Tag: Fairmont

PASADENA, CA– The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) recently announced their 2011 competition winners. Now in its 20^th year, the NATJA awards honor the “best of the best” in travel writing, photography and promotion that cover all aspects of the travel industry worldwide.

Spafax media winners include: Air Canada’s enRoute (5 awards), Air Canada’s OnAir e-zine (1 award), Fairmont Magazine for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (1 award) and Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Experience Magazine (1 award).

Gold awards were won by  Bombardier’s Experience magazine for food writer Alan Richman’s “Bubble Economics” in the Culinary Travel category, and by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine for Susan Nerberg, Alex Redgrave and Stephen Marche’s stories in “Geek Odysseys” in the Travel Series – Magazines category. enRoute also earned a Silver for best in-flight magazine.

“This speaks to our overall commitment to quality content marketing,” said Raymond Girard, President, Content for Spafax. “It’s our calling card and it’s always nice to see our hard work rewarded.”

“At Spafax we believe in great content,” said Arjun Basu, Content Director. “Winning these awards is a testament to the talents of our staff and contributors, and to the dedication of our clients not just to their brands but to excellence overall.”

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus, social media, hotels and attractions, and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes Travelworld International Magazine (www.travelworldmagazine.com). For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2011 award-winners, visit www.natja.org.

Last week, I spoke to the Custom Content Council at their pre-Pearl Awards gathering in New York. (For the record, Spafax won 5 Pearl Awards for our work for Air Canada’s enRoute, enRoute online, Air Canada’s OnAir and Mercedes Benz Canada.) Speaking about in-flight magazines and our long-standing partnership with Air Canada, I then conducted a Q&A with Air Canada’s Senior Director, Product Design Louise McKenven. We spoke about our long-standing partnership, how enRoute media enahnces Air Canada’s brand, how enRoute allows Air Canada a different level of communication with their customers, about earned media, and about the compelling brand story we (Spafax) can offer advertisers on Air Canada’s behalf.

The audience was fascinated. One, because the perception of in-flight media in the US is so different than it is in Canada (and in many other parts of the world). Two, because the story itself, of a brand leveraging the talents of its content agency to tell quality stories to a highly mobile audience – and then commercializing that conversation – is an amazing story in and of itself. Three, the audience (composed of other custom content providers) tried to figure out how to apply the in-flight model to their own customers.

At Spafax, we have taken the knowledge and experience we’ve built up with the airline and travel industry, and come to some basic truths. The people who travel, an amazing mobile and global audience, is, in fact, the customer base that all brands crave. The audiences our clients reach on the in-flight/IFE side of things and the custom media side are, basically, one and the same. And so it makes sense for Spafax to include the likes of Turismo Chile, Bombardier Business Aircraft, and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in a client base that also includes the likes of British Airways, Emirates and Singapore Airlines, to name a few.

We have long been about content, curating brand stories for a mobile – and highly coveted – audience. What the gathering in New York learned is that the richness of the experience we have created with Air Canada is applicable to “terrestrial” brands as well. Because telling brand stories, and telling them well, is universal.

Spafax publications win 12 prizes at the Custom Publishing Council’s Pearl Awards

November 18, 2009 – Spafax, one of the world’s leading providers of custom media solutions, won a dozen prizes at the recent Pearl Awards held in New York, including “best in custom” for enRoute. Produced by the Custom Publishing Council, the Pearls celebrate excellence in the custom publishing and media industry.

enRoute, the inflight magazine of Air Canada, won 5 awards, including the Best in Custom Award. It also collected 2 golds (for best cover and best overall editorial) as well as 2 silver awards. IN, the inflight magazine of LAN, won 4 awards, including 2 golds for Best use of photography and Best tie-in with corporate integrated marketing. OnAir, a monthly e-zine produced for Air Canada, won a gold award for best e-newsletter. Other award winners from Spafax included HomeSpa, for Canadian luxury spa maker BainUltra and Fairmont magazine, for international hotel brand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

“We are thrilled with the results,” said Spafax Editorial Director Arjun Basu. “Our print and digital products were recognized for editorial, design and strategy. And then having enRoute win the ‘best in show’ prize was literally the icing on the cake.”

The Pearl Awards are the highest honors bestowed upon custom content and publishing companies in the US. More information about the Custom Publishing Council and the Pearl Awards can be found at www.custompublishingcouncil.com.

About Spafax
Spafax is one of the world’s leading providers of custom media, producing magazines, e-zines, websites as well as providing in-flight content to the world’s airlines. Spafax is a part of the specialist media division of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications companies.

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For more information:
Please contact Arjun Basu at 514-844-2001 or abasu@spafax.com.

enRoute Magazine – enroute.aircanada.com
IN Magazine – in-lan.com
HomeSpa Magazine – homespa-magazine.com
Fairmont Magazine – fairmont.com