A growing number of companies are designing marketing campaigns that tap into Australia’s culturally diverse community, Minister Assisting on Citizenship Barbara Perry said while launching the 2008 National Multicultural Marketing Awards on Wednesday 4 June 2008, according to a media release from the Minister’s office.
It’s these culturally-aware companies from around Australia that are being encouraged to enter the awards, she said.
With 223 different nationalities living in NSW, businesses can benefit from making their products and services accessible to the greatest audience possible, Ms Perry said.
“These annual awards recognise the creative and culturally specific marketing efforts being made by companies as they get in tune with a very diverse and rapidly changing cultural landscape,” Ms Perry said.
“Marketing a product or service to a specific cultural group should go far beyond simply translating a mainstream campaign into a different language. It should be culturally relevant and unique to that community.
“These awards acknowledge companies who are meeting the needs of our multicultural community by considering ethnicity, culture and language.”
Past winners of the National Multicultural Marketing awards include:
• eTranslate: an Australian company that has secured the contract for the Beijing Olympics global ticketing system. This system allows for different language and purchasing trends of diverse communities.
• AFL: for an innovative program designed to boost participation in the sport among migrant communities.
• Lismore City Library: for their innovative Living Library Project where instead of borrowing a book, people could ‘borrow’ a person, listening to their knowledge and expertise on a broad range of subjects.
Nominations for the 2008 National Multicultural Marketing Awards close on August 29. Online nomination forms are available on the Community Relations Commission website at www.crc.nsw.gov.au
CBA Support hailed: The Chair of the Community Relations Commission For a multicultural NSW, Stepan Kerkyasharian, today welcomed a new major sponsor for the National Multicultural Marketing Awards with the question:
“Which Bank in the Fifties and Sixties was synonymous with migration advisory services across the country, at the time of a heavy influx of new arrivals from Europe?”
Mr Kerkyasharian was speaking at the launch of the 2008 nation-wide quest for excellence in multicultural marketing, by the Minister for Juvenile Justice and Western Sydney and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship, Barbara Perry, at the Westin Hotel, Sydney.
“The Commonwealth Bank has decided to revive its close public connection with immigration by now helping to promote the economic benefits of the cultural diversity that resulted from it, through sponsorship of the National Multicultural Marketing Awards
“Of course, the Commonwealth has continued its support for migrants since those early days in many ways, including the introduction of Commonwealth Bank International Customer Services, whereby migrants can now set up their banking needs long before they arrive here.
“I am delighted to welcome the support from the Commonwealth which, as the nation’s biggest bank, is very well placed to reap the benefits of cultural diversity. Its sponsorship sends a very powerful message that multicultural marketing is something of great value”, Mr Kerkyasharian said.
The existing sponsors are the NSW Government, the Australian Newspaper, Qantas, Integral Energy, CMC Markets, the Westin Hotel and Yellow Tail Wines.
The National Multicultural Marketing Awards have been conducted by the CRC for nineteen years.
Last year’s winners included the NRMA, Heinz Foods, Travelex, Bollywood Dreams and E-translate.
Calling for marketers in the public, private and community sectors to enter the 2008 Awards, Mr Kerkyasharian said today: “Why not show us this year what you have done in the last twelve months to benefit your organisation and benefit our nation through clever multicultural marketing? ”
According to a CBA media release, The Commonwealth Bank is proud to be a major sponsor of the 2008 National Multicultural Marketing Awards and congratulates all the nominees and winners on their success.
The Bank is committed to providing our nation’s multicultural communities with the best service possible by ensuring all their banking needs are met.
To provide these communities with the support they deserve, the Bank has teams of dedicated specialists established specifically our Asian communities and new arrivals.
Asian Banking – Personal and Corporate Banking
To provide additional support, the Commonwealth Bank recently established Asian Banking teams, which include specialists to assist the Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian communities.
The service these teams provide ensure our multicultural communities are comfortable in dealing with a Bank that understands their financial needs and cultural differences.
We are also making it easier for our customers by translating our key product brochures into six languages as well as ensuring we have multi-lingual staff within our branches.
CMC support
CMC Markets, the largest Contract for Difference (CFD) provider in Australia, has renewed its support for the annual National Multicultural Awards, which is being run under the auspices of the New South Wales (NSW) Community Relations Commission (CRC).
For its second year as a major sponsor, CMC Markets emphasizes the importance of the award in building and nurturing a harmonious and productive work environment populated by professionals from various countries.
“CMC Markets is a typical company that thrives on the skills of its multicultural employees,” said Luci Ozcan, Head of Asia Desk Australia for CMC Markets. “This is our second year of sponsorship for this award and we will continue to support it because we believe it encourages a positive and harmonious environment amongst various nationalities.”
“We have a strong representation of skills and talents from various countries which enable us to reach to an international audience. At the same time the combination of these skills, talents and culture makes CMC Markets a vibrant and dynamic work environment,” Mrs Ozcan added.
Integral Energy Community Award: Meanwhile, through its sponsorship of the Community Award, Integral Energy is providing the opportunity for any community or cultural organisation in Australia to gain recognition for their outstanding multicultural marketing campaign.
Integral Energy’s Acting General Manager of Retail and Customer Services, Tamara Hitchcock, said the corporation is again proud to support the annual awards, which are an initiative of the NSW Community Relations Commission.
“The Integral Energy Community Award provides a great way for community-based organisations to get the recognition they deserve for their efforts to reach many different groups within our multicultural society,” Ms Hitchcock said.
“We’d like to encourage like-minded organisations which value cultural diversity and are actively engaged in multicultural marketing to enter the Community Award this year.
“Community and cultural organisations which have effectively marketed themselves either through a fundraising program, community welfare project, community festival or campaign that makes a positive difference to the community, should consider nominating for the award.
“Multicultural marketing is important because it provides equitable access to information and helps organisations better understand their customers, and vice-versa.
“In their submissions, organisations should demonstrate how their creative marketing program has been clearly targeted with specific objectives and measurable achievements, taking into account cultural sensitivity,” she said.
The Integral Energy Community Award is one of eight awards that will be presented to winners at a Gala Dinner in Sydney on Tuesday 25 November 2008.
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