Cheryll Sotheran, Chief Executive of Te Papa, won the prestigious SMEI Marketer of the Year Award at the TVNZ Marketing Magazine Awards in Auckland last night.
Te Papa also won the Cellier Le Brun Consumer Services Award for its successful marketing of the Te Papa brand and the repositioning of the new museum experience.
Te Papa was the only organisation to win two awards last night. It is also the first time a museum has ever been included in these awards. Te Papa won in the face of competition from other finalists who included Bank Direct, Air New Zealand, and NZ Dairy Foods.
Cheryll Sotheran said she was delighted to win the awards which also reflected the hard work and passion of Te Papa’s small marketing and communications team.
Since opening on 14 February this year, well over one million people have visited Te Papa. The yearly visitor target of 723,000 visitors was passed in just three months of operation.
Te Papa’s regular visitor surveys reveal that over a third of visitors were on repeat visits and 97 per cent said that they would recommend Te Papa to others.