IAB revamps awards to focus on marketing outcomes
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has unveiled a radical revamp of its awards aimed at making the results more relevant for marketers from every discipline.
The IAB Awards will move away from its previous format which broadly split the competition into media and creative and then divided those into industry sectors.
Instead, the IAB’s competition will focus on demonstrating to marketers the different outcomes that online can achieve. And there will be several new categories including for social media, widgets and integration with non-digital media.
There will be four “primary” categories:
- Brand awareness and positioning
- Direct response and lead generation
- Product launch
- Brand loyalty and retention
IAB CEO Paul Fisher told Mumbrella: “You have to think about the categories that you would want online to be judged for by marketers. And I don’t just want an automotive marketing director to be looking in that category, I want them to be able to look at a solution from any area and it to give them ideas how to apply it.”
There are also a further six categories for “specific tactics, technologies and strategies”:
- Brand destination site
- Cross platform integration
- Digital video
- Search marketing
- Social media marketing
- Super rich media
- Widget marketing
Fisher said that much of the IAB’s new format is loosely based on the MIXX Awards in the US. The best in show from the IAB entries will win an entry to the MIXX Awards, with flights provided.
He admitted: “It may take us a couple of years for this to enter into people’s minds, but we have to look towards marketing directors and what they will be looking for.
The format will also allow for collaborative entries between partner agencies, said Fisher. He said: “I would like to see more categories being entered jointly.”
The closing date for entries is April 23, with a ceremony at The Ivy on July 9.
Lasy year’s IAB Awards drew criticism, including from jurors, of the judging procedure and the event itself. Fisher said that the revamp had taken both of those issues into account.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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