Awards Celebrate the Best in Creative for Interactive Advertising
New York, NY (Aug. 2, 2004) – Today, the IAB and MediaPost Communications announced a call for entries for their first-ever interactive advertising awards program, honoring excellence in interactive marketing and advertising. Titled the “Online Media, Marketing and Advertising Awards” or “OMMAs” the program will celebrate the creative teams and agencies that continue to push the creative potential of Interactive advertising. The gala awards ceremony will be held 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. A special website for the awards is live at www.omma-awards.com.
The call for entries opens today at www.omma-awards.com, and closes on August 27, 2004. The awards show will feature the industry’s best interactive marketing and advertising campaigns from the following categories:
• Product Launch
• Brand Awareness/Positioning
• Direct Response
• Public Service/Not for Profit
• Purchase Intent/Sales
• Best in Show (among all winners)
In addition, the OMMAs will include two editorial awards, with selections being made by the IAB and MediaPost editorial staff. These are:
• Innovation and Creativity
• Marketer of The Year
• Lifetime Achievement
“The OMMAs is unique to the industry because it is dedicated exclusively to the advancement of the Interactive industry and is the first competition emphasizing creativity, effectiveness and commitment to Interactive in overall marketing and advertising plans,” said Ken Fadner, MediaPost Communications.
“An Awards program from IAB and MediaPost stresses the critical nature of creative in interactive marketing campaigns. There is tremendous opportunity now for advertisers to design original, compelling work for the interactive space and those on the creative front lines deserve to be feted,” said Greg Stuart, President and CEO, IAB.
The entries will be judged primarily by senior client-side brand marketers. The judging panel will choose four finalists in each category, and then an overall category winner. In addition, “Best in Show” will be awarded to the best ad across all of the categories. Campaigns will be scored against the following criteria: Campaign Strategy, Use of Media, Creative and Effectiveness.
The recognized winners in each of the judged categories will include the entire team responsible for the campaign: Creative Director, Media Director, Account Manager and the client. All finalists will be awarded a handsome prize basket, and the winners will be awarded a trophy. Ads from all of the finalists will be featured during the show.
How To Enter
Agencies and clients interested in submitting their campaigns should visit www.omma-awards.com to review the OMMAs rules and procedures. Entries can be submitted online only..
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.
Marla Nitke IAB
Nick Friese – MediaPost