Everton has scooped a Northern Marketing Award for the Club’s poignant 2016/17 Season Ticket campaign ‘Nothing Will Be The Same.’

The campaign, which was based around the well-known Alan Ball quote “Once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same”, was announced as the winner in the Best Sport Campaign category during the prestigious awards ceremony at The Hilton Hotel in Manchester on Wednesday evening.

A four-minute video was the focus of the campaign and featured four Season Ticket holders each telling their own personal stories of memories and experiences following Everton. Throughout the video viewers learn about the journey which fans Gerry, Tom, Natalie and Ian have each been on. Their deep love for Everton is brought to life as they share their first memories of arriving at Goodison Park, their favourite games and players, past and current, as well as their personal stories of the role the Club plays in their lives.

The video was the centrepiece of an extensive multi-platform marketing campaign delivered over a six-month period.

The panel of judges, all esteemed industry leaders and experts, described Everton’s ‘Nothing Will Be The Same’ 2016/17 Season Ticket campaign as “impressive, emotional and inclusive”, and added that it demonstrated the value of “good precision CRM and cross platform marketing”.

Richard Kenyon, Everton’s Director of Marketing and Communications said:

“While it’s always pleasing to be recognised externally, the real reward was in seeing our supporters respond so positively to the stories of our fans in the campaign.  

“The increase in Season Ticket sales this year follows the trend of the last few years and has resulted in our first five home games of the season being sell-outs which is great for everyone, not least the players out there on the pitch. 

“On behalf of everyone at the Club I’d like to thank the fans who took part in the campaign and all our loyal fans who showed their commitment and love for Everton by buying a season ticket, we are very grateful to every single one of you.”

For the 2016/17 season, the total number of Season Ticket holders stands at over 32,000 having sold nearly 3,500 more than the previous year, almost a 15% increase across both Season Ticket and hospitality sales, this equates to 7,700 more than the total number from just five seasons ago, an increase of around one-third.

Everton has become renowned for its emotive video campaigns reflecting the passion of the fans. Indeed, the Blues have now won awards for their Season Ticket campaigns for the past four years; the ‘Best Sport Campaign’ for ‘Nothing will be the Same’ this year at the Northern Marketing Awards, whilst at the North-West Football Awards the Club have walked away with the ‘Best Club Marketing Campaign’ award for ‘We are Chosen’ in 2015 and for ‘Make it Everton’ in 2013 and ‘Best Club Sponsorship and Marketing Engagement’ for ‘We are Evertonians’ in 2014.

Now in its fourth year, the Northern Marketing Awards celebrates the excellence, creativity and achievements of the marketing industry in the North. The Club was up against a range of private, public and not-for-profit sector bodies. Everton was also shortlisted in two other categories at the annual awards ceremony; Everton in the Community’s ‘Proud to be Blue’ campaign was nominated in the Best Not-For-Profit category whilst the Blues were also up for the Best Use of Research or Insight award.