The Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi, and the Chief Executive Officer of Stratcom Africa, Ms Esther Cobbah, were on Friday night crowned the 2012 Marketing Man and Woman of the Year respectively.
The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) was adjudged the Media Organisation of the Year at the highly patronised 24th National Marketing Performance Awards held at the Banquet Hall of the State House.
Organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), 34 individuals and companies were honoured for their marketing and management performance at the event, which was on the theme: “Reshaping Public and Corporate Engagement through the Power of Marketing”.
The Marketing Director of Guinness Ghana Brewery Limited (GGBL), Mrs Agnes Essah, took home the Marketing Practitioner of the Year 2012 award, while the Marketing Student of the Year went to Kofi Folson.
The Awards
In her welcome address, the National President of CIMG, Mrs Shola Safo-Duodo, said the rationale behind the awards, apart from recognising excellence, was to promote and encourage best marketing practices that enabled organisations to achieve their objectives and also assist nation-building.
“However, our experience in working with most of the corporate organisations, particularly in the area of responding to awards requirements for assessment, has revealed that a lot of gaps remain to be filled up by these organisations in terms of best corporate practices,” she said.
According to Mrs Safo-Duodo, some nominees withdrew from the awards because they could not provide their financial reports for the previous year, with others unable to substantiate their financials like profit margin and turnovers.
She indicated that one of the areas that seemed prevalent and cut across all nominated companies was the area of utilization of industry reports, adding “as a result of this inadequacy, we were unable to award Airline of the Year for Domestic and Agro Company”.
As a professional association, Mrs Safo-Duodo said CIMG had been working effectively to ensure that its activities had positive effect on corporate Ghana and enhance the socio-economic lives of the citizens.
The Vice President of the African Marketing Confederation (AMC), Mrs Helen McIntee, underscored the need for the government to partner private organisations in its bid to grow the economy.
She said although the government of Ghana had reaffirmed its commitment to use Private Public Partnership to resolve infrastructure challenges, “there was also the need for stakeholders to assist in achieving success in the forthcoming PPP projects”.
Mrs McIntee commended the awardees and urged them to build the necessary synergies sectorally and holistically for the advancement of the African continent.
Mrs Cobbah thanked the Governing Council of CIMG for the honours bestowed on the awardees and attributed her own to the supporting team of Stratcom Communications.
“As a country we need to market ourselves, as well as make our products gain value internationally. Can you imagine if Ghana’s cocoa and products from cocoa were effectively marketed into the Chinese market for instance?” she asked.
Award Winners
The awards were categorised into six groups namely; Personality of the Year, Hall of Fame, Business, Media, Products and Special Awards.
Under the Business award, 14 organisations were honoured. They include Insurance Company of the Year, SIC Life; Petroleum Company of the Year, Goil; Hospitality Facility of the Year, Golden Tulip Accra; Motor Firm of the Year, Japan Motors; Bank of the Year, GCB Bank; Rural Bank of the Year, Odotobri Rural Bank; Non-Bank of the Year, First Capital Plus; Indigenous Catering Facility of the Year, Agatha’s Palace; Telecom Company of the Year, Airtel Ghana; Marketing Oriented Organisation of the Year, Vodafone Ghana.
The rest were: International Airline of the Year, Delta Airline; Manufacturing Company of the Year, Ashfoam; Product of the Year, PZ Carmel; Emerging Brand of the Year, Ruut Beer; Hospitality Facility of the Year (Allied and Support Services), Yoks Investment.
In the Media category, seven awards were given. They were Outdoor Advert of the Year, Free Beyond Three – MTN; Print Advert of the Year, Latex Foam; Television Advert of the Year, Tigo Cash – No Wahala; Radio Advert of the Year, SIC Final Journey; TV Programme of the Year, Vodafone Health Line; Radio Programme of the Year, Drive Time Joy FM; and Brand Activation of the Year, Ashantifest – MTN.
Under the Hall of Fame awards, three institutions retained their places with three new entrants. They were Motor Firm, Toyota Ghana Company Ltd; Retail Outlet, Melcom Group of Companies; and Insurance Company, Vanguard Assurance Company. The new entrants were Not for Profit Organisation of the Year, Petroleum Company of the Year, Total Ghana; and Internet Service Provider’s Company of the Year, Busy Internet.
Special awards were given to the Chief Executive Officer of Roverman Production, Mr James Ebo Whyte, and the CEO of Eden Tree, Mrs Catherine Krobo-Edusei Benson.
By Dominic Moses Awiah & Zainabu Issah/Daily Graphic/Ghana
