Subaru and Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu Win TVNZ NZ Marketing Award's Long-Term Agency Partnership Accolade

Subaru of New Zealand and Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu (BCFD) have scooped their second major award in a week, winning the 2018 TVNZ NZ Marketing Award’s Excellence Award for Long-Term Agency Partnership.

This immensely successful partnership was recognised last week as the best Agency-Marketer Partnership by Campaign Asia, the leading marketing publication across Asia Pacific, and last night added the equivalent New Zealand award to the companies’ combined trophy cabinet at the awards’ function held at the Cordis in Auckland.

The 22-year relationship between the two companies was acknowledged by the judges as showing a wealth of strategic brilliance, creative excellence and impressive commercial results. Subaru and BCFD were crowned the winners after NZ Marketing magazine/StopPress and the Marketing Association called for the country’s master marketers to submit their entries into the 2018 TVNZ NZ Marketing Awards, back in April.

In 1996, Subaru of New Zealand Managing Director, Wallis Dumper and Daniel Barnes, of what was then Barnes Advertising, began working together to lift the profile of the Subaru brand in New Zealand. That partnership has continued ever since, with both men still at the forefront of their respective companies.  It is a wonderful example of a commercial relationship that has grown stronger through longevity and in the process cemented Subaru as the go-to brand for Kiwis who want to get out and “do.”

The partnership has previously netted Subaru and BCFD a prestigious Grand Effie award for sustained success and at a commercial level has seen New Zealand lay claim to one of the highest proportions of Subaru owners per capita, worldwide. Mr Dumper says, “We are honoured to have the partnership with our advertising agency Barnes Catmur & Friends Dentsu recognised again, this time in New Zealand. The Asia Pacific regional award and now the TVNZ NZ Marketing Award are the result of our continuous relationship that is based on permanence and longer-term thinking rather than shorter-term campaign mentality. The awards are dedicated to those at BCFD, who we work closely with on a weekly basis and to our Subaru marketing team, led by Subaru Marketing Manager Daile Stephens.”

Mrs Stephens says, “We strongly believe that our success is down to having the right people involved. These two awards are a testament to the hard work of both our Subaru team and the team at BCFD, who dare to be different when it comes to marketing our brand in New Zealand.

“A recent example is the launch campaign of the Subaru Outback in 2015, which saw our sales in this SUV model sky-rocket and it continues to be our best-seller to-date. BCFD also helped to launch our 2019 Subaru Forester last month and the innovative campaign has already been highly-praised within the automotive and marketing industries,” Mrs Stephens says.

Paul Catmur, CEO of BCFD says, “Twenty-two years of consistent excellence is amazing. As a ten-year newcomer my biggest contribution to the project has been to try not to stuff it up.”

For more information about Subaru and to see some of their campaign work for their Subaru SUV line up  or their Subaru Performance cars please visit www.subaru.co.nz .