In a ceremony held in London on 12th May, the retail property industry gathered together for the British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Marketing Awards to celebrate this year’s top shopping centre campaigns.

Prizes up for grabs on the day were the Purple Apple Awards, Purple Apple Merits and Purple Apple Pips. Awards were broken down into each entry category – The 2010 Purple Apple Awards comprised of seven categories: community relations, effective advertising, digital marketing, events, driving sales, strategic marketing campaign and public/media relations campaign.

The Horsefair was awarded the only Purple Apple Pip for its annual Halloween Trick or Treat event, which was entered into the ‘community relations’ section of the awards. The Pip is awarded for the ‘the seeds of an excellent idea’.

The award is excellent recognition for The Horsefair, which was one of the smallest shopping centres to be entered into the awards and was up against some of the biggest shopping centres in the UK.

The Centre’s entry performed highly on the following factors, safety – providing children with an alternative to knocking on doors at night, delivering a value-for-money event, plus the support from the local police force and the feedback from parents and children on the day added to its emphasis.

“The Trick or Treat event was put together with the local community in mind, I wanted to create an initiative which would appeal to families,” said the Horsefair’s Manager, Kevin Smith.

“The Purple Apple Pip Award is a fantastic accolade for the Horsefair and I am delighted that the Halloween event has been recognised nationally. I also received some fantastic feedback from the local community and families visiting from other towns. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Centre’s shoppers and our retailers for their support and enthusiasm – I’m really looking forward to hosting the 2010 event in October!” he added.

BCSC Chief Executive Michael Green commented: “I am delighted at the calibre of the entrants that we had this year. Shopping centres are thinking of new and innovative ways to engage their local communities in order to meet the needs of the public.”

Kevin was greeted on stage to collect the Horsefair’s Award by the actress, Claudia Winkleman and BCSC president Neil Varnham.

Horsefair Manager, Kevin Smith (centre) received his award from actress, Claudia Winkleman (left) and BCSC President, Neil Varnham (right).