• by Kenneth Fadner , September 13, 2005

I am pleased to announce the finalists of the 2005 Creative Media Awards competition in the online categories.

This year, in addition to 14 other categories--including television, consumer magazines, and print magazines--we added online media-branding and online media-search to the mix.

For those who have not received a copy of MEDIA magazine's special Creative Media Awards supplement, we've reprinted the list of finalists in the online categories. One winner will be presented for each category, as well as an overall Best in Show award, during a CMA awards dinner Sept. 26 at the Marriott Marquis in New York following MEDIA magazine's Forecast 2006 conference that day. (Tickets are still available.)

Agency briefs were packed with a variety of interactive and viral marketing maneuvers--evidence of just how rich the media landscape has become. Agencies submitted plenty of links to their campaigns and art assets to bolster their entries. In some cases, campaigns were entered in more than one category, proving again how creative and versatile media planning has become.

The entries in the online branding category showed once again why the debate about whether the Web is a branding medium subsided long ago. The new media strategies evident in finalists' campaigns cancel any doubt that online can also be a creative medium. When it comes to search, finalists pushed the envelope even further this year, finding innovative ways to use both pay-per-click and search optimization on behalf of clients.

The Creative Media Awards exemplify our belief that the process of buying, planning, and strategy is every bit as creative as rendering storyboards or writing copy. It is that belief that fuels our commitment to the media process from ideation to strategy and implementation. Some have called media the new creative. At MediaPost, we've always thought so.

Now the job of choosing the winners of the Creative Media Awards falls to our esteemed panel of judges, who will select the winners from among the finalists you will read about in these pages. (Judges are prohibited from judging their own work).

Congratulations to all the finalists, and thank you to all who entered.

ONLINE MEDIA: BRANDING

Agency: MediaVest
Client: Coca-Cola

Agency: Ripple Effects Interactive
Client: VisitPA.com

Agency: Starcom IP
Client: Kellogg's Pop-Tarts

ONLINE MEDIA: SEARCH

Agency: Fathom Online/San Francisco Client: QuickBooks

Agency: Mediacom
Client: CheapTickets

Agency: Posner Advertising
Client: Avalon Chrystie Place, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.