think Tank's PR Director Samantha Dawe, as part of our on-going sponsorship of the B2B Marketing Knowledge Bank.

Just been having a chat with a good contact on a key industry magazine for the architect and design sector, and the subject of that magazine’s annual awards came up...

Now I know how passionate B2B Marketing magazine is about its very own annual awards…and rightly so, but it made me reflect on why we enter and why we encourage clients to enter industry awards.

We have worked with one of our clients for almost a decade. Certainly for the past four years have prepared entries with them for a European-wide series of awards that are seen as particularly prestigious. This year they won one. They are over the moon, and so are we. The press release about this Award is going to be issued globally by the various communications teams.

Entering, being shortlisted and hopefully winning awards can help achieve press coverage certainly.

But winning an industry award can also boost staff morale, attract new business, impress potential investors, gain prestige and recognition from peers and respect from customers, and raise awareness of a new product or service.

It’s worth considering an entry for a local business award for these reasons too – usually in the UK organized on a county by county basis. A local platform for celebrating the very best business successes, they will not only cover how well your business is doing, but aspects like customer service, environmental awareness and staff training and development.

For staff to see their organization recognized within their immediate community and can be really motivating.

It’s also a great way to stand back a bit and assess what you’ve been focusing on and to celebrate any innovations and efforts that are making a real difference to how you do business, or in the services and products you provide.

Of course much depends on the time and resource you have to devote to preparing entries. So set a realistic, tangible goal, for example, entering at least two different Award schemes this year. And if you don’t win the first time, don’t give up… next time you might be that winner.

2013 Sony World Photography Awards

This year's Sony World Photography Award winners have been announced, and are currently on display at Somerset House, London.

The awards are organised by the World Photography Organisation, and have two main categories; open and professional. They are judged by an Honorary Judging Committee which is broken up in to groups for a selection of categories from Architecture to Sport.

The Professional winners from each of the 15 categories are being exhibited at Somerset House until 12th May 2013, including the overall winner, Andrea Gjestvang for her series, "One day in history," which intimately captures the young survivors of Utoeya, Norway July 2011 massacre.

Other winners include Fabrice Fouillet in the Architecture category and Christian Aslund for Campaigns.

Take a look at all the entries and winners here.

Buy tickets for the exhibition here.

Jane Drew prize winner 2013

The Architect's Journal's jury has selected their winner of the 2013 Jane Drew Prize as Eva Jiřičná. By an unanimous vote she won the award "for her outstanding contribution to the status of women in architecture".

The Czech-born architect is based in London, after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, starting her career with the Greater London Council followed by  the Louis de Soisssons Partneship. She then set up her own practice with David Hodges in 1982 and from there she began to be recognised for her work.

She rebranded her firm in 1985 to Eva Jiricna Architects, then in 1988 completed her flagship store for the Joseph fashion label, where it is said she "reinvented the idea of retail"

Jiřičná, who is also famous for her steel and glass staircases, was part of the inaguaral judging panel for the prize in 1998, which was created to honour Dame Jane Drew, who died in July 1996 and was an English modernist architect and town planner.  

She recieved her prize at a special luncheon held in London on the 22nd March. Read an arctile about the awards here.

The Think Tank wins Best Brand Campaign Award at CMA's

We had a great night at the Construction Marketing Awards yesterday - shortlisted for three awards we picked up the trophy for Best Brand and Positioning Campaign for our work with electrical distributor Rexel.

We were approached by Rexel to develop the brand identity for a new online merchant, NaturalSparx, supplying the renewables sector.

The Think Tank was tasked with developing the messaging, brand design and identity for use in marketing collateral both off and on-line.

We created a vibrant look and feel for the brand that delivered standout within the renewables sector, alongside a series of icons to represent core products and services and a positioning statement for this new brand.The brand identity was developed, along with the messaging, to work across a range of media from the website to direct marketing, advertising and point-of-sale.

In stiff competition from five other shortlisted entries in this category we managed to scoop the prize with the judges commenting, 'A very well executed campaign, with striking creative ideas that set the business apart in a very crowded market place.'

Well done to all The Think Tank team and to Rexel for giving us the opportunity to help launch one of their brands.

We were also shortlisted in the awards for:
SAS International - Best Product Launch
Rexel - Best Campaign over £25k

B2B Marketing Awards 2012

The B2B Marketing Awards are upon us with a fantastic night ahead. 

The Think Tank will be managing the awards tonight for the 5th year and we're looking forward to a successful event with quite a few surprises.

This year we also developed the creative and theme around the awards with a retro 'Airline' feel that will have everyone up in the aisles tonight.

The theme runs right across the event, so if you are coming along tonight get ready to take off but please avoid any bumpy landings (at the after-show party).

Good luck to all the shortlisted entrants and have a great night.

From all at 

The Think Tank Team.

The Think Tank shortlisted for three Construction Marketing Awards

The Think Tank has been shortlisted for three awards in this year's Construction Marketing Awards for our work with SAS International and Rexel.

The shortlisted entries are:

SAS International - Best Product Launch
Rexel - Best Campaign over £25k
Rexel - Best Branding and Positioning

We are very pleased to have been shortlisted again this year and look forward to hearing the results on 6th December.

See the full CMA shortlist here.

World Building 2012 award announced

The World Architecture Festival has announced the winner of its World Building of 2012.

The festival was held at the winning building at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which is a key project in delivering the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming Singapore into a ‘City in a Garden’.

At a total of 101 hectares, the Cooled Conservatories at the Gardens by the Bay project comprise three distinct waterfront gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central.

