newzapp help Devon County Council win communications 'Oscar'

August 2007

Devon County Council has won one of the UK's top communications awards for an innovative e-magazine that's helping to make Devon greener and save money by using technology supplied by newzapp.

The County Council has been awarded a prestigious Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Award for 2007 for its weekly e-magazine "Insider", beating off strong nationwide competition from industry, national charities, Government departments and the wider public sector.

There were a record 730 entries for the 27 award categories in this year's CIPR Excellence Awards with strong competition from top communications professionals in private sector companies -- such as BP, BT, Rolls Royce and Standard Life, Government departments, "not for profit" organisations -- such as Royal British Legion, Friends of the Earth and British Heart Foundation, public affairs consultancies, in-house teams, local government -- such as Westminster, Camden and Norfolk, and broadcast media specialists.

"Insider" is distributed by email to nearly 7,000 Council workers and Councillors across Devon. It helps keep them abreast of Council news, policy decisions and service developments which means they are better informed about issues which affect their work and the public they serve.

Using newzapp, "Insider" has achieved all three targets set by the County Council: improve internal communications; substantially cut costs and help reduce the authority's carbon footprint.

Judges highlighted the cost-effectiveness of "Insider" and were impressed with newzapp’s monitoring and evaluation software which enables the County Council to track how many people read the e-magazine and which articles are the most popular. Commenting on the presentation and content, the judges said, "The simple and very readable design combines good use of headlines, photography and imagery."

County Council chief Executive Phil Norrey commented, "We want to compete with the best because meeting those challenges produces excellence. Working with newzapp, we're achieving that goal in the field of internal communications. "Insider" is fast, flexible and substantially cheaper than a traditional staff newsletter. The electronic format helps cut our carbon footprint by reducing our reliance on more expensive printed publications".

newzapp's Managing Director Trevor Munday said, "Working with Devon County Council has led many other Councils and government bodies to use our software. Increased communication, quantifiable return on investment and lower environmental impact are all key benefits to using an email marketing system like newzapp. When these are leveraged in the right way, fantastic things can be achieved."

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