Alt Group creates an effect in the 13th annual Webby Awards

Auckland based multidisciplinary design firm, Alt Group’s Create an Effect campaign, which was devised to raise the profile of New Zealand TVC production companies, has been nominated for the Best Associations Award in the 13th Annual Webby Awards - the ‘Oscars of the Internet’.

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honour” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet, including websites, interactive advertising, online film and video and mobile websites. This year’s awards attracted more than 10,000 entries from over 60 countries.

Alt Group’s Create an Effect campaign was launched at the 2008 Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival through NZTE’s JustAddNewZealanders website (www.justaddnewzealanders.com).
Dean Poole, creative director at Alt Group, said the brief for the campaign was to raise the New Zealand screen industry’s profile at Cannes Lion, cutting through what was a noisy and demanding market and driving the target audience – industry decision makers and potential production partners – to www.justaddnewzealanders.com, where they could learn more about New Zealand’s screen industry.

Poole said it was an honour for the company’s work to be selected as one of five nominees in the Associations category.

“Cannes Lion is a place where the screen production industry celebrates itself and is involved in a lot of networking events. While it was important we developed a campaign that connected with the fun and frivolity of Cannes, we also had to ensure we conveyed the key messages – that New Zealanders understand how to deliver creative experiences that engage an audience, pack an emotional punch, and create memories,” said Poole of the campaign.

The Create an Effect campaign was developed around ‘New Zealanders bringing storyboards to life’ and connected directly to the industry and representative companies, with the ideas executed through a series of three-dimensional onomatopoeic sound effects, such as Boom, Screech, Thwak, Kapoow, Thud, Blammo, Screech and Zapp.

Street teams were equipped with signs and armed with digital cameras to record interactions, with the images then being published on www.justaddnewzealanders.com.

David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards, said that nominees like Alt Group were “setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet”.

“It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year.”

In addition to receiving a Webby Award nomination for Create an Effect, Alt Group also received an Official Honouree mention in the Corporate Communications category for their work on www.humoffice.co.nz, the website for Formway Furniture’s revolutionary office system, HUM.

The Official Honouree distinction is awarded to the top 15% of all work submitted that exhibits remarkable achievement. Just 12 entries were declared Honourees in the Corporate Communications category in this year’s awards.

Unlike other award programmes where only the judges choose the winners, the Webby Awards also give the public the opportunity to decide who will take home a Webby. Voting is open to the public from now till April 30, with fans invited to cast their votes for their favourite designs at http://pv.webbyawards.com

Webby Award winners will be announced on May 5, 2009 and honoured at a star-studded ceremony, hosted by American actor and comedian Seth Myers in New York City on June 8.