The project was awarded the prize from over 500 entries and was designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Grant Associates, Atelier One and Atelier TenSitting.

It's quite an impressive structure and more can be seen here on Arch Daily.

Best for PR Awards

The Think Tank has received four awards in the 'BestFor PR Industry Awards' announced today, 18th September 2012.

The awards have been keenly contested and 'BestFor' describe them as follows:

' PR Agencies across the UK have the opportunity to apply for a BestFor PR ranking. Our independent judging panel rigorously assesses each application and if successful, agencies are awarded a gold, silver or bronze ranking and listed within the relevant ranking table.

Each ranking table on the BestFor PR website enables companies seeking PR agencies to identify, select and contact leading agencies in the applicable sector or region that match their requirements.'

We are thrilled to have received the following awards:

Silver - Consumer Category
Silver - Property and Construction
Bronze - Technology
Bronze - National Category

This is a great credit to our PR team. Well done to all.

Click here to find out more.

RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist announced

This year's RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist has been announced with six buildings, including the London Olympic Stadium by Populous and two projects by OMA.

The six that will compete for the £20,000 prize for the Best Building by a British-registered architect are:

The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire by David Chipperfield Architects (pic 1)
London Olympic Stadium by Populous (pic 2)
The Lyric Theatre, Belfast by O’Donnell + Tuomey
Maggie’s Centre, Gartnavel, Glasgow by OMA
New Court, London by OMA with Allies and Morrison
Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge by Stanton Williams (pic 3)

See more about the shortlist here.

Developing the creative campaign for the B2B Marketing Awards 2012

Having managed the B2B Marketing Awards event for the past five years, The Think Tank was approached by the organisers, Silver Bullet Publishing, to develop the creative theme for the 2012 awards.  

Seeking to engage a wider audience, and increase entry levels from  all sectors of the B2B marketing industry, The Think Tank was asked to produce a campaign that would resonate with marketers from both agency and client side and encourage them to engage with the awards at various levels. It was also very important that the theme could work in an integrated manner across a range of marketing channels as well as providing an engaging and fun format for the Awards event itself.  

The Think Tank developed several concepts that would answer the brief and the High Flyers campaign was chosen. This is designed to celebrate the outstanding creativity in the B2B Marketing sector and position the awards as the premier industry event, not only for agencies but also for clients side marketers.  

The flexibility provided by the 'retro feel' creative execution allows the campaign to be extended from launch to the event and beyond, offering B2B Marketing the continuity of message they were looking for in 2012.  

The Think Tank is continuing to develop an integrated campaign to promote the awards over the coming months and encourage entry and engagement.

For more information about the awards please click here.

Sony World Photography Awards 2012 winners announced

American photographer Mitch Dobrowner has been announced as this year’s winner of the L’Iris d’Or - the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year.


Dobrowner was presented with the award during the Sony World Photography Awards Gala ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane for his extraordinary series of images, Storms. This beautiful series of black and white photographs are quite stunning.

He was chosen as the winner by a panel of nine judges and wins a $25,000 cash prize and Sony’s latest digital imaging camera equipment.

Other winners included Tobias Bräuning from Germany as overall Open winner, William Klein for Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award and Asef Ali Mohammad from Middlesex University, UK, for Student Focus Award.

See more of the award winning photography here or you can visit the awards exhibition at Somerset House, London until 20th May. Tickets on the door.

IronmongeryDirect shortlisted in ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards

Our client IronmongeryDirect has been short listed in the ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards this year.

According to ECMOD (Every Channel Mastered Optimised Delivered), 'The Awards have spearheaded the recognition of business excellence for organisations engaged in direct-to-customer retailing across traditional and newly emerging channels. With categories designed for those targeting sales to businesses as well as for those selling to consumers, these unique awards also seek to celebrate the achievements of businesses of all scales and at all stages of development.'

Well done and good luck in the awards on 27th March.

Gumdrop Bin wins Homes and Gardens Award

The Gumdrop Bin is the brainchild of Anna Bullus who noticed that not only was chewing gum a material that was being wasted but it was also polluting our environment.  

She set about solving the problem by creating a bin using recycled chewing gum and called it Gumdrop. It's manufactured from a new plastic polymer using chewing gum and then moulded into shape.  

Anna has just won The Homes & Gardens Eco Design Award 2012 so well done for this fantastic idea. Give gum a second life!  

Click here to find out more.

Another successful night at the B2B Marketing Awards 2011

The B2B Marketing Awards 2011 were a great success last Thursday, 24th November.

For the fifth year The Think Tank managed the awards event on behalf of  B2B Marketing Magazine and it all went very well. The theme this year combined a 60's lounge atmosphere with the glitter of Las Vegas, setting the scene for a fun and enjoyable night.

Jack Whitehall took the stage to entertain the audience and present the awards and after a great dinner and 'refreshment' many headed off to the after-show party until the early hours.

Well done to all the winners and a big thanks to all The Think Tank team for running another successful event.

The Think Tank shortlisted for Best Brand Campaign at B2B Marketing Awards

The Think Tank has been shortlisted for Best Brand Campaign in the B2B Marketing Awards 2011 for our brand creation and development work for Biome Technologies Plc, a leader in the provision of bioplastics.

Following a brief from Stanelco Plc, Biome's previous name, we developed a new brand to promote the bioplastics bias of the business, developing a new brand identity, collateral and web site and then promoted the brand and business to a diverse customer base through PR and electronic direct marketing.

Biome has seen great results since its re-launch and this recognition of the strength of the new brand is great for both The Think Tank and Biome.

Fingers crossed for the Awards in November.

For more information about The Think Tank's work on the Biome brand please click here