Hearty congratulations to the winners of the annual awards for the British Interactive Media Association, otherwise known as the BIMAs. In summary, Channel 4 New Media won the “Grand Prix” for 4oD* (the On demand TV catchup service) while ad agency Publicis Dialog won two, and agency GT three. Channel 4 won for the “ingenuity and simplicity of this new interface.” That’s handy because the BIMAs “aim to recognise and reward creative excellence in interactive design”. There were twenty-three awards in total. Army Jobs (by Publicis) and the Interactive Dive Cage at the Bournemouth Aquarium (by Flaming Pear) was commended for “challenging conventional thinking on how we interact with media.” The rest of the winners you’ll find here on Friday.
The BIMAs are 23rd years old and are described as “the only significant digital creative awards in the UK which celebrate digital creative excellence and best practice”. And it’s fair to say the enthusiasm and energy of chairman Paul Walsh have put them back onto the map. But they are one of the many awards for online media/marketing/creative in the UK. The NMA Effectiveness Awards “recognise those companies that have a deep understanding of the potential of interactive media.” The Interactive Media and Marketing Awards “recognise and celebrate the most effective examples of marketing and advertising using the internet, mobile and interactive TV.” Not dissimilar again are the Revolution Awards which “reward the best in digital marketing.” Then there’s the Association of Online Publishers Awards for “excellence in all aspects of digital publishing”. And until recently there was even the Bafta Interactives, but they were closed last year in favour of a video games award. (Film people still having trouble with the Web, it seems).
In other words, there are a lot of cool, sexy awards ceremonies for media and marketing online in the UK, and let’s be clear, they are all wonderful in their own special way, and recognise the prodigious talent we have on those areas. I’ve even been known to chair the odd awards event myself…
But, equally, there are not many UK cool, sexy awards which recognise cool tech companies, like LastFM, a great British story which did not win a BIMA (admittedly they may not have fit into this particular awards), but did build an amazing business and sell to CBS for £140m in the last year. That’s an amazing achievement, and I bet you there will be plenty others like it which may not fit into a traditional ‘media’ or ‘marketing’ category but which do deserve to be recognised.
In the tech industry the best we seem to be able to come up with in terms of a “glammed-up” awards party is the British Computer Society IT Industry Awards. Or a beamed-in, rambling version of the Webbys.
I think it’s time for a Crunchies over here, don’t you?
*Note: Channel 4’s 4oD internet service uses exactly the same technology (Kontiki Delivery Manager and Microsoft DRM) as the BBC iPlayer, as does the Sky Anytime service. Kontiki is a US company owned by VeriSign. Perhaps the Grand Prix should be shared?
We definitely need a Crunchies over here, Mike. Sort it out
(On the Kontiki thing, it seems to have gone unnoticed that the company doing all the work is UK based… ioko in York – just round the corner from us, in fact – have been quietly tying up the market for the last couple of years and have been part of all the deployments you mention.)
Thanks for your post Mike. The Grand Prix award was given to Channel 4 because they were the *first*, paving the way for others to realise the potential of delivering content over the Internet.
I’ve been to almost all of the awards you’ve mentioned and have been known to judge and sponsor some. They’re all good as you say. The BIMAs reflect ‘creative’ excellence in the Interactive Industry which covers more than the Web and it’s not dedicated to advertising, marketing etc. I look at it as the BIMAs as the awards which underpin all the rest, as BIMA is the Association that represents the industry which is being awarded.
As someone also in the middle of the startup/tech community, I agree with your observation about the need for such a Gala to award the excellence in that sector. I’m up for talking about it in more detail.
My command of the English language is as good as ever
C4 ? the *first* . really…Sky Anytime launched before 40D (when it was branded Sky broadband) and although 40D was launched before the BBC’s iPlayer, did it really “pave the way” . C4 tactically made its move using the Kontiki/WMP stack already prototyped/used by Sky/BBC (and the rights framework which all the public service broadcasters had contributed to changing) to get it out of the door whilst the BBC product was delayed. 40D is impressive stuff, well marketed , looks good and is easy to use but the first ???
