Prepaid Industry Achievements Recognized At 2014 Blackhawk Network Summit

PLEASANTON, Calif., June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackhawk Network, Inc., a leading prepaid payment network, announced the winners of the company's eighth annual Hawk Awards at a gala event in Palm Desert, recognizing the leaders and innovators in the prepaid industry.

"Each year, the prestige and size of the event continues to grow, and this year was no different.  The Hawk Awards, which recognizes excellence and leadership in the prepaid industry, saw a record number of nominations across our ten award categories," said Talbott Roche, President of Blackhawk Network. "Our partners are delivering on a resounding promise to not only innovate the prepaid card industry, but also drive its growth, and we are thrilled to award this year's recipients."

The following organizations were honored at the 2014 Hawk Awards ceremony:

Best Promotional Program from a Content Partner: Canadian Tire – Rexall Promotion
In their first dollar's off promotion with Blackhawk, Canadian Tire partnered with Rexall and reached new heights with driving substantial incremental sales.

Best Promotional Program from a Distribution Partner: Weis Markets – Buy Use Get Program
With consistent year-over-year growth since the launch of the campaign, Weis's program connected the benefits of a fuel reward program and purchasing gift cards with their marketing message: "Buy Gift Cards, Use Like Cash, Earn More Gas Rewards."

Most Innovative Product or Service: T-Mobile – Prepaid Visa and Mobile Money app
T-Mobile is shaking up the financial services industry. The company is taking its unconventional Un-carrier philosophy to financial services with an innovative prepaid program to free the unbanked and underbanked from bank fees.

Best Card Design: Gap – Watercolor
Gap's beautiful watercolor design captures the attention of any shopper at the Gift Card Mall destinations.

Best eGift: Target
Leveraging device detection, responsive design and the newest in barcode encoding technology, Target's eGift card delivers a consistent consumer experience while mitigating the opportunity for fraud.

Best Adopter of Digital: eBay – Daily Deals
With over 30 events executed, and one offer selling out in 38 minutes, eBay had a very successful 2013 with their Daily Deals Program. eBay utilized their extensive marketing vehicles to promote these offers and drive substantial incremental sales for participating content providers such as Applebee's, iTunes, Target, Lowes and Staples.

Best Digital Marketer: iTunes
iTunes continues to be a leader in the digital space having executed over 15 digital events in 2013. These events were instrumental in driving incremental sales, which made last year a banner year for iTunes. 

Best Overall Prepaid Program: Kroger – Telecom Destinations
Kroger's telecom team rolled out over 1,900 new dedicated telecom destinations in 2013 bringing in new handsets on display with Tracfone, T-Mobile and AT&T. Kroger supported this new launch with a robust marketing plan that included in-store signage, incremental shippers, broadcast radio and incorporated the handset and airtime cards with their best-in-class 4X fuel points marketing.

Industry Innovation: Safeway  
Safeway added new barge fixtures in over 175 stores creating 250 incremental pegs per location, which now house expanded product selection. Safeway also launched new telecom destination fixtures with "No Contract" messaging and integrated 4X Fuel Rewards messaging on airtime products. Safeway created best-in-class training videos for the telecom expansion to educate their employees on new handsets and airtime products.

Industry Achievement: Food Lion
This company re-launched their prepaid program with new fixtures that increased the number of pegs per store by over 50% and allowed an expansion of content in their 1,150 doors. Food Lion's program was further supported with a robust marketing plan, which has increased their topline sales by over 30% this year.

About Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK and Hawk B) is a leading prepaid payment network, which supports the program management and distribution of gift cards, prepaid telecom products and financial service products across a global network. Blackhawk's digital platform supports prepaid across a network of digital distribution partners including retailers, financial service providers, and mobile wallets. For more information please, visit www.blackhawknetwork.com.

SOURCE Blackhawk Network, Inc.