The Web Marketing Association today announced the launched of its third annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards, a program to honor excellence in online advertising and to recognize the individuals and organizations responsible for the best in Internet marketing. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The Competition Web site is located at http://www.iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is January 31, 2005.
“This year we have made a number of changes to the competition format based upon feedback from past participants and judges", said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, Inc. “We have increased the number of industries to allow entries to compete head-to-head and simplified the types of advertising medium allowed.
We also have upgraded the trophy winners receive and created a new Outstanding Advertising award level. These changes should all help participants to receive the acclaim for the outstanding work being done in online advertising around the world.”
Best of Show winner in the 2004 IAC Awards was Germany’s BBDO InterOne GmbH for their entry “The new BMW 6 Series Convertible. Inspiration. Dynamics. Elegance." at http://www.bmw.com/6seriesconvertible which also won Best Automobile/Transportation Interactive application Award. Other IAC Award winners who received multiple awards included Ant Farm Interactive, PALM Publicité Marketing, BBDO InterOne GmbH, Home and Garden Television, IconNicholson, Organic, Inc., THINK Interactive Inc. and Verizon Online.
The Internet Advertising Competition Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (advertising and interactive agencies, corporate marketing departments, etc.) involved in the process of developing Internet advertising. Entries may be submitted online at http://www.advertisingcompetition.org from now through January 31, 2005 and will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium. Awards will be presented within each of the 24 industry categories and 16 advertising formats such as email, banner ad, rich-media, interstitial, and online application. Best of Show award will be selected from among the category winners. Ads eligible for entry in the competition must have run during the period from January 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005.
Judging for the IAC Awards will take place in February, 2005, and winners will be notified by e-mail one week prior to the general announcement of winners in March, 2005. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet advertising professionals with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web advertising. Past WebAward competition judges have included top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, National Cable & Telecom Association, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, Answerthink, and Zentropy Partners.
The 2005 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are sponsored by BURST!Media, Venture Direct Worldwide, Line56 Media, Small Army Marketing Services, and Microsoft Office LiveMeeting.
About the Web Marketing Association
The Web Marketing Association is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of advertising, marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to Web sites. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association’s annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world. Now in its ninth year, the WebAward Competitions have become the premier event for Web developers and marketers worldwide.