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Westpac flies Kiwi flag with winning chopper challenge campaign

All the talk about Westpac at the moment is centred on which agency/agencies it decides to work with. But it might not need too much help with the PR, because Westpac NZ’s media relations team walked away with the Gold Award for Campaign of the Year at the 2011 Asia-Pacific PR Awards for the ‘Richie McCaw Chopper Challenge’. 


Competing against 320 entries from agencies and corporates across Australia, Asia, the Sub Continent and Pacific Rim, the campaign, which raised awareness for the annual Westpac Chopper Appeal, won the Corporate Social Responsibility category and was the overall supreme award winner for 2011 Campaign of the Year. The team was also short-listed in the Best Use of Digital category.

Westpac New Zealand director of corporate affairs Sue Foley says Westpac New Zealand was the only Kiwi organisation up for an award.

“Westpac’s media team made up of Chris Mirams, Haley Lynch and Luke Parker were up against some of the largest PR agencies in the world and yet they put this all together in house, with good old fashioned Kiwi ‘can-do’ attitude,” she says.

The All Black challenged New Zealand schools to raise money for their local rescue chopper last May and the school that racked up the most in donations won a visit from McCaw himself.

Foley says judges noted Westpac New Zealand was a clear winner in all aspects, from the campaign idea to coverage contributing to the record setting amount raised rescue helicopters in New Zealand last year.

A full list of winners can be found here.

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