• by Newswire Report , May 18, 2003

General Electric's interactive viral application, known as "Pen," was awarded the Gold Pencil at the One Show Interactive Awards Ceremony in New York City on May 7.

"Pen" was given this top honor in the "Beyond the Banner" category for its achievement in taking users beyond the usual banner experience to a truly interactive environment.

"Pen" was an integral part of GE's online "Imagination at Work" campaign. Extending the notion that "Every great idea begins with a sketch," the viral application encourages users to express their imagination and then email their drawing to a friend. The banner ads appeared on sites such as Yahoo!, Weather.com, CBS MarketWatch, EA Games, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. "Pen" has experienced one of the highest interaction and viral rates in the industry to date.

"This campaign is GE's first foray into online marketing, and we are very pleased with the success to date, thanks to the outstanding creative that Atmosphere has produced," said Tim McCleary, Manager of Corporate Identity & Online Marketing at GE. "Based on the nature of the new "Imagination at Work" campaign, this interactive component was a perfect fit for exploring imagination. This online campaign has exceeded our expectations."

"We're very pleased with the results of this campaign and the recognition of a Gold One Show Award," said Andreas Combuechen, Chief Creative Officer of AtmosphereBBDO. "GE has moved to the cutting edge of web technology and we are excited about helping them get there."

The One Club received thousands of entries from around the world awarding 65 Pencils and 111 Merit Awards for interactive and new media excellence. For a complete list of 2003 One Show Interactive Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencil winners, log on to www.oneclub.com.