2013-03-05 — /travelprnews.com/ — Gatwick Airport has been recognised at the Interactive Media Awards for its ‘Best in Class’ mobile website and by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) for its use of internal social media during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The airport’s mobile website, which was launched in June 2012, was awarded ‘Best in Class’ within the ‘Transportation’ category at the Interactive Media Awards. The award represents the best in planning, execution and overall professionalism. Best in Class is the highest accolade awarded to entrants.
The site, which can be accessed by visiting www.gatwickairport.com via a mobile phone’s internet browser, offers instant access to flight, travel and parking information, as well as an overview of facilities at the airport.
Proving that Gatwick’s internal communications are as class-leading as its external channels, the airport has also been recognised for its ‘Best Use of Social Media’ at the CIPR Inside Awards.
The award was given to Gatwick for its use of employee social media channel Yammer during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Aimed at informing, involving and inspiring employees, staff were encouraged to share updates, tips, comments and photos on Yammer – all with the aim of delivering excellent service to passengers. The channel was also used to recruit staff volunteers to meet and greet Games-related passengers including athletes and training teams.
Such were the level of engagement, over 1,000 comments and 650 photos were posted from all across the Gatwick community over the summer.
Commenting James Colman, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director, said: “Excellent communication is essential in an airport environment – whether this applies to keeping our passengers informed or enabling our employees to discuss and share great ideas to improve the service we offer at Gatwick.
“Therefore we are very proud to be recognised with these two awards and will be continuing to innovate and improve how we communicate to ensure we remain at the top of our game.”
Notes to Editors
Award winning online communications
In 2010, Gatwick Airport scooped the award for its ‘Innovation in Online Customer Service’ at the Econsultancy Innovation Awards, recognising innovation and best practice within the digital industry.
In 2011, Gatwick Airport won the award for its ‘talk to Gatwick’ strategy at the CIPR 2011 Excellence Award for ‘Best Practice in Social Media’, recognising innovative and effective use of social media.
In 2011, Gatwick was awarded ‘Best use of digital media’ for customer services at the CorpComms Digi Awards
In 2011, at the Digital Impact Awards Gatwick won ‘Best Use of Social Media in a Crisis’
In 2001 Gatwick was awarded A SimpliFlying Award for ‘Excellence in Social Media – Best Airport’
In 2011 Gatwick Airport was also highly commended at the PR week awards in the ‘Digital and Social Media’ category
About the Interactive Media Awards
Created by the Interactive Media Council, the global awards recognise the highest standards of excellence in website design and development.
For more information visit www.interactivemediaawards.com
About the CIPR Inside Awards
The CIPR Inside Awards recognise outstanding internal communications in the UK. For more information visit www.cipr.co.uk
About Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is the UK’s second largest airport and the busiest single-runway airport in the world. It serves around 200 destinations in 90 countries for around 34 million passengers a year on short- and long-haul point-to-point services. It is also a major economic driver for the South-East region, generating around 23,000 on-airport jobs and a further 13,000 jobs through related activities. The airport is 28 miles south of London with excellent public transport links, including the Gatwick Express. Gatwick Airport is owned by a group of international investment funds, of which Global Infrastructure Partners is the largest shareholder.
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For more information contact:
Gatwick Airport press office
t: + 44 (0) 1293 505000
e: gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com
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Gatwick’s communications team wins CIPR award (l-r Sue Almond, Richard Townsend, Caroline Thorpe)