• by March 25, 2011

Tony Quin, CEO of digital ad agency IQ, won Agency Marketer of the Year honors at the American Marketing Association's AMY (Atlanta Marketer of the Year) Awards, Thursday night, but the agency's blog almost treats it as an afterthought. Instead, it focuses on Quin's unusual acceptance speech, which it terms the first interactive one.

IQ invited audience members to complete a Mad Lib printed in the event program, take a photo of it with their cellphone, and email it to IQ or visit a special submission site created for the event. IQ said its judges picked the best entry and handed the "speech" to Quin as he walked on stage to accept the award.

  "Receiving this award is such a tingly feeling," Quin began, continuing through such lines as "It was not just ass-kissing that got me here. Our job is to come up with new ways to do old things that delight and surprise people," Quin said in a statement.  "We had a lot of fun, but made a little point, too."

IQ also won AMYs in several other categories, including best Web campaign/microsite for the "UPS trackside challenge" and best Web and marketing brand awareness for Universal Orlando's Harry Potter.

  Other AMY winners:

* Digital advertising: InterContinental Hotels for its "Back to School" campaign

* Social media campaign: Enguage for Chick-fil-A's Spicy Sandwich product launch

* Integrated search marketing: NeboWeb for an SEM campaign for the Arthritis Foundation

* Search engine optimization: Response Mine Interactive for Carter's OshKosh B'Gosh

* Pay-per-click: Communications 21 for Xtrails' "Securing Success"

* Web and interactive marketing lead generation/eCommerce: NeboWeb for the redesign of Maud Baker's Web site.

IQ, founded by Quin in 1995, has offices in both New York and Atlanta.