Winners

Content and storytelling took centre stage at this year’s Mouse Awards with online campaigns that drove real brand value in a way that truly engaged their target audience.

Boondoggle’s ‘Banner Concerts’ campaign for Belgian youth bank Axion scurried home with the Grand Prix for best overall use of Microsoft’s sites and services, after striking Gold in the Financial Services category.

In all, three Gold awards were presented, along with five Silver and five Bronze. The Grand Prix and Gold-winning campaigns will be entered automatically into the coveted 2009 Cannes Cyber Lions Awards and their creators will be invited to the Festival, which Microsoft Advertising is sponsoring for the eighth year running.

The Gold winners are:

Advertiser: Dexia

Brand: Axion

Entrant Agency: Boondoggle (Belgium)

Campaign: Banner Concerts

Campaign Description:

Demonstrating outstanding strategy and innovation in digital advertising, this campaign broke Financial Services category norms to connect Axion youth bank with its consumers in a highly creative, compelling way.

Advertiser: Department of Children, Schools and Families

Brand: National Year of Reading

Entrant Agency: Lean Mean Fighting Machine (UK)

Campaign: Garron’s Dares

Campaign Description:

This online advertising drove 11-14 year old boys to Garron’s YouTube page where they were encouraged to read in a fun and engaging way by helping the campaign character complete various dares.

Advertiser: E4

Brand: Skins

Entrant Agency: Channel 4 Television

Campaign: Skins Messenger

Campaign Description:

This brilliant use of Microsoft’s technology enhanced viewers’ experience of the Skins television programme by allowing them to access exclusive information about the series and the characters in real-time as each episode was broadcast.

Simon Waterfall, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Poke and Chairman of the 2009 Mouse Awards judging panel:

“The sheer quality of entries into this year’s awards made the judges’ job extremely difficult. The awards effectively demonstrate the strides that online advertising continues to make in terms of entertainment, creativity and engagement with the audience – and the judging panel was excited to be a part of recognising that success.”

David Pugh Jones, Creative Strategist for Microsoft:

“We were really impressed by the volume of high calibre entries into this year’s awards. The judges were looking for real standout campaigns that encompassed creativity, originality, craft and innovation that also created a memorable relationship with the consumer and worked hard to get their ads talked about. This was reflected in the quality of our winners which show how digital advertising can accelerate a brand’s impact.”