Derbyshire County Cricket Club and Silver Birch Creative are celebrating a Business of Cricket Awards victory after emerging victorious from all 18 counties to a prestigious marketing award.

Derbyshire was awarded Best Domestic Marketing Campaign at Thursday’s awards evening after securing a 33% increase in Friends Life t20 ticket sales in 2011.

Derbyshire also received a nomination and special commendation from the judges on their community programme.

Derbyshire Chief Executive Keith Loring said: “We are thrilled to have won this award which comes as thoroughly deserved recognition for everybody involved.

“Our entire commercial team were joined by Silver Birch Creative to brainstorm for our 2011 campaign and we were all delighted with the POW branding that came out of those sessions.

“The hard work of implementing the campaign in all the right areas then began and the excellent attendances we achieved demonstrated how effectively we did that.

“Derby Telegraph proved to be an excellent media partner in running a series of adverts, a seven week presence at the Westfield Centre gave us excellent awareness within the community and our branding presence around the city was as strong as ever.

“The enthusiasm and creativity of our team then ensured we left no stone unturned as they rode the rollercoaster of the Friends Life t20 period making sure we made the most of every additional opportunity.

“We were particularly grateful to Derby County Football Club for unrolling the campaign to their supporters, often at opportune moments to run parallel with their main stories. There were, however, many other partners who helped us at various times during the campaign.

“Thanks and congratulations also to Silver Birch Creative for their fantastic design work – both for the campaign itself and for our submissions to the judging panel for these awards.”

Silver Birch Creative owner Karl Shaw said: “What a fantastic achievement this is for all concerned, beating off competition from all 18 counties. We are really proud to represent Derbyshire and bring home this award. This was all achieved through great client relationships and hard work, and obviously creative flare”