BOLTON'S Market Place Shopping Centre has won yet another award.

The development scooped gold at the ICSC Solal Marketing Awards in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.

The awards recognise best practice and outstanding marketing performance in retail marketing across Europe and South Africa.

The Market Place was the only UK winner and won in the ‘Brand Awareness and (Re) positioning’ category – which rewards campaigns that have creatively changed customer perceptions – for their Mannequin Challenge.

Cllr Cliff Morris, leader of Bolton Council, said: “We're delighted that Market Place has won another important award, and we are proud of their achievements. The Market Place continues to bring visitors and shoppers from Bolton and much wider to experience its unique mixture of shopping and leisure.”

Keith Harris, from Bolton FM, said: “This is a great example of how local partnerships can succeed and another example of Market Place and Bolton FM radio working together, following the recent Sing Bolton Sing contest in the centre.”

Nikki Wilson-Cook, Market Place Centre Manager, said: “We’re so happy to get another award, particularly when we were up against some really impressive competition from Europe and South Africa. And I feel particularly proud to win in a category that acknowledges the way perceptions are changing for the better, both at Market Place and in Bolton as a whole. To also get the distinction and to be the only UK winner is the cherry on top! A special thanks to all of our tenants and customers that took part.”

In November 2016, Market Place’s marketing agency, AL Marketing, suggested the idea of creating a Mannequin Challenge – where people upload videos of themselves freezing for the camera, whilst Black Beatles, a song by American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd, plays in the background.

Market Place was the first shopping centre in the UK to attempt a Mannequin Challenge featuring all of its retailers as well as members of the public – nothing of this scale had been attempted before. Their annual marketing budget was already spoken for, so implementing the concept required a lot of creativity. Keith Harris at Bolton FM helped find local students, Marcus Brooks and Aidan Scarborough, to produce the video, which they did for free.