IAB Announces Winners Of MIXX Awards 2009, Celebrates Creativity in Interactive Advertising

49 Campaigns Win in 17 Categories; Best in Show Awarded to Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital media have altered the traditional relationships among marketers, agencies and media companies—and even with consumers themselves. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the roster of winners of the fifth annual MIXX Awards, announced tonight by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The only advertising awards that honor innovation and impact, this year’s MIXX Awards—selected by a prestigious panel of senior executives from brands, agencies and media companies—highlighted the breadth of opportunities as well as the creative revolution that is transforming the way professionals craft and consumers experience advertising. The winners were announced during a multimedia extravaganza hosted by Saturday Night Live veteran Jim Breuer.

“This year’s MIXX award winners underscored the increasing significance of emerging technologies and platforms like social media, mobile and the ability to integrate platforms through cross-media integration”

“We are witness to an extraordinary moment in advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB and a renowned author and columnist on the marketing and media world. “Technological innovation in digital media is only one piece of great advertising—nothing beats a story well told, and tonight’s winners show us that there is no medium that can convey compelling narrative across so many platforms, in so many creative ways, as interactive.”

The gala's ultimate honor, Best in Show, was secured by Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World,” a campaign illustrative of the enormous global impact interactive advertising can deliver when deployed across multiple platforms. Tourism Queensland, in an effort to drive worldwide awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, asked CumminsNitro Brisbane to develop an idea that would resonate with people in all countries, crossing cultures and backgrounds. Together they created an international job search to fill the “best job in the world”—an onsite, live-in manager of an island on the Great Barrier Reef. The central component of the campaign consisted of social media, which was integrated with traditional media around the globe and leveraged the potential of consumers’ engagement and their zeal for generating their own content. Potential applicants were asked to create a one minute video and post it to a site where the winner would be selected. At the end of the campaign, close to 35,000 individual videos from 197 countries were uploaded. On an estimated advertising budget of $1.2 million, the campaign garnered media attention worldwide valued at $165 million. Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane also won golds in social marketing, direct response and lead generation and cross-media integration.

Another big winner tonight was HBO and their agencies, Campfire, Deep Focus and …and company, for their campaign for the HBO original series True Blood, which took golds in digital integration and product launch. Helping True Blood become one of the year’s most critically acclaimed programs, the campaign drove awareness and tune-in to a series about vampires, a genre that traditionally skews younger. The winning entry created a multitiered promotion that built a story around True Blood characters and enabled a deeper engagement with the show from the outset and built an early and loyal audience among a harder to reach and more sophisticated audience segment.

“This year’s MIXX award winners underscored the increasing significance of emerging technologies and platforms like social media, mobile and the ability to integrate platforms through cross-media integration,” said David Doty, SVP, Thought Leadership and Marketing, IAB. “It also showcased marketers’ growing sophistication and capacity for creating their own brand destination sites to engage consumers within unique owned environments, providing brands with newfound opportunities to build deeper, exclusive relationships with their customers.”

The MIXX Awards are the only juried advertising competition that evaluates all critical components of the interactive marketing mix, including strategy, creative, execution and results. To view the complete gallery of the MIXX Winners please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery

The Complete List of 2009 MIXX Award Winners:
Best in Show
Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”
Brand Awareness and Positioning
GOLD:	Travel Channel and RAPP for “Kidnap!”
SILVER:	Nestlé and ZenithOptimedia, RMG Connect and JWT - Australia for, “Kit Kat Chunky Cookies & Cream”
BRONZE:	Flip Video and AKQA for, “What the Flip”
Product Launch
GOLD:	HBO and Campfire, Deep Focus and...and company for “True Blood”
GOLD:	Bethesda Softworks and AKQA for, “Fallout 3 Campaign”
BRONZE:	P&G/Crest Whitestrips and Digitas for, “Kiss Me in 3D”
Digital Interactive Out-of-Home Advertising
GOLD:	Laika Studios and Inwindow Outdoor for “National Storescape™ Campaign for Coraline”
SILVER:	The Coca-Cola Company and Sapient Interactive for “Multi-Media Coke Machine”
BRONZE:	The oneworld alliance and Imagination for “The oneworld Travel Stations”
Business-to-Business
GOLD:	American Express and Digitas, for “OPEN Syndicated Content Player”
SILVER:	IBM and Ogilvy for “Lotus Interactive Banner”
BRONZE:	Avid Technology and White Rhino for “New Thinking”
Public Service / Not-for-Profit
GOLD:	Colorado State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership and AgencyNet and Cactus for “Own Your C 2.0”
SILVER:	The Humane Society of the United States for “Protect Seals”
BRONZE:	COI/DoH/Home Office/DCSF and Profero for “COI Talk to FRANK: Cocaine Basement”
Search Marketing
GOLD:	Adobe Systems Incorporated and Covario for “Adobe Acrobat 9 Global Product Launch”
SILVER:	Covad Communications and Geary Interactive for “Business Persona Search”
BRONZE:	Chili’s and Hill Holliday for “P.J. Bland’s”
Direct Response and Lead Generation
GOLD:	Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”
SILVER:	Bloomingdale's and Condé Nast Digital for “Brides.com Set Your Table Tool”
BRONZE:	Pizza Hut and MEC Interaction for “The Search Is Over For America's Favorite Pizza”
Multicultural
SILVER	Best Buy and Tapestry for “Best Buy Holiday/Celebrations”
BRONZE:	Sprint and Telemundo / The Vidal Partnership for “Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso Alternative Storylines”
Branded Content
GOLD:	Lacta, Kraft Foods and OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens for “Love at First Site”
SILVER:	Nissan North America, and TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles for “Nissan 370Z Launch”
BRONZE:	Nestlé and ZenithOptimedia, RMG Connect and JWT – Australia for “Kit Kat Chunky Cookies & Cream”
Games
SILVER:	Unilever - Lynx and Soap Creative for “Lynx Instinct”
BRONZE:	Nissan and OMD for “Z List Sweepstakes on Xbox Live”
Social Marketing
GOLD:	Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”
SILVER:	HBO and Campfire, Deep Focus and...and company for “True Blood”
BRONZE:	Burger King and Crispin Porter + Bogusky for “Whopper Sacrifice”
International
GOLD:	Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”
SILVER:	McDonald's and AKQA for “The Lost Ring”
BRONZE:	Lacta, Kraft Foods and OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens for “Love at First Site”
Mobile Platforms
GOLD:	Kraft Foods and Genex for “Kraft iFood Assistant”
SILVER:	Dockers and OMD for “iPhone Shake”
BRONZE:	Coleman and Doner for “Coleman iPhone Apps”
Interactive Video
GOLD:	NBA IS / NBA IT and NBA for “NBA.com: Amazing Happens Here - Create Your Own Amazing Playlist”
SILVER:	Vaseline and BrightLine iTV for “Prescribe the Nation”
BRONZE:	HBO and Campfire, Deep Focus and...and company for ”True Blood”
Brand Destination Site
SILVER:	Hellmann's and OgilvyEntertainment for “Hellmann's Real Food Summer School”
BRONZE:	Nestlé Purina Petcare and Arc Worldwide for “Friskies Feed the Senses”
Digital Integration
GOLD:	HBO and Campfire/Deep Focus/...and company for “True Blood”
SILVER:	Nissan North America and TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles for “Nissan 370Z Launch”
BRONZE:	McDonald’s and OMD for “LineRider”
Cross-Media Integration
GOLD:	Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World”
SILVER:	Hellmann's and OgilvyEntertainment for “Hellmann's Real Food Summer School”
BRONZE:	Discovery Channel and PHD & Microsoft Advertising for “Deadliest Catch Season 5 Premiere”

MIXX 2009 Judges:

Marketers

Maria Arbusto – Director, Digital Strategy, IBM

Doug Chavez – Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Del Monte Foods

Cheryl Guerin – Senior Vice President, Group Head, Global Digital Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide

Andy Markowitz – Director, Digital Marketing, Kraft Foods

David Roman – Vice President, WW Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard

Debbie Jo Severin – Chief Marketing Officer, 8x8, Inc.

Heidi Marie Youngkin – Executive Director, Global Marketing Group, Johnson & Johnson

Paul Alexander, Senior Vice President, Communications, Liberty Mutual Group

Agencies

Lincoln Bjorkman – Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director, Digitas New York

Andreas Combuechen – Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Creative Officer, Atmosphere Proximity

Sam Mazur –Vice President and Associate Creative Director, SS+K

Marc Lucas – Executive Creative Director, Razorfish

Jean-Philippe Maheu – Chief Digital Officer North America, Ogilvy

Alan Schulman – Founder, Chief Creative Officer, U . D I G > The Digital Innovations Group

Baba Shetty – Executive Vice President, Chief Media Officer, Hill Holliday

Publishers

Jane Grenier – Vice President, Executive Director, Creative Services, Condé Nast Digital

Wonya Lucas – Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications

Suzie Reider – Head of Advertising, YouTube and Google Display

Mitch Spolan – Vice President, North American Field Sales, Yahoo!

David Sturman – Principal Architect, Massive (part of Microsoft Advertising)

MIXX Awards Sponsors:

BBE

Brand New World

Electronic Arts

Microsoft Advertising

NBC Universal Digital Media

NHL.Com

Tremor Media

Yahoo!

YuMe

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.