Best in Show Awarded to Venables, Bell & Partners for Napster
NEW YORK, NY (September 23, 2004) The IAB and MediaPost Communications today announced the winners of its first OMMA Awards, honoring excellence in interactive marketing and advertising. The IAB and MediaPost hosted the OMMAs on September 21, 2004, the second night of Interactive Advertising World (IAW) and Advertising Week in New York City at the IAW event site– the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Hotel in New York. All of the finalist’s advertising creative were shown during the celebration.
An esteemed judging panel comprised of senior client-side brand marketers reviewed hundreds of entries to chose winners in five categories: Product Launch, Brand Awareness/Positioning, Direct Response, Public Service/Not for Profit, Purchase Intent/Sales and Best in Show (among all winners.)
“Seeing the best interactive campaigns one after another underscores just how good the creative being produced today really is. The work on display last evening pushed the envelope for all advertising, not just interactive, and we’re grateful to all the agencies and their clients for their participation,” said Greg Stuart, President and CEO, IAB.
“We were gratified to have this opportunity to recognize the outstanding work being produced by creative agencies across the country. We look forward to seeing the next iteration of creative work as more advertisers embrace richer media and other interactive formats in greater frequency,” said Ken Fadner, Publisher, MediaPost Communications.
The San Francisco-based Venables, Bell & Partners took Best in Show for its Napster campaign “It’s Coming back,” which featured the recognizable Kitty in a series of animated online vignettes. Venable’s key partners in the campaign included: Mediasmith, Mekanism, San Francisco; and Organic, Inc., San Francisco. The top Gold OMMA award winners in the other categories were:
- Product Launch: Venables, Bell and Partners “It’s Coming Back” for Napster
- Brand awareness and Positioning: Beyond Interactive “M&M’s the Great Color Quest.”
- Direct Response: mOne for the “Ameritratde Last Market Hour.”
- Purchase Intent/Sales: Eidoserve “RoboDemo” campaign for Macromedia/RoboDemo.
- Public Service/Not For Profit: e-tractions, Inc.“Oreo” campaign for truemajority.org.
- Silver awards winners included:
- Brand Awareness and Positioning: Deep Focus “Kill Bill Vols. 1&2” for Miramax Films.
- Product Launch: Nurun, Inc. “True Match Super-Blendable Foundation launch” for L’Oreal.
- Purchase Intent/Sales: Cramer-Krasselt “AirTran Ongoing Campaign” for AirTran Airways.
- Public Service/Not for Profit: Marsteller Advertising “The New Color of Money” for the US Treasury/Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
- Direct Response: Range Online Media “Spice Up Your Space” for Pier 1 Imports.
In addition to the Gold and Silver winners the IAB honored Rich Lefurgy, Archer Advisors with the “Lifetime Achievement” award; MediaPost named Apple the “Marketer of the Year” for their iTunes; and the OMMA award for Innovation and Creativity went to These Days for their “The First Mobile Snowball Ever” on behalf of Nokia.
All winners and finalists received Apple iPod minis with matching speakers, and the winners took home beautifully engraved black lacquered hologram trophies. Campaigns were scored against the following criteria: Campaign Strategy, Use of Media, Creative and Effectiveness.
About the IAB
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) represents leading interactive companies that are actively engaged in, and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. IAB member companies include: AOL, CNET Networks, DoubleClick, Forbes.com, Google, MSN, The Wall Street Journal Online, The Walt Disney Internet Group, Yahoo! and over 180 others. On behalf of its members, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research and educates the advertising industry regarding the use of interactive advertising. For more information please visit www.iab.net.
About MediaPost:
MediaPost is an integrated publishing and content company whose mission is to provide an array of resources to super-serve media planners and buyers. Since 1996 MediaPost Communications has been the leading advertising and media publisher providing news, how-to-information, analysis, research, opinion, planning tools and directories to help more than 53,000 media decision makers better plan and buy both online and traditional advertising. MediaPost publishes and presents MEDIA magazine, MediaDailyNews I,II,III, The Online Spin, Just an Online Minute, The Research Brief, The Email Insider, Real Media Riffs, MediaPost.com, Forecast Media Conference, The Outfront Conference, and The Media Breakfast Forums.
Contact:
Emily Kutner – IAB
Nick Friese – MediaPost
