The best of Ireland’s digital media gathered at The Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, on Friday, February 16th for the 2018 Energia Digital Media Awards (DMAs). Hosted by Irish radio broadcaster Tom Dunne, the awards were attended by more than 700 of Ireland’s digital industry.
The digital world is constantly evolving, bringing new changes to both the corporate world and our everyday lives. A keen example of this is the rise in the number of people choosing podcasts over music for their commute to work, not to mention having the latest news arrive to our mobile devices by a simple push.
No stranger to change, the DMAs have undergone their own evolution over the past 15 years. Witnessing the astounding contribution the digital industry has made to businesses and people across the globe, the DMAs are proud to be Ireland’s leading platform for recognising that contribution in Ireland. With categories ranging from marketing, to the public sector, to social networking, and more, the DMAs are the stage for innovative companies and agencies to showcase their projects.
Ashville Media Group Event Director, Tracey Carney says, “The DMAs are an important part of recognising digital brilliance and creative excellence amongst the nation’s finest creative talent.” She adds, “With over 90 companies and agencies shortlisted for the awards this year, the increase in the number of entries, and the quality of the winning campaigns are testament to the strength of the Irish digital industry.”
The winners
On the night, the Energia Bright Spark award went to the Guinness Storehouse, Ireland’s number one visitor attraction. They also took home the Best in Travel and Tourism award (sponsored by Hotel & Catering Review magazine) for their Airbnb ‘Night At' the Guinness Storehouse campaign. The Guinness Storehouse worked hard to create a deeper brand awareness globally and drive media coverage and conversation, resulting in one of Airbnb’s most successful brand partnerships ever.
Another big winner of the night was Wolfgang Digital who were named Agency of the Year (sponsored by Lovin.ie). Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital said "We're delighted with winning three awards and we're delirious with winning Best Agency. I actually found myself standing on my seat after the announcement. It's a tremendous validation for the team and the clients. The secret to winning awards is showing the judges something they have never seen before. For our winning campaign's for Tesco & DID we demonstrated a digital marketing invention in action." They also brought home the award for Best Search Campaign and the Best Social Media (sponsored by Kantar Media). Wolfgang Digital demonstrate their savoir-faire through innovative marketing campaigns for their clients including Tesco Ireland and DID Electrical.
In Ireland, our community is important to us and our nation’s readiness to help those in need is observed worldwide. Recognising those that work through digital media in the public sector, the DMA award for Best in Public Service went to Zenith on behalf of Alone for their awareness campaign. Another huge part of Irish life is our commitment to sport, and the Best Brand and Best Strategy award went to Teneo Digital for their work with client AIG Ireland, the official insurance company sponsoring the GAA. The award for Best Collaborative Campaign (Sponsored By Mirror Media) went to Starcom and YouTube for their work on the ‘Jeff and Kammy’s Journey to Croker’ campaign.
Continuing to grow
The DMAs are continuing to grow and it is beyond evident that the nominees across all categories this year will only expand in years to come. This expansion is also apparent within the companies and startups nominated across the DMAs. In particular KBC reached out and met their customers’ needs by setting up digital accounts, and scooped the Best in Financial Services award for their diligence. Chemistry delved into the consumer base of their client Lidl, winning the Best in Retail and Consumer Goods award (sponsored by The Irish Times Media Solutions). Radical crossed oceans and won the Best Use of Video award for their client Aer Lingus, while Dentsu Aegis Network received the award for Best in Conversion Strategy, also for Aer Lingus.
The award for Best Integrated Digital Campaign was picked up by Ican, while Three Ireland brought home the award for Best Native Content for their campaign #TheCallUp. Thought Different won the Best Technology Innovation award sponsored by Energia, while Zoo. took home the award for Best Website for abbeytheatre.ie.
PHD Media won the award for Best Integrated Media Strategy, while Tribe won the Best Use of Mobile award for their development of the Equine MediRecord launch. The award for Best Creative was awarded to Eyekiller. The award for Best Newcomer went to Fifty-Three Six - definitely one to watch for 2018. While the talented Lorraine Larkin from Dundalk IT promises a bright future as she won Digital Student of the Year.
This year there were two new categories; Best Social Media for Events which was picked up by Sing!, and the award for Best Podcast which was won by Maximum Media. Excelling this year again in their understanding of human motivation and behaviour were media agency Vizeum, who won the award for Best in Data and Analytics (sponsored by 3 Media)
Ross O’Mullane, Head of Digital at Energia said, “On behalf of the team at Energia, I’d like to congratulate all the winners at the Energia Digital Media Awards 2018! These clever businesses have an eye on the future so are probably already with Energia! We are delighted to be associated with winners in any field, and look forward to partnering with the Digital Media Awards for years to come.”
For more information, see digitalmedia.ie