Lookers wins prestigious award

The North East based marketing team behind Lookers has won a prestigious award for creating one of the industry’s most well recognised and successful nationwide brands.

The inaugural North East Marketing Awards saw the Newcastle-based team at Lookers handed the In-House Marketing Team of the Year prize in recognition of its efforts in creating a unique brand within a highly competitive marketplace.

The award is the culmination of three years of brand building at Lookers, with the marketing team inherited by the group following the acquisition of North-East based Benfield.

In that time the team has created a new logo, design style, tone of voice and even a four-legged mascot, Lucky the dog.

More importantly by retaining the family values of the smaller business, the team has established a community focussed culture across its nationwide dealership network that has resulted in a thriving internal communications culture and a steady stream of positive news stories appearing in the media.

The team has almost doubled in size since the acquisition and now numbers 30 in the North East head office. It includes Brand Mangers representing manufacturers within the group, a dedicated design team, in-house copywriters, videographers, content and social media specialists and a PR Manager.

Lookers was able to fend off competition from a number of well-known brand names in the North East, including the University of Sunderland, Sintons LLP, Deloitte and Mincoffs Solicitors.

Heike O’Leary, group marketing director at Lookers, accepted the award on behalf of her team. She said, ‘I am so incredibly proud of my team here in Newcastle, who have been 100% dedicated to making Lookers the strong, confident brand it is today. The fact that the team have been able to do this during three years of continual change is a testament to their creativity and dedication and I look forward to building the Lookers brand even further with them.

‘I would also like to congratulate all of the winners and the runners up on the night. These awards have proved that there is a huge amount of marketing talent in the North East and they should all be proud.’