Marketing Strategy of the Year. And the winner is........

Do we laugh or cry?

At the The National Business Awards ceremony last night one of the awards was for The Marketing Strategy of the Year.

"This Award will be made for a specific marketing campaign in the period 1st Jan 2008 to 31st May 2009 that has achieved high levels of commercial success for the relevant product or service. The judges will look for innovation and a clearly expressed and articulated objective led campaign strategy leading to measurable and verifiable business results."

The shortlist of finalists included:

• Aviva
• Great Lengths Hair
• King of Shaves
• Nationwide Autocentre
• Resonates
• Swiftcover.com
• The British Heart Foundation
• Toptable
• Unilever

And the winner of the Marketing Strategy of the Year Award is: HMRC, London, SW1A 2HQ

I note that the keynote speaker was Alistair Darling, The Chancellor of the Exchequer. Some might suggest that he's ultimately the Minister responsible for HMRC. A coincidence I'm sure.
During his speech he did correct those who might have misunderstood the purpose of the event:

"...this is where Britain’s best, from across the public and private sectors, get the recognition and reward they deserve."

I've yet been unable to work out exactly what was HMRC's winning marketing strategy as the relevant page of the Awards website is down at the mo.