The SCCA Marketing Awards are being fine-tuned in order to ensure they match the ever-changing nature of Centre Marketing. Some really exciting changes have resulted after an external review was conducted in conjunction with the SCCA Board. The new changes are detailed in this article.

This year marks a new chapter in our industry’s annual Marketing Awards. Building on its strong foundations and continued evolution, this next chapter of the Awards will see the introduction of new award categories and centre classifications. This reflects our desire to ensure the Awards are relevant, and continually improved, which is greatly assisted by the strong motivation and engagement of the SCCA Board of Directors, our Marketing Awards Committee and, of course, our broader industry.

After an external review, conducted by Robyn Stubbs (a former Stockland executive and SCCA Alternate Director – now a Non-Executive Director and Executive Coach) in conjunction with the SCCA Board, and a group of our members’ Marketing Managers, it was determined that the Awards should move away from the current ‘Guns’ (Mini, Little, Big) centre-based classification to a new classification based on the number of specialty stores.

Centres entering the SCCA Awards will now be classified as either: Small (75 stores or less); Medium (76 – 149 stores) or; Large (150 stores or more).

The multi-classification will remain across all categories, representing campaigns run over two or more centres of any size.

We will now also see our previous Award categories (Sales Promotion, Branding/Repositioning, Development/Redevelopment and Digital Initiative) be updated with a set of categories comprising of: (1) Brand & Partnerships (2) Compelling Experiences (3) Retailer Marketing (4) Innovation.

Tailored judging criteria will also now apply to each category. With this in mind, we have retained one current category, being the Community category. This category reflects the ultimate role of shopping centres as being at the heart of their local communities. This category has gone from strength to strength since it was introduced. In 2015, the SCCA Board decided to award the Community category winners with a $2,500 donation towards a local charity or community organisation of their choosing. After positive feedback from category winners and recipients of the donations, in 2017 the SCCA Board increased donations from the previous $2,500 to $5,000 per community winner. Over the past three years, more than $40,000 has been donated to some 12 local charities and community organisations via the Awards program. We look forward to continuing this tradition in 2018.

The Sabina Rust Memorial Prize for Campaign of the Year remains the highest honour of the program, with the overall winner receiving $15,000, and the runner up $5,000. This prize is intended to be used towards enhancing the successful candidates’ skills and expertise through future professional development.

The Sabina Rust Memorial Prize is awarded to the entry with the highest score, regardless of the category entered. The runner-up is awarded to the entry with the second highest overall score, in a different category.

All winners and runners-up, including the Sabina Rust Memorial Prize, will continue to be decided by an external expert judging panel.

The 2018 judging panel will include; Victoria Doidge, Group Executive Director, Brand Strategy and Communications, Event Hospitality and Entertainment (Event Cinemas); Emeritus Professor Roger Layton AM FRSN, University of NSW and; Robyn Stubbs, Board Director and Executive Coach.