Interactive Advertising Agencies continue to lead the design world.

Although the “new kid on the block”, interactive advertising agencies are continuing to dominate design award shows. Previously the strict domain of illustration, graphic design, and photography agencies, interactive and multimedia design has matured into an art form which can stand on its own.
Originally, interactive design was thought as being unique from traditional design, and therefore limited to niche awards of its own. Shows like theCannes Cyber Lions, interactive media awards and lotus awards were developed strictly to fill the interactive niche. But as interactive has matured, the design community has begun to see this art form in a new light.
For example, Applied Arts now includes interactive projects in its design awards. Applied Arts is a Canadian magazine dedicated to visual communications. For more than 20 years Applied Arts has delivered hard hitting and imperative industry information to graphic design, illustration, advertising, interactive design, and photography professionals. Henderson bas recently won four awards at the Applied Arts Magazine Awards (henderson bas is Canada’s most awarded interactive agency).
One of the greatest interactive success stories of this year was Dove’s “campaign for real beauty”, a web-only spot created for distribution via youtube and other viral video sites. Not only did this campaign win the 2006 Grand EFFIE Award for most effective marketing communications campaign, but also the award for best retail account specific or channel; marketing activity at the MAA Worldwide Globe Awards. The Dove video was produced by Ogilvy and Mathers Toronto office, while the retail channel portion was created by Toronto’s Capital C.
One of the reasons interactive design has been performing well in award shows is the lines between interactive and traditional design are becoming blurred with time. As demonstrated by the dove evolution campaign, many interactive designs have begun to evolve beyond the computer screen and into print and retail locations.
Similarly, many print and TV advertisements have moved closer to interactive. In Japan, almost all print advertisement now contain small bar codes which can be read with cell phone cameras, which link the advertisement to online content. Large companies like Frito Lay have also integrated interactive with TV by utilizing “crowdsourced’ content – TV commercials which are produced by individuals at home and submitted online.
While no one can be certain of the future of interactive, one thing is for certain: the continuing evolution of interactive as a media will only increase the number of interactive projects winning traditional media awards.