Best Email Advertising Campaigns to Be Named by Web Marketing Association

SIMSBURY, Conn., Dec. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Web Marketing Association judges will select the best email advertising campaigns in 86 industries as part of their 10th annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. Companies or agencies wishing to nominate their work for consideration may do so at www.iacaward.org before the deadline of January 31, 2012.

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"Email marketing is the workhorse of online marketing for many companies trying to maintain an ongoing relationship with customers and prospects," said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association.  "The creative used in an email marketing campaign has gone from text only to highly personalized ads targeting highly segmented lists.  Each email advertisement and campaign will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium. The IAC Awards provides an opportunity to find out who is doing an outstanding job creating email advertising. It's also a great marketing opportunity for the winners to promote their work to senior management, customers and prospects their outstanding work."

The 2012 Internet Advertising Competition Awards will accept entries from 86 industries, including airline, biotech, B2B, consumer goods, education, health care, financial services, professional services, technology and travel just to name a few. Entries judged to be outstanding will receive an IAC Award. The entry receiving the highest score in each industry will be recognized as the best email advertisement for that industry.

"We believe that winning an industry specific award is more valuable to the participant.  It allows the participants to be judges against their peers, just like in the marketplace," said Rice.

The 2011 Best of Show winner for Email Campaign was CDMG Inc for Coffey Anderson - Email campaign. The 2011 Best of Show winner for Email Message was e-Dialog, Inc. for e-Dialog 2010 Holiday Card

Other Top Email Advertisements for 2011 included:

British Airways won Best Airline Email message for Executive Club Mobile Campaign

Symantec won Best Computer: Software Email message campaign for Symantec Retention Trigger Series Email Campaign

Carlson Marketing won Best Consumer Goods Email message for Pampers Gifts to grow E Newsletter

Miles Media won Best E-Zine Email message campaign, Best Leisure Email message campaign, Best Marketing Email message campaign and Best Travel Email message campaign for St. Pete Oil Message Campaign

Jostens won Best Education Email message for Yearbook Avenue Email Marketing Campaign

Olympus Corporation of the Americas won Best Electronics Email message for The New Olympus E-5: See What the Pros Have to Say!

AT&T won Best Email Email message campaign, Best Telecommunication Email message campaign for AT&T "Like" Email Campaign

e-Dialog, Inc. won Best Email Email message, Best of Show Email message for e-Dialog 2010 Holiday Card

JWT INSIDE won Best Employment Email message campaign for New York-Presbyterian eCRM Campaign

CDMG Inc. won Best Family Email message campaign for FamilyLife Email campaign

Jefferson National won Best Financial Services Email message campaign for Top 10 Reasons

Carlson Marketing won Best Food Industry Email message for Jam email

Epic Media Group (Creative by Epic) won Best Game Site Email message campaign for Creative by Epic (Email/Game Site)

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Priority won Best Health Care Email message for Plans by Design Wellness Email

VUMC Nurse Alerts! won Best Health Care Email message campaign for Nurse Alerts!

Wyndham Hotel Group won Best Hotel and Lodging Email message campaign for Wyndham Rewards: Monthly Rates Email Campaign

AkzoNobel/Liquid Nails and Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc. won Best Manufacturing Email message for PROfile email

Fixation Marketing won Best Marketing Email message for Fixation Holiday Haiku

CDMG Inc. won Best Music Email message campaign and Best of Show Email message campaign for Coffey Anderson - Email campaign

Cessna Aircraft Company won Best Other Email message for G1000 Email

DKI Direct won Best Pharmaceuticals Email message campaign for Compass Website and PRM Program

Carlson Marketing won Best Retail Email message for -1 Value Rewards E Newsletter

M Marketing Inc won Best Retail Email message campaign, Best Shopping Email message campaign for Sears Email Program

The 2012 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (advertising and interactive agencies, corporate marketing departments, etc.) involved in the process of developing Internet advertising. Entries may be submitted online at http://www.iacaward.org.  The deadline for entry is January 31, 2012 and will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium.

In addition to individual email creative and email campaigns, Awards will be presented within each of the industry categories and advertising formats such as:

Social Media

Online Video

Rich media ads

Web sites (including microsites and landing pages)

Online ads (including banner, pop-up or interstitial)

Online applications

Online newsletter campaign

Integrated ad campaign

Mobile Apps

Ads the client did not choose

"We believe that winning an industry specific award is more valuable to the participant.  It allows the participants to be judges against their peers, just like in the marketplace," said Rice.

Best of show award for each format will be selected from among the industry winners. Ads eligible for entry in the competition must have run during the period from January 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012 (except for the Ads the client did not choose format which do not have to have run).

Industries represented in the 2012 IAC Awards include the following: advertising, advocacy, airline, application service provider, arts, associations, auction, automobile, B2B, bank, beverage, biotechnology, broadcasting, brokerage, catalog, computer hardware, computer retailer, computer software, construction, consulting, consumer goods, credit union, design, directory or search engine, diversified business, education, email, employment, energy, entertainment, environmental, events, e-zine, faith-based, family, financial services, food industry, game site, general interest, government, health care, home building, hotel and lodging, information services, institutional services, insurance, interactive services, international business, internet service provider, intranet, investor relations, investment, legal, leisure, magazine, marketing, manufacturing, media, medical, military, movie, music, mutual fund, news, newspaper, non-profit, other, pharmaceuticals, portal, professional services, public relations, publishing, radio, real estate, regional, restaurant, retail, school, shopping, small business, social network, sports, telecommunication, toy & hobby, transportation, travel and university.

Judging for the IAC Awards will take place in February, 2012, and winners will be notified by email one week prior to the general announcement of winners in March, 2012. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet advertising professionals with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web advertising. Past competition judges have included top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as J. Walter Thompson, Blattner Brunner, Ogilvy Interactive, Comedy Central, National Cable & Telecom Association, Sun Microsystems, Refinery, Euro RSCG, New York Post Interactive, EPB Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, and Answerthink.

The 2012 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are sponsored by Burst Media, BGT Partners, PR Newswire, ExactTarget, EContent Magazine, ad:tech conferences, Internet World UK, MycroBurst, Search Engine Strategies, We Build Pages, Webmaster Radio and Website Magazine. The Web Marketing Association thanks all of its sponsors for helping to make this annual competition possible.

About the Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of online advertising, Internet marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to Web sites. The Web Marketing Association's two annual award programs, the WebAward Competition and the Internet Advertising Competition Awards, have been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world since 1997.

SOURCE Web Marketing Association