Jem – without getting into the ‘who was first’ debate as there were lots of reasons they won – including its simplicity and the fact that it worked, we need to remember that Awards are given to the best of those who ‘apply’. So, unless you submit an entry, you’re not going to win any award. We had just over 300 submissions so not a bad number.
Just about every agency knows about the BIMAs so it’s not as if they don’t represent the best of breed in creativity.
BTW, Jonathan Kingsbury was a guest on my table.
i’m sure they were worthy winners, its a great product and i didn’t mean to imply that iPlayer *should* have one. I know that other issues contributed to them winning the awards.. I was just responding to your comment above that C4 were “the *first*, paving the way for others to realise the potential of delivering content over the Internet. ” C4 capitalised on perhaps the delay of others in the market to launch quickly but i’m not so sure they “paved the way”. That said however i put this its gonna look like sour grapes so perhaps i’ll better shut up…
Hope it was good a night. Kudos to you and your team(s) to support the industry in this way.
In answer to Mike’s question – the Crunchies, or something similar, for the UK would be a great idea. Especially if it really was for the UK, not just for London.
For but one reason I think I’ll quote Paul Walsh in the comments above:
“Just about every agency knows about the BIMAs”
Companies like LastFM and Moo or organisations like The Open Rights Group and OpenStreetMap aren’t agencies – and sometimes don’t want to be associated with them in the first place. That’s not a negative for the BIMAs, who have their audience, but a pretty good reason why something else would be a good thing.
I have had to judge a number of awards. One of the most interesting was a set of awards from the Welsh Assembly Government for Welsh technology firms accross a range of categories (health, entertainment, leisure, tourism, education etc) that allowed agencies to compete with social media developers etc.
The BETT awards are for quality tech in the education marketplace and have had quite diverse awardees like MediaStage (see http://www.imed.co.uk) and RadioWaves – a great UK application for social digital radio and Dbass (see http://www.synergy.tv). Notably none of the above are London based.
Jem – I didn’t assume for a second, that sour grapes were involved. I could only smell the aroma coming from my favourite bottle of wine
Gareth, I’m not sure why a company specifically ‘wouldn’t want to be associated with the BIMAs’, but I guess that’s not important as it’s not everyone’s bag I’m sure. You should never try to appeal to everyone all of the time.
I agree totally that something else is needed for the ‘new tech’ industry. When I offered by help, I didn’t mean from a BIMA perspective – perhaps I didn’t make that clear enough
So, Mike, UK Webbys outing didn’t cut the mustard last year huh? Fair dos. Hopefully we’re all listening and learning (disclosure – I’ve helped with this year’s and last year’s UK Webbys do).
See you for second lashings – sorry, helpings – Monday night then?
BTW, are you embellishing a tad? I don’t remember anything being “beamed in” although we were all a bit wobbly rather quickly due to continental-strength hospitality. I’ll say no more…
PS. Jon Bains paid me to keep schtum about last year (okay he didn’t but he bloody should)
Paul, sorry, not that the companies wouldn’t want to be associated with the BIMAs (which looked pretty cool as you say for their target audience), but that their isn’t always that much cross over in interest between agencies and start ups.
@Gareth that’s very true. On an entirely separate note… I think it’s BIMA’s (the Association, not the Awards) responsibility to help startup freelance developers and agencies to understand how to grow, secure grants, raise their profile etc. This is something that hasn’t been tackled before, so it won’t happen just yet.
GT weren’t the only agency to win 3 BIMAs last week…
Gareth, Stardotstar (winners of 3 BIMAs last week)
I think it’s BIMA’s (the Association, not the Awards) responsibility to help startup freelance developers and agencies to understand how to grow, secure grants, raise their profile etc