American Express “Open” campaign dominated last night’ DPAC Awards in New York, taking home five wards including “Best In Show.” It was also a good night for The New York Times, Bush’s Baked Beans, Showtime and many other brands that were honored for excellence, in the mobile, social and technology areas.
Amex OPEN won awards for best branded website, best branded social media community, and best digital branding campaign. In the campaign, Amex actively engaged small business owners with the new OPEN Forum. By partnering with top bloggers, OPEN Forum could speak to small business owners in their language on the topics that mattered to them most. With one headliner assigned to each of the Idea Hub topics – for example, Mashable with “Technology” and Guy Kawasaki with “The World” – the 17 experts from 7 industry-leading sites produce exclusive OPEN Forum content and promote their articles via blogs and tweets, facilitating conversations and creating buzz across the web.
In other awards at the event, sponsored by Eyeblaster, The Times won for best digital publishing and Content Platform Publishing Platform Innovation for Times Reader 2.0, a next generation news delivery service that offers a digital experience of The New York Times that is less like reading a printed newspaper than like diving into a well-orchestrated blend of multimedia and print. Times Reader is an Adobe AIR application that can be installed on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. The news is presented with the same sections, stories and editorial judgment as the printed paper. After the news has been delivered to your device, no Internet connection is needed.
Datran Media campaign scored for its best email campaign for PGATour.com, delivering groundbreaking email messages with live streaming video embedded within the body of the email. Not surprisingly, PGA discovered its fans markedly favored video emails over the static control group. Initial campaign results revealed that emails with video received a 34 percent click-through rate versus a 14 percent click-through rate for the emails without the embedded video.
Other awards included:
- Best Ad Delivery Platform: Eyeblaster
- Best Ad Delivery Platform Innovation: AdReady
- Best Search Campaign: Intel’s “Sponsors of Tomorrow”
- Best Mobile App Platform: Showtime
- Best Social Media Platform: Ovation TV
- Best Digital Sponsorship: IBM
- Best Digital Magazine Platform: Zinio
- Best Digital Direct Response:
- The Marlin Company / The Alchemedia Project / Bush's Best Baked Beans
- Best Digital Product Launch: Initiative / Kia Soul
- Best Use of Rich Media: Visa/ IAC
- Best Branded Video: Minyanville Media, Inc / Hoofy & Boo's News & Views
- Best Video Campaign: New Balance
- Best Social Engagement Campaign: Coca-Cola North America / Sprite
- Best Branded Game: Arkadium / National Geographic Channel
- Best Branded Social App: RAPP Company / Travel Channel Kidnapped
- Best Branded Mobile App: Showtime/Transpera
- Best Mobile Campaigns Mella Media / B.R. Guest Restaurants
- Best Branded Mobile Content: Quattro Wireless / Coca-Cola
- Best Digital Branded Content: is: Publicis Modem, Microsoft / Subway
- Best Digital Integrated Campaign: Ogilvy / IBM
More in-depth write-ups are available at digiday:DAILY's sister site, DM2PRO.com.
