Introduction

In 2004, New Media Age and Marketing Week launched the Interactive Marketing and Advertising Awards. At the time there were lots of awards for marketing and advertising, and a few for interactive media, but there was nothing that looked specifically at the burgeoning area where the two met.

So in launching the IMAAs, we wanted to do three things. We wanted to showcase and celebrate the most effective advertising and marketing campaigns using interactive media – whether that was the web, mobile or interactive TV. We wanted to show just how effective these new channels could be for companies. And we wanted to prove that the best interactive work could stand next to the best marketing in any medium.

Four years on, the landscape has changed somewhat. The latest figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau show that the internet is now firmly in place as the second advertising medium, in terms of spend, and is poised to overtake TV in the near future. For many advertisers, interactive channels have become a crucial part of the marketing mix. Meanwhile digital technologies are moving into every communication channel and, at the same time, the internet itself is becoming increasingly dominated by video. And beyond that, the range of tools, techniques and properties known as social media is leading experienced digital marketers into a world where the click is no longer the be-all and end-all, and where new ways of measurement are being developed.

In this melting pot, what’s clear is that understanding interactive marketing and advertising is going to be crucial for business success in the future. As a result, the key aim of the IMAAs, to showcase and celebrate the most effective advertising and marketing campaigns using interactive media, is as important as ever.

Michael Nutley
Editor-in-chief, New Media Age

IMA Awards 2008
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