Landmark Information wins marketing and PR awards

15 November 2007, 5:04pm

Landmark Information Group, the UK’s leading provider of online environmental and mapping information to the property industry has won two prestigious marketing and PR awards for its ‘Russian Maps’ campaign, winning ‘Best limited budget B2B Marketing campaign’ at the national B2B Marketing awards and the coveted ‘Best Use of Media Relations’ Gold award at the Chartered Institute of Public Relation’s PRide awards.

In both award ceremonies , held last week, Landmark was competing against high calibre entries including those from Toshiba, Amex and Castle Cement but it was Landmark’s innovative and quirky ‘What did the Russians ever do for you’ campaign delivered by marketing agency Birddog and PR consultancy Trimedia which won the judges over and gave Landmark the Gold awards.

The ‘Russian’ campaign was devised following the acquisition by Landmark of UK maps produced by the KGB during the ‘Cold War’ to add to Landmark’s database of property and environmental information – the largest such database in Europe.

Available commercially for the first time in digital format, the unique maps were produced by the Russian Military, using aerial photos, satellite images, local knowledge and even spies, from 1950 to the 1997 and reveal features not present on Ordnance Survey maps due to political and military sensitivities at the time. The maps include an additional 1,000 new, and potentially contaminative features, along with 3,000 other named uses such as extra quarries, pits, military features, warehouses and much more.

A ‘spy’ theme was created for the campaign which included direct mail flyers and giveaways – such as spy listening devices and invisible ink pens – culminating in a launch event at the Absolut Ice Bar in London. Professional actors were booked for the launch to play MI6 agents interrogating a Russian spy until he revealed that the maps had been acquired by Landmark Information Group. One-to-one interviews with Richard Pawlyn, Managing Director of Landmark’s Property and Environment division were conducted at the event.

Commenting on the win, Richard Pawlyn, Managing Director of Landmark’s Property and Environment said:

“The B2B Marketing awards and CIPR Pride Awards are recognised throughout their industries for rewarding excellence, innovation and success, so it is an honour for Landmark to have won both these awards.

“We continually strive to search out new datasets – from even the unlikeliest of sources - which will aid the identification of potentially contaminated land. The Russian mapping provided a valuable addition to our dataset, but was also an ideal opportunity to communicate the serious message about environmental risks in a light-hearted way. It certainly captured the imagination of not only our customers and the industry at large but also the national and regional press up and down the country, and we’ve been delighted by the response.”

Landmark’s technological expertise is evident in its broad portfolio of market leading products and services, including Envirocheck and Promap which have both become the standard desk top study tools for high quality, site-specific mapping and environmental information.

“Having access to detailed and comprehensive mapping for site investigations is critical for environmental consultants and property professionals, particularly to protect both themselves and clients from costly liability claims should a site present environmental risks. Who would have thought 50 years ago that Russian surveillance would be used by environmental consultants to identify potentially contaminative features in the UK?”

For further information on Landmark’s land and property search information, please call 01491 413 030 or visit www.landmarkinfo.co.uk.

www.landmarkinfo.co.uk

Geo: International