Alex is full of snap crackle and pop

WITH the help of a girl from Oldham, a Manchester firm has become the first outside London to be named Agency of The Year by the Institute of Sales Promotion.

Blue Chip Marketing (Manchester) creates and runs promotions for big brands like Kellogg’s, 3M and Premier Foods.

Alexandra Gibson, a former pupil at Blue Coat School and Oldham Sixth Form College, has worked for Blue Chip for five years, working her way up from junior account executive to manager on the Kellogg’s account.

In a glitzy, Oscar style awards ceremony at The Park Lane Hilton, in London, Blue Chip picked up more awards for its campaigns than any other UK agency.

Alexandra was there on the night to help Blue Chip collect its nine accolades, including the coveted Audience Award, the only prize of the evening to be voted for by the public.

This was given to a campaign called Zoo Keeper which Blue Chip created for Kellogg’s, which allowed millions of mums to use cereal packs to take their children to the zoo for free.

Alexandra was a key figure in the development and running of the Zoo Keeper promotion, setting up the activity with all the partners and managing the campaign.

This development which helped Blue Chip pick up a Gold Award for Partnership Marketing.

But Blue Chip’s journey to the London event didn’t run as smoothly as their promotions.

The team nearly didn’t make it to the ceremony at all, after trains into the capital were ground to halt in a power failure.

“After such a stressful journey, it was an amazing night,” said Alexandra, adding: “To see a campaign that you have put so much hard work and effort into being recognised, not only by your peers, but also by the general public makes all the hard work worthwhile.

“To be part of the team winning Agency of the Year put the icing on the cake.”

Alex was not the only member of the award winning Blue Chip team from the Oldham area. Blue Chip’s recognition is expected to create significant new business as clients realise they do not have to go to London to access the best promotional talent in the country.

At a time when many agencies are trimming their teams, Blue Chip has vacancies for account handlers at all levels and is especially interested in hearing from graduates from the Oldham area.

If you feel you have the talent to help them build on this success and keep Manchester at the forefront of this industry, give them a call.