15 July 2008, Dubai, UAE: Blue Nile Dairy Company and Cicero & Bernay have won an International Stevie Award in the 2008 International Business Awards for their 'CAPO Captures Sudanese Hearts and Minds' campaign. 

The campaign has also been highly commended at the 2008 Dairy Innovation Awards in the division of Best Marketing Campaign.

The International Business Awards are the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honouring great performances in business.

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word "crowned," the awards will be presented to winners at a gala dinner on Monday, September 8 in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.  Primary sponsors for the event will be Dow Jones and IDA Ireland.

Blue Nile Dairy Company Ltd is a subsidiary of DAL Group - Food Division, which markets all its dairy products under the CAPO brand and is the principal dairy company in Sudan.

The 'CAPO Captures Sudanese Hearts and Minds' campaign was an initiative designed by Cicero & Bernay Public Relations and Blue Nile Dairy Company, to help CAPO retain its position as the number one dairy company in Sudan, increase sales of UHT milk and strengthen brand loyalty.

"In a market ruled by Sharia Law, where the usual marketing tools often employed throughout the west are not viable, we were forced to find an original promotion that would be effective in this unique environment," said CAPO Sales and Marketing Manager Peter Meiring.

The solution came in the form of internationally renowned Indonesian Yo-Yo champion - Oke Rosgana. The Blue Nile Dairy Company sponsored Rosgana to visit Sudan in 2006 as part of a travelling festival/road show to promote CAPO products. As many CAPO consumers have limited resources, involvement in the Yo-Yo Festival was made accessible through the free gift of a Yo-Yo with every four packs of CAPO UHT milk.

"To capitalise on this interest, as Blue Nile Dairy Company's public relations advisers we recommended using the 2007 CAPO Yo-Yo Festival as the catalyst to introduce a bi-monthly video "Movie Magazine" to be shown in the community as stage one of an overall communications strategy," said Cicero & Bernay consultant Mariko Hall.

The "Movie Magazine" would feature three different segments - entertainment, health education and product promotion building on the established marketing theme of CAPO - Quality. Taste. Trust. Screenings would demand an innovative approach to ensure accessibility to the varied target audiences.

At the same time, the CAPO website, www.caposudan.com, was upgraded and the CAPO Kids Club was eventually launched, encouraging ongoing awareness and loyalty in younger generations.

Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 1,700 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 30 countries.  Organizations all over the world are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards, and can enter in any of more than 40 categories from Best Multinational Company and Best New Product to Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program and Best Executive.  

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs selected International Stevie winners from among the Finalists, which were determined by volunteer judges around the world during two months of preliminary judging.

"Entries to the IBAs grew 65% this year and that illustrates the increasing importance of The International Business Awards worldwide," said Michael Gallagher, president of The Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs.  "We congratulate all of the Finalists and International Stevie Awards winners, and we look forward to honouring them for their achievements at our gala awards dinner in Dublin on September 8."

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About Cicero & Bernay
Cicero & Bernay is one of the UAE's fastest growing public relations consultancies, building the images of key players throughout the MENA region for a very diverse client base.

Their key to success is a team of international, multi-lingual award-winning senior consultants with 'real' work experience. They provide public relations solutions with measurable outcomes that can be shown to deliver a real return on investment.

For communications beyond just media relations visit their website www.cbpr.ae for a full account of the many ways they can help, including both internal, marketing and external communications programmes, based on sound strategic planning.

About CAPO
Blue Nile Dairy Company Ltd, is a subsidiary of DAL Group - Food Division, which markets all its dairy products under the "CAPO" brand, is the principal dairy company in Sudan with an unrivalled reputation for quality and hygiene.

CAPO was established in May 1997 and has steadily grown its production facilities to produce a range of products that include pasteurised milk, plain and fruit yoghurt, drinking yoghurt, mish and whipping cream. Recent new products have included a Bio-yoghurt and long-life milks. Other innovative dairy products are planned.

CAPO's Quality Policy is to produce a range of dairy products that are always safe to consume and are of a consistently high standard. Its overriding goal is to ensure that all CAPO products are enjoyed by consumers by focusing on all stage of the supply chain (including final distribution and storage at the retailer), its manufacturing processes, storage and staff training.

In May 2000 BNDC was awarded the Certificate of Approval by Lloyd's Register of Quality Assurance (ISO9002:1994) making it the first company in the Sudan to achieve ISO status.

In May 2003 the certificate was updated to ISO 9001:2000. BNDC is still the only dairy in Sudan with this certification.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honouring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Global Sponsor of The 2008 International Business Awards is Dow Jones.  Premier sponsor of the September 8 awards gala is IDA Ireland.  Supporting Sponsors include BT Conferencing and Weber Shandwick UK.  National Sponsors include the Korean Business Communicators Association and the Public Relations Society of India.  Media Sponsors include CorpComms magazine and Berlin's JazzRadio 101.9.  Localization Partner for the 2008 IBAs is Lionbridge.

Complete lists of honourees and other details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba. 

Media Contact:
Mariko Hall
T: 04 - 334 2966
F: 04 - 334 2977
E: mariko@cbpr.ae

© Press Release 2008