Love the Webby Awards, the top honours for the Internet world. Don’t always agree with the winners as many sites are more fussy than functional for my tastes. Case in point: the Association category award winner, Just Add New Zealanders. Huh?
Nonetheless, it’s fantastic to see how the Web has evolved and is able to engage in a way that is not possible via other media. Stories are told now so powerfully – check out the People’s Voice Winner for the Art category, Live Hope Love, a site showcasing the poetry and people of HIV in Jamaica. Although not a nominee this year, MediaStorm also is incredibly powerful for adding voices and faces to tragic news headlines such as consequences of the genocide in Rwanda.
It’s also interesting to note that the Webby’s isn’t just about websites – it now features Interactive Advertising, Online Film and Video and Mobile categories. Makes sense in this ever increasingly converged world. Check out winners Wario Land Shake It along with insight behind the creation; and Apple’s iPod Touch online commercial - great examples of how internet advertising has come a long way from the days of static banners.
Forrester Research recently predicted that Interactive Marketing is set to grow 11% to $25.6 Billion in 2009 and hit $55 Billion by 2014. All this, at the expense of offline marketing – with direct mail and print being hit hardest. Taking a look at the winners and nominees of the Webby Awards and it’s not hard to see why - Interactive Marketing has grown up.
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