The jury selected the Politecnico di Torino from amongst a shortlist of strong contenders, mentioning in particular the team’s focusing in the following areas:
- Accessibility: always having someone on hand in the paddocks to receive guests and explain their programme.
- Integration: the communications and marketing programme was conceived of as an integral part of the team’s project, strategically thought-out, and ran over the course of the entire project
- Professional engagement of media on a local and national level, with particular success in raising their profile in both print and audiovisual media.
- Active participation in events and exhibitions in their home country during the course of the year leading to the Shell Eco-marathon
- Understanding and activation of the social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, as well as the development of their own branded microsite
- Professionalism in design and quality of all collateral materials produced
- A broad perspective both in terms of geography and time: their communications and marketing efforts do not end with the event itself but continue for months into the future building into the following year’s campaign, and they have taken their story across Europe.
The jury remarked that many teams had put a lot of effort into their communications and marketing. They placed special emphasis on the involvement of all team-members in communications and marketing efforts in making their selection. Teams with limited finances proved extremely resourceful in identifying key stakeholders instrumental in promoting their project and goals, and in employing effective, simple communications techniques to engage them. The use of Web 2.0 technology in particular afforded teams a cost-effective and efficient means of communicating, which many leveraged to their advantage.
The jury also wish to compliment the efforts of the following nine teams, whom they have singled out for special mention:
- Diamond Style Team, from Sapienza, Dipartimento di Industrial Design (326)
- Ecoelec, from ECAM Haute Ecole Leonard de Vinci, Belgium (405)
- Exodus, from the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Pakistan (331)
- Fortis Saxonia, from Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany (215)
- GTS, from Offenbach, Germany (78)
- NTNU, from Norges Teknisk Naturuiten Skapelige Universitet, Norway (402)
- SEM-SA, from Sakip Sabanci Anatolian High School, Turkey (342)
- Triple-X, from Damstede, the Nethherlands (224)
- Zeal, from Tongji University, China (132)
Jury Composition:
Michiel Buchel, Science Museum NEMO, Amsterdam
Trine Jansen, Shell
Stehpane Salzmann, Radio France