LONDON: Very.co.uk, the ecommerce service, won the Grand Prix at the 2011 DMA Awards, recognised for a campaign reaching out to mums in the UK, and which was developed in partnership with agency Indicia.

Overall, 27 advertisers won Gold awards at the annual event, organised by the UK's Direct Marketing Association to recognise those companies demonstrating best practice in this discipline.

Warc subscribers can view all of the winning papers from the 2011 DMA Awards – featuring major brands such as Nissan, Lynx and Virgin Media – here.

Very.co.uk, part of the Shopdirect group, wanted to attract mums with babies to its online retail platform. To achieve this, it announced an exclusive fashion show, backed by a microsite, alongside branded social media pages, direct mail and online ads.

Overall, 121,319 people accessed the microsite, yielding 52,743 visits to specific product pages and 25,915 video views. Moreover, 11,000 items were purchased, with an average order value of £145.

The new customers acquired as a result of these efforts also had an estimated total lifetime value of £3.4m, demonstrating the long term payback provided by communications.

"The brand shows an understanding of the role that social media and online communities play in its customers' lives," said Mike Colling of MC&C, the direct marketing agency, and a member of the judging panel.

Elsewhere, British Airways, the air carrier, picked up two Golds at the ceremony: one for its service flying to the Caribbean, and the other rewarding the firm's efforts targeted at business travellers.

Freggo, the premium ice cream made by Gaucho Restaurants, carried off a total of four Golds in separate classes, including for its launch, creative solutions and use of a small budget.

"The campaign managed to capture thought leaders. It got people who would not normally have taken ice-cream seriously to come and test it," said Wanda Goldwag, of True North Human Capital, and another one of the judges.

Water Aid, the not for profit organisation, also scooped two Golds, related to the "best business performance or improvement" and "best use of copy" respectively.

Overall, the 2011 DMA Awards featured 35 categories covering five areas: individual business sectors, digital, craft, other channels and special prizes. Warc subscribers can see all the winning papers here.

Data sourced from DMA; additional content by Warc staff