NZ’s Hyperfactory scores 6 awards at Webby’s – Clems Wellington wins two for ‘Distracted Drivers’

13th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS UNVEIL WINNERS FOR BEST INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING – R/GA Takes Agency of the Year Award with Most Wins followed by New Zealand’s Hyperfactory with six awards

With eight wins, R/GA New York will be presented with the first-ever Webby Agency of the Year Award at the 13th Annual Webby Awards, organizers announced today. 

The new award recognizes the most successful agency across all Webby categories, including, interactive advertising, websites, mobile sites, and online film and video. Other multiple winners include: New Zealand’s Hyperfactory with 6; Goodby Silverstein and Partners with 3; and 2 each to Clemenger BBDO, Wellington, Wieden + Kennedy, 42 Entertainment, The Netherland’s Achtung!, Japan’s Less Rain, Grow Interactive, Razorfish and Atmosphere. Of the big four advertising holding companies, Omnicom and Interpublic tied with eight awards each, followed by Publicis with three wins.

The Hyperfactory demonstrated its leadership in the increasinglysophisticated field of mobile advertising, earning Webby’s for ‘Peyton’sPriceless Pep Talks – Mastercard’ (The People’s Voice Award for Best use of Mobile Video), Fanta’s’Virtual Tennis’ (The People’s Voice Award for Gaming), and United Nations ‘Voices’ – with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney (The Webby Award for Mobile Advertising and the People’s Voice Award for IntegratedMobile Experience).

Hyperfactory (with Ogilvy Hong Kong & XS2TheWorld) also won the People’s Voice Award in the Mobile Advertising category for Guinness ‘Passport to Greatness’, the People’s Voice  Award for Mobile Experimental & Innovation for Nike T90 Launch – Augmented Reality.

Clemenger BBDO, Wellington won the Webby Award in the Banner Singles category as well as the Webby Award for Integrated Mobile Experience for Distracted Drivers.

Alt Group, Auckland won the Webby Award in the Associations category for ‘Create an Effect’ for the www.justaddnewzealanders.com site.

Tourism Australia won the People’s Voice Award in the Tourism – website category.

The Commonweath Bank of Australia won the People’s Voice Award for CommSec iPhone in the Mobile Marketplace & Services category.

Droga5 New York won the Webby Award in the Online Film – News & Politics category for ‘The Great Schlep’.

Hailed as “the Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, TheWebby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Artsand Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include VintonCerf, Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, Harvey Weinstein, CrispinPorter + Bogusky’s Alex Bogusky, Betawave’s Matt Freeman, AKQA’s ReiInamoto, and Ogilvy & Mather’s Annie Wong.

In addition, over 500,000 votes were cast by the advertising communityand general public in The Webby People’s Voice Awards. A full list ofboth Webby Awards and People’s Voice Awards winners can be found at HERE .

“This year’s winners underscore online advertising’s growing influenceon popular culture, thanks to the innovative use of new platforms likeMastercard’s mobile campaign with Peyton Manning and the ubiquitousYearbook Yourself,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of TheWebby Awards. “By leveraging these new platforms, these WebbyAward-winning campaigns engage audiences in new and effective ways.”

Other highlights of The 13th Annual Webby Awards include:

R/GA’s eight wins include: Nike SPARQ (Rich Media: B to C); NIKEiD(Best Retail), and Nike Football Head2Head (Game or Application).

Achieving both critical and popular consensus, four interactiveadvertising campaigns won both a Webby Award and a People’s VoiceAward: Achtung’s “Volkswagen Innovations” (Banner Campaign); Wieden +Kennedy’s “Coraline Website” (Animation and Motion Graphics); 42Entertainment’s “Why So Serious? The Dark Knight Alternate RealityGame” (Integrated Campaign); and R/GA’s “Nike SPARQ” (Rich Media B toC).

Webby Awards winners in the interactive advertising categories rangefrom powerhouses such as Goodby Silverstein and Partners’ “Wario LandShake It!” (Rich Media: Promotional) and TBWA/Media Arts Lab’s”Funnest” (Online Commercial) to independents like One Method’s  “NokiaAccessories Portfolio Video” (Rich Media B to B), and Great Works’ “InAn Absolut World Friends Would Get Together More Often” (OnlineCommercials). 

Winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony hosted by SaturdayNight Live’s Seth Meyers in New York City on June 8th. Starting on June9th on the new, custom Webby Awards YouTube Channel, fans will be ableto view dozens of short video highlights from the ceremony, includingthe winner’s five-word speeches and celebrity red carpet interviews.Past headline-grabbing speechmakers include Al Gore (“Please don’trecount this vote”) and Stephen Colbert (“Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.”). Thisyear’s special achievement honorees include Jimmy Fallon (Webby Personof the Year), actress and comedian Sarah Silverman (Best Actress), NineInch Nails’ Trent Reznor (Webby Artist of the Year), and Twitter(Breakout of the Year), accepted by co-founder Biz Stone.