Gurney Beckford, chief executive officer of Dunlop Corbin Communications Ltd., with his certificate for placing third in The Gleaner's 2000 Top Advertising Billing Award. With him at yesterday's awards luncheon at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew, is Oliver F. Clarke, chairman and managing director of the Gleaner Company Ltd. - Michael SloleyDUNLOP CORBIN Communications Ltd. was yesterday hailed as an outstanding advertising agency as Gurney Beckford, its chairman and chief executive officer, accepted the Gleaner's Top Billing Award for the firm which placed the third highest volume of business in the newspaper's publications in 2000.
At an awards luncheon at the Terra Nova Hotel, Waterloo Road, St. Andrew, Miss Yvonne Senior, the Gleaner's advertising manager, thanked Dunlop Corbin "for delivering consistently high quality material". "We are truly grateful for the way in which the agency makes it easy to work as a team," she added.
Oliver F. Clarke, chairman and managing director of the Gleaner Company Ltd., praised the leadership of Dunlop Corbin and pointed to the outstanding service which the advertising agency provides to his clients.
In his response, Mr. Beckford thanked his staff and clients for their strong support. He also commended The Gleaner for the quality of its service, pointing out that this was why the newspaper had taken the "Media of the Year" award for four consecutive years.
He also made a major push for advertising in The Star, the Gleaner Company's afternoon tabloid. "We think that The Star has the most under-utilised real value for advertisers in Jamaica," he declared. "If you look at the surveys ... you will find that the readership of The Star doubles that of the morning tabloid."
Mr. Beckford also used statistics from two recent all-media surveys to show that The Star reaches more readers than the number of listeners on the island's two main radio stations, RJR and Irie FM.
Pointing to competition in the marketplace, he urged the Gleaner Company not to sacrifice professionalism and standards by accepting substandard material for publication.
But Miss Senior stressed that high standards would continue to be the focus of the newspaper, pointing to improved technology which would help to improve quality. "The implications of this improved technology will be to improve significantly client-service and the quality of the reproduction of advertisements," she said.
