Digital Interactif

12th Annual MITX Award Winners

Last night I attended the 12th Annual MIXT (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange) Awards event at the Marriott Copley Hotel.  MIXT sponsors events focusing on emerging technologies and digital media in the Boston area.

Special thanks goes out to EyeWonder for sponsoring the fantastic after-party at 711 Bistro.  EyeWonder has been behind the iPhone Flash Banner ads you've seen online.  Not only do they produce great work but they also employ cool people.   

And now, without further ado...

12th Annual MITX Award Winners   

Awards

• Applied Techology
  • Outsight Interactive LLC
    • FootJoy: DryJoys Microsite
• Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals
  • One-to-One Interactive (OTOi)
    • Start the Talk  Valtrex Unbranded DTC Campaign   
• Consumer Goods
  • Mullen
    • Stanley FUBAR
• Corporate Training and Support
  • Weymouth Design
    • RSA enVision Product Demo
• Education and Learning
  • Six Red Marbles for Merriam-Webster, Inc.
    • Merriam-Webster Inc.'s Word Central web site
• Educational Institution
  • BigBad, Inc.
    • Connecticut College Web Site
• Entertainment/Sports
  • RDVO, Inc.
    • The Gillette Young Guns
• Financial Services
  • Avenue A | Razorfish
    • Prudentials Retirement Income Calculator
• Government
  • RDVO, Inc.
    • MBTA.com | Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System
• Health and Fitness
  • Bridgeline Software, Inc.
    • Center for Connected Health Website
• Human Resources
  • Staples, Inc.
    • Employment Brand Website - Staples Jobs
• Kids, 'Tweens & Teens
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George
• Nonprofit
  • ISITE Design
    • Solano County (Calif.) Library Website
• Online Commerce
  • Envisa, Inc.
    • Smith+Noble Site Redesign
• Professional Services
  • Kel & Partners
    • www.bicbac.com
• Real Estate
  • Lightfin Studios
    • Fars Realty Group Website
• Rich Media Application
  • Brightcove
    • Brightcove Aftermix
• Social Computing
  • Bit Group, Inc.
    • Web 2.0 Entertainment Portal
• Technology
  • PHT Corporation
    • www.phtcorp.com
• Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality
  • Kelliher Samets Volk
    • Stowe Find Yours
• BEST OF SHOW
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George

"Best of" Awards

• Acquisition/Direct Marketing Campaign
  • Digitas / Make 3D
    • The Home Depot Holiday Decorating Site
• Best Integrated Campaign
  • Carat
    • Reebok "Run Easy" Integrated Campaign
• Best Use of Mobile
  • Hill Holliday
    • Breaking the Code of Silence with Text
• Best Use of Search
  • Charles River Interactive
    • Bernardi Auto Group -  Fuel Efficient SEM!!!
• Best Use of Social Media
  • OTOi, a One to One Interactive Company
    • Comcastic! Island in Second Life
• Best Use of Sponsorship
  • Carat
    • Get it Done with John Deere
• Best Use of Video
  • Pod Design / Mittcom Advertising
    • Raw Talk from the raw bar
• Best Engagement
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    • Curious George

The next MITX event, Mobile Social Networking: The Next Revolution in 24/7 Personal Broadband Engagement, takes place at the Hynes Convention Center on Tuesday, 11/13.   

Blogstonians come together at Blogtoberfest

This past Thursday, I had the fortune of attending the 2nd Annual Blogtoberfest held in the basement of the Pour House on Boylston Street. 

I met some great bloggers, both professional and casual.  Eileen keeps up Divine Comedy of Errors a funny observational and anecdotal blog.  John Petit of the Bostonist keeps his site going with the help of a team of enthusiastic contributors and editors.  The Bostonist is part of a larger network of Gothist blogs and it is supported by the Gothist's ad-network. 

I was pretty excited to meet Adam from Universal Hub, an aggregator of local news and opinion.  Adam was the first person to ever link to Digital Interactif online and it was great to get a chance to speak with him, especially about his ninja-like Feed Demon skills.

Another highlight of the event was meeting Wade Rush, one of the three editors of the local business blog Xconomy.  Wade has made a career in Journalism and has brought the same professionalism and dedication to the Xcomony blog.  Whereas the Boston Business Journal will typically rewrite press releases, Xconomy preforms the traditional leg work that is the core of serious journalism (conducting interviews, fact checking, ect) while posting new articles throughout the day.   

I also had the opportunity to speak with Michael Krigsman who runs Project Failures, a blog that examines why IT projects fail and many of the issues surrounding successful implementation of IT software.  Michael's blog was recently acquired by ZDnet so I suggest checking it out. 

George Jenkins keeps up a blog on identity theft.  I've been following George's blog since he began it this past summer and he provides thought provoking and informed comment on issues/news pertaining to identity theft. 

Another great blogger at the event was Ryan Barrett who keeps up her Cheap Thrills blog.  Ryan posts on an eclectic mix of consumer products and events in the Boston area.  Ryan clearly has a flair for writing and I was surprised to find out that she was one of the creative minds behind the ever popular, though currently on DL, BarFrog. 

This event was awesome and I look forward to the one!      
    

Wiffiti brings the Interactivity to your Hompage

The above is a Wiffiti screen that exists in the digital realm and can be updated via text messages. 

The website lists all the publically viewable Wiffiti screens and each screen is geo-tagged on a Google map.  Though texting a SMS message to an online message board is nothing innovative in of itself(twitter has allowed this for a while), Wiffiti creates a visually pleasing application that could be displayed on a large LCD screen in a bar, cafe, sports venue, ect.   

For instance, since the application records when messages are put up on the screen itself, this type of device could be used in conjunction with quiz nights at bars.  Instead of long, drawn out rounds at quiz night, the Wiffiti screen could serve as the official judge of who texted the correct answer to a given question.   Not only would this save people time by speeding up rounds at quiz nights, but it would also solve the problem of cheaters who use the long rounds to call/text their friends for answers to questions. 

Go ahead and leave a message, its very easy: Text @DIGITAL to 25622.  Wait to receive back a text from 25622.  Then text your message and it will appear on the board.  Very easy! 

Wiffiti is a product of Boston-based Locamoda.
 

Now THAT is a funky monkey

The English chocolate maker, Cadbury, has recently produced the video found below.  They are featuring the video on their own branded video website, Glass and Half Full Productions, and it is easily found on youtube. 

I was surprised that there is no "embed video" link on the Glass and Half Full Productions site itself.  It's common sense: if you are going to release a viral video, it should be embeddable from the companies site in addition to third party sites. 

Anyways, I can't criticize the blokes too much...the video is just too funny: