Awards Categories

Best Online Campaign

The winning digital campaign is one that’s innovative, original, engaging and is proven successful through analytics and reporting.

Creativity

Great marketing campaigns need to push the envelope in many ways especially when it comes to creativity and originality. Judging of creativity will look at many areas of creativity including, but not limited to, content, design, use of technology, selection of music, sound design, and use of animation, or video.

Execution

Execution is how well the site integrates the use of technology. Good execution means the site works well. Good execution puts the site experience first and makes the technology invisible.

Impact

The purpose of all marketing efforts is to communicate a specific message to a target audience. Impact is the extent to which a marketing campaign achieves or exceeds its goals. Impact translates into ROI for the organization.

Overall Experience

The overall experience encompasses all of the previous elements but also includes the intangibles that differentiate a good site from a great one.

Nomination Criteria

The focus of the Online Campaign category will be channel integration, return on investment, and the ability to achieve a specific goal and prompt a call-to-action. We’re looking for online campaign nominations that offer total quality. Entries will be judged on the following four criteria and will receive between 0 and 10 points for each:
  • Creativity
  • Execution
  • Impact
  • Overall Experience

Last Year's Winner

Bay Of Fundy Tourism
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Best Website

The winning site markets, sells, or portrays Canadian destinations, products, attractions, or experiences.

Content

Content is the information provided by a site to its audience: it is – among other things - text, animation, sound, and video. Quality content is engaging, relevant, and appropriate for the audience. Not least of all, quality content encourages the user to share information that leads to building an interactive relationship resulting in lead generation and sales.

Execution

To evaluate execution is to look at how the campaign integrates new and existing web technologies and how well the campaign is implemented in the digital medium. If the campaign is part of a larger marketing campaign, how well does the web campaign enhance the marketing message? Does the work successfully integrate technology, incorporate innovations and deliver a consistent marketing message?

Interactivity

Interactivity is the way that a site allows you to do something. Good interactivity is more than a rollover or choosing what to click on next; it allows you, as a user, to give and receive. It makes the user a participant, not just a spectator. The theme of “relationship building” will also be considered, looking at how the site enables users to personalize or customize their experience. For instance, does the site enable easy registration (which, in turn, provides incremental value to a repeat visitor)? What kind of confirmation message is sent? Does it go to a mobile device or just email? And lastly, can the site enable a visitor to creatively tell others about the site?

Overall Experience

Great marketing campaigns are more than the sum of their parts; their overall experience encompasses creativity, content, structure, visual design, functionality, and impact. An experience is one that’s remembered long after it’s seen or heard.

Structure and Navigation

Structure and navigation is the framework of a site: the organization of content, the prioritization of information, and the method by which the user moves through the site. Good navigation gets you where you want to go quickly and offers easy access to the breadth and depth of the site's content.

Visual Design

Visual design is the overall appearance of the site. Good visual design is of high quality, it is appropriate and relevant to both the audience and the message it supports. Strong and unique visual design communicates an experience in itself.

Nomination Criteria

Website design – creativity, consumer engagement, and usability are critical aspects of website design. Entries will be judged on the following criteria and will receive 0 to 10 points for each:
  • Content
  • Execution
  • Interactivity
  • Overall Experience
  • Structure and Navigation
  • Visual Design

Last Year's Winner

Tourism and Parks New Brunswick
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Best User Generated Content

The winning User Generated Content will give an authentic voice to the Canadian experience.

Photo

Submit a link to a photo that you posted on a blog, or on photo websites such as Flickr or Picasa. Your photo should be inspiring, contemporary, and visually tell a Canadian story that positions the country as a unique tourism destination.

Story Telling

Submit a link to content you posted on your blog or on someone else’s blog, which portrays Canada as an exciting and unique tourism destination.

Video

Submit a link to a video that you posted on a blog, or on video websites such as YouTube or Travelistic. The types of videos we’re looking for would be described as “thrilling” and “captivating” and would make viewers want to visit Canada.

Nomination Criteria

The aim of the User Generated Content category is to urge consumers to share their Canadian travel experiences – from stories to photos to videos – on the web. We’re looking for nominees that use emerging technologies to inspire fellow travelers to Canada as an exciting tourism destination. A high score will be awarded to entries that are captivating, inspiring, contemporary and evocative of Canada’s unique travel experiences. If you’re using new and emerging technologies to inspire fellow travellers to explore Canada, we want to see your work. Entries will be judged on the following three criteria and will receive between 0 and 10 points for each:
  • Photo
  • Story Telling
  • Video

Last Year's Winner

Iceberg Quest Ocean Tours
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Best Innovative Use of Technology

The winner thinks outside the box and beyond the typical borders of the web.

Consumer Relevance

Application and strategies should not only be innovative, but also create value to consumers, solve a problem, and take into account consumer and travel trends.

Use of Technology and/or Media

This award targets technology and/or media that enhances usability, convenience, and ease of use.

WOW factor

This award is all about making a lasting impact by thinking outside of the box.

Nomination Criteria

The use of technology to leverage consumer trends and contribute to strategic alignment is the focus of this category. We’re looking for nominations that may include mapping applications, GPS applications, Google Earth integration, wireless marketing applications, social media interpretations, leveraging flash, or use of other emerging web technologies. Entries will be judged on the following three criteria on a scale of 0-10 points:
  • Consumer Relevance
  • Use of Technology and/or Media
  • WOW factor

Last Year's Winner

Vancouver Airport Authority
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