[C]arlisle-based retailer CHO Fashion & Lifestyle have spoken of their “pride” and “shock” after they scooped the Best Digital Marketing Campaign at the prestigious Drapers Awards.
CHO emerged victorious against strong competition from the likes of Misguided, Very, and Mr Porter at this year’s awards ceremony which was held in London.
Gareth O’Rourke, Director of International Ecommerce at CHO Fashion & Lifestyle was present at the event couldn’t believe the result, he said: “I’m still a little in shock, to be honest.
“We were up against some huge competition including Missguided and Mr Porter so to win really demonstrates that smaller businesses can compete against the bigger players in the market.
“The business and the team are all absolutely delighted – and there’s such pride at what has been achieved.”
This isn’t the first success in recent times for CHO, who are based on Lonsdale Street in Carlisle, after winning the ‘Training and Development’ gong at the CN Awards in 2016.
Since then the business has grown rapidly and is now competing against national brands, but O’Rourke believed the result was for from a forgone conclusion: “When you see names like Mr Porter, Missguided and Yoox in the category, I knew it was going to be tough.
“I knew we had created a solid campaign using a mix of digital principles including programatic advertising, video, social, using influencers and also content on site.
“This was all integrated and I knew our number were solid – I thought we had an outside chance – especially with our budgets we had compared with the larger companies.”
O’Rourke was signing his praises for Cumbria, too, saying that this should have a positive effect for business in the area: “This is huge for Cumbria, this really puts it on the map for both digital and fashion and could hopefully encourage local talent to stay in the area.
“We couldn’t have put this together without our video agency Soup Creative, our music producer Max Brodie our models and social influencers Amy Neville and Bethany Bennett – but I want to thank most of all my team who inspire me each and every day and who without none of this would have been achievable.”
“We have exciting plans moving forward, we are looking to continue the growth we have experienced over the last 3 years, there are plans for additional websites and building our brand portfolio out further.”
