November 15, 2006
For Immediate Release

'No Nuts No Glory' - 2006 HK4As Interactive & Direct Awards
presented by PixelMedia Asia

The 2006 HK4As Interactive & Direct Awards (iDAs) presented by PixelMedia Asia, and organized by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong (HK4As), will recognize creative excellence in direct and interactive marketing in Hong Kong and China .

The Awards Presentation was held today at One-Fifth Ultra Lounge, Wanchai.

"With the theme "No Nuts, No Glory", we will recognize great work that often requires agencies and clients to push the known boundaries of marketing. We were pleased to have received an over 30% increase in entries versus last year and the quality of work has dramatically improved." said Sean Rach, Chairman of the HK4As Interactive & Direct Committee.

This year's call for entry was created by McCann Erickson and consisted of a high-impact direct mail sent to prospective clients and agencies and a mini-site hosted on the HK4As website (www.aaaa.com.hk/ida2006). Theirry Halbroth, Senior Creative Director Cathay Pacific Central Team said, "Running on last year's conclusions, this year's theme was all about cracking big ideas and the boldness to deliver ideas in a world class creative manner."

The Awards will have two separate streams for Interactive and Direct Marketing as well as recognition for Best Integrated Campaign consisting of at least three media.

The Interactive categories include websites (corporate, branding and promotional), online advertising and other interactive communication tools such as e-mail, viral, wireless marketing, gaming, audio/videopodcasts, blogs and online communities.

Entries will be judged on excellence of creative ideas, design, user experience and execution. While the Direct categories include flat mailing, 3-dimensional mailing, direct response print, direct response broadcast, alternative media, field marketing, loyalty and relationship marketing.

Winners from both Interactive and Direct categories will also have the chance to be chosen for most innovative, most effective, best copy and best art direction by the judging panel. In addition, a best of show (a first since 2004) and best client (new award) will also be awarded.

The judging panel consisted of overseas and local judges from agencies and clients:

The judging panel noted that entries in categories such as search engine marketing, podcasts, blogs and communities showed innovation a great deal of innovation.

Jeremy Perrott commented that "although we all seem to use the term Digital with some familiarity, in fact we know very little about it. Those who do know about it and its amazing potential are doing a brilliant job in showing us, the industry and consumers what its real power is, and at the same time are expanding the boundaries of this extremely exciting discipline.

I was amazed at the amount of depth and interactivity the digital arena seduced us into. It won't be long before we have the complete interactive experience. Especially with some of the examples we witnessed, which if are the way forward, will be sooner than we imagine. The work overall, was very creative, if at times struggled for and idea, was soon to be seen as breaking new ground with its technology.

I felt we witnessed a lot of new formats with little to put in them, but am convinced again it is only a matter of time before they are demonstrating brilliant executions."

Another judge Dirk Eschenbacher also remarked that "it was a fantastic experience judging this award. There was an amazing body of work, with an unprecedented quality to judge. The decisions were tough to make as everything seemed to be quite good. I was particularly impressed by the amount of sophisticated integrated campaigns, that made use of a wide range of new technologies and interactive marketing techniques, such as gaming, mobile ticketing and interactive installations at events. Communities, blogging and podcasting were new categories, were judges found it tough to rank the work as no frame of reference has been set yet. Nevertheless, it seems that marketers in Hong Kong are not shy to experiment with web 2.0, mobile and other emerging technologies and digital channels. It is great seeing Hong Kong taking a lead in digital advertising."

Rach also shared, "The Interactive and Direct Awards Presentation will not only showcase the best work in interactive and direct marketing, but will also demonstrate a range of technologies now available to marketers in Hong Kong. We hope to encourage further innovation to help position Hong Kong as a world leader in digital media." The event ticket will be delivered using a mobile ticketing solution by Mobiqa, two types of interactive displays at the venue will be provided by AD4D, SmarTone-Vodafone's mobile broadband service will be used to demonstrate the award's finalists, WAP site provided by The Hyperfactory and sound effect provided by Submedia Asia."

"We are very pleased to have the support of several key sponsors this year. For the first time, we have a title sponsor - PixelMedia Asia. Other sponsors include: Google Asia Pacific, MSN, MYKITA (providing prizes), Northwest Airlines (provided flights for our judges). In addition, the following organization have supported the event: admanGO (online judging), ADMA, and scmp.com (online media)."

2006 HK4As iDA Awards winners list attached.

For more information on the 2006 Interactive and Direct Awards, please visit www.aaaa.com.hk/iDA2006.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Ms Angela Ng
Executive Director
HK4As

Tel: 2882 8161 or 9049 1742
E-mail: angela.ng@aaaa.com.hk