Over the past 10 competitions, we have seen great change in the way that digital marketing is categorized. We just wanted to take a few minutes to explain the changes we have made for this year's awards competition. The 2012 Horizon Interactive Awards Competition will focus on the following areas to hand out awards:
WEB SITE AWARDS
Web site award categories for 2012 have been revised. New for this year is a focus on industry specific web site solutions including the restaurant and food industry, health care, financial, towns and municipalities and travel and tourism. We hope that by offering industry specific categories, we will be able to recognize solutions that are relevant to the industry... not just to the internet as a whole.
MOBILE APP AWARDS
The Mobile Apps award categories for 2012 have been revised to more closely resemble how they are categorized in the various "app stores." We felt this change was necessary to eliminate any confusion about where an app should be entered and classified.
VIDEO AWARDS
The Video awards category groupings have been revised as well. We have added "viral video" as a category. We have noticed over the past 2 years that the growth in viral "soft marketing" videos has been on the rise. In addition, many of these viral videos are at the pinnacle of creativity in terms of digital marketing. We can't wait to see who takes best of category!
ONLINE ADVERTISING AWARDS
The Online Advertising awards category grouping has been consolidated to 3 main categories: Email Marketing / Newsletter, Online Ads and Integrated Campaigns. We feel that integrated campaigns will show off the cooperative nature of many different pieces in an advertising strategy. At the same time, we also felt it was necessary to highlight the best in Newsletters / Email Marketing and Online Ads themselves as a stand-alone honor.
PRINT MEDIA AWARDS
New for 2012 is the expanded Print Media group of categories. Our philosophy is that there is always a "synergy" between digital marketing and traditional print marketing. In addition, we're about awarding creativity, originality and overall greatness.. regardless of the end medium. The past few competitions, we have seen that many of the great digital solutions we have highlighted have also had companion or anchor print campaigns and elements. We felt it was necessary to add this category grouping in order to highlight that creativity as well.