MIXX Awards 2008 Reach Record Number of Entries, Secure Their Place as Premier Interactive...

MIXX Awards 2008 Reach Record Number of Entries, Secure Their Place as Premier Interactive Advertising Recognition

World's Leading Brands and Agencies Vie for Honors in Creativity
and Effectiveness
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced that
submissions to the fourth annual MIXX Awards hit record levels,
surpassing 2007's entries by nearly 40 percent. Since their founding
in 2005, the MIXX Awards, the only advertising awards to recognize
creativity and effectiveness, have evolved into the most prestigious
interactive advertising award and have attracted a distinguished
cross-section of the world's top brands and agencies.

-- This year's entries include submissions from hundreds of
agencies--"native digital" shops and large traditional ones as
well.

-- These agencies have submitted the work they have done on
behalf of their clients who encompass every major vertical
industry--including blue-chip brands, luxury products and
services, pharmaceuticals, automotive, financial, consumer
packaged goods, entertainment and technology.

-- The campaigns will be evaluated in 18 categories by a
cross-industry panel of judges that includes senior executives
from agencies, publishers, and marketing organizations
deliberating together--an industry first.

"The sheer quantity of submissions and the caliber of the
marketers and agencies represented is a testament to the increasingly
critical role that interactive advertising plays in marketers' media
plans," said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, the
trade association for interactive media in the United States. "To
think that this awards show is only in its fourth year and has already
attained levels of submissions that are on a par with long established
shows is nothing short of a revolution--showing how far interactive
advertising has come. Now the real excitement begins as our judges see
which work among this extraordinary lineup will make it to the final
round."

Winners of the IAB's 2008 MIXX Awards will be announced at a
ceremony in New York City on September 23, near the start of
Advertising Week, a gathering of the media and marketing industries
that typically draws 10,000 professionals to conferences, seminars,
recruiting events, and parties celebrating advertising and its
evolution. The host for this year's MIXX Awards is one of the
industry's keenest observers and practitioners, Rob Norman, Group M
CEO, whose regular riffs on all things interactive have made him the
natural emcee for the evening's ceremonies.

Last year's MIXX Award winners included many of the most prominent
brand marketers in the United States, including Anheuser Busch,
American Airlines, The Coca-Cola Company, BMW, Royal Caribbean,
Showtime and Unilever, as well as leading agencies such as Universal
McCann, Ogilvy, McKinney, Digitas, BBDO and Mindshare. In 2007, the
gala's ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to Goodby, Silverstein, and
Partners, San Francisco, for its super-rich media campaign for
Hewlett-Packard, "The Computer is Personal Again."

For more information and to view the complete gallery of the 2007
MIXX Finalists, please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery.

About the IAB:

Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net)
represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage
in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are
responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United
States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth
of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive's share of
total marketing spend, and of its members' share of total marketing
spend. The IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices,
fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates marketers,
agencies, and media companies, as well as the wider business
community, about the value of interactive advertising.

IAB Media
Marla Aaron
Director, Marketing Communications
212-380-4714
marla@iab.net

Copyright Business Wire 2008