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Mobile awards play a very important role. They showcase best practice in mobile Web, marketing and services, bringing great kudos for the winners and inspiration for the rest of us. But with dozens of mobile awards around the globe, with vastly varying quality, coverage and price, where should you be entering your mobile site, app, campaign or service, and from which awards are we likely to learn the most?

The yardstick of quality awards, in mobiThinking’s opinion, is the legacy. After the glitzy dinner and the press release, what is left? Is there a valuable resource detailing why these sites, campaigns, services deserved to win? All awards should précis each of the winning campaigns with video case studies, where available, and provide links to further information – this way we can all learn from these best-practice campaigns and winners get to show off their achievements to potential clients. Cannes Lions has been providing full details of every entry for years. Some mobile awards are starting to emulate this, but many do little more than put out a press release listing the winners. With Cannes launching its mobile category in 2012 those that continue to do the lowest common denominator will look increasingly pointless.

Where they are not provided by the awards organizers, mobiThinking collects links, descriptions and/or videos for the winning campaigns. mobiThinking is gradually adding all the major mobile awards to this guide.

So why should you want to win an award?
• For the brand – it’s great publicity for your mobile service. Highlight your innovation to consumers. Share your success with your peers – remember if no one shared best-practice campaigns, no one would learn.
• For agencies – there’s no better way to advertise your exceptional services.
• For both – if the judges love it, so should the consumers. How better to validate your mobile strategy is on track?

A word of warning…
Many awards focus on creativity rather than effectiveness. This is why a flashy novelty mobile app with a 10,000 downloads might beat a messaging-based CRM campaign which delivered 100,000 opted-in subscribers or delivering US $1 million in revenue. All brands should make certain that the advice they receive from their agency is motivated by driving incremental business for the client, rather than the likelihood of the agency picking up an award. Read this:
• Why your ad agency likes mobile apps

For some tips from awards judges, see:
• How to create an award-winning mobile campaign

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Other guides in this series:
• Guide to mobile agencies • Guide to mobile ad networks • The insiders' guides to world’s top mobile markets • Compendium of global mobile stats

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The Webby Awards a.k.a. The Webbys.

• Founded: 1996, mobile category started in 2007.
• Deadline for entries: December each year.
• Entry fee: US $295.
• Winners announced: May each year.
• Prize: Webby Award.
• Categories (in 2012): Device camera; Entertainment; Education & reference; Experimental & innovation; Games; Guides; Integrated mobile experience; Lifestyle; Location; Mobile video; Music; News; Shopping; Social; Sports; Travel; Utilities & services.
• mobiThinking verdict: In the five years mobile has featured at the Webby Awards, it has ballooned to 24 categories, which suggests it attracts plenty of entrants (but we’re not told how many). There’s a Webby Award winner – chosen by the judges – and a People's Voice Winner – where the general public and/or friends of the entrants can vote for their choice (shortlisted companies only) for each category. That means there are 48 mobile awards up for grabs, so there’s more chance of winning, but does this dilute the kudos of a Webby Award? If you were expecting best practice mobile Websites at the Webbys, you will be disappointed. Despite the name and heritage, the mobile categories at the Webby Awards have been overrun by native apps. Nonetheless there are plenty of big brands among the winners. There are international entries, but US companies dominate. Often similar names appear in successive years. Each winner and nominee has a link, some link to case studies and videos, which is excellent, but many more go direct to Apple’s iTunes Store – this might make the Webby Awards a great option for entrants who need downloads, but not so good for those wishing to pick up best-practice tips from the winners.
• 2012 mobile winners include: Paramount Pictures (QMX); Skype; Google (Fantasy Interactive); TED; Hulu; DK (AKQA); National Geographic; The Onion; Google Wallet (R/GA); SwiftKey; Heineken (AKQA); Yelp Mobile; SHO; Sony (LBi); Reactive; Conde Nast; Spotify; Pandora; Flipboard; NPR; Bloomberg Businessweek+; The Daily; Target; Fab.com; Nike (AKQA); ESPN; Mobiata; KAYAK; Evernote; Shutterstock.
• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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Global Mobile Awards

• Deadline for entries: November each year.
• Entry fee: €450 (US $599.884) per entry for GSMA Members; €500 ($666.538) for Non GSMA Members; €200 ($266.607) for entries in for Social and economic development category.
• Categories in 2012: Mobile marketing & advertising; Best mobile services; Social and economic development; Outstanding achievement; Apps of the year; Mobile innovation; Best mobile handsets and devices; Best technology.
• Winners announced: February each year, at GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Global Mobile Awards have a 17-year pedigree and are well-respected within the mobile business. Where other awards will concentrate on mobile marketing, devices, mobile technology, network innovations, apps, mobile services or ethical mobile initiatives, the GSMA attempts to cram it all into one set of awards. This gives the Global Mobile Awards a jack-of-all-trades feel and a lack of focus, but provides an interesting overview of everything that is happening in mobile. Some categories you can’t enter including the mobile app and devices categories, which is a bit unusual.
Each winner is given a little write up and a comment from the judges, which is useful. Disappointingly there are no video case studies (despite the organizers requesting that entering companies sent them in), so mobiThinking is collecting these from the winners. The Awards history section details all previous winners by section (rather than by year), which is clever.
• 2012 mobile winners include: Carling Black Label "Be the Coach" (Brandtone), Financial Times Web App (Assanka), Poken, Amobee, Google Maps, Turkcell TiklaKonus, KT's Premium WiFi, Grundfos (Safaricom), Etisalat Mobile Baby, UBL Omni, E-site (Flexenclosure), CellCast (OnPoint Digital), Angry Birds Rio (Rovio), Citrix Receiver, WhatsApp, SwiftKey, KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank Mobile, Ford SYNC, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia C3-00, Apple iPad 2.
• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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Making it Mobile (MiM) Award

• Founded: 2011
• Organized by: Business Leaders Network (BLN) – United Kingdom.
• Deadline for entries: March 4, 2012.
• Winner announced: March 22, 2012 at the BLN Making it Mobile Forum, London, UK.
• Entry fee: Free.
• mobiThinking verdict: This competition is free and ridiculously easy to enter. Fill out your details and explain in 100 words how your business helps other companies make money from mobile. But it is only for privately-held companies that are making money. In 2012 it attracted 59 entrants, which is pretty good for an awards newcomer. From these 12 were selected to present their product or service during the Making it Mobile Forum (London, March 22, 2012) in front of the conference audience all of which is good for finding potential investors, partners and customers – making this an attractive format. The winner was announced at the end of the forum. The judging panel is mostly VCs and technology buyers, as well as journalists, such as mobiThinking.
• 2012 Winner (announced March 22, 2012): Blippar.
• 2012 Finalists: Aurasma; Bankin’; Cella Energy; Cogenta; Fonleap; Hailo; Mobile Future Group; Nobex Technologies; On Device Research; SwiftKey; Touchnote.
• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

• Founded: 1954.
• Deadline for entries: 9 March 2012.
• Entry fee (for Mobile Lions): €399 (US $528.65) for international entries €478.80 (US $634.37) for UK entries
• Winners announced: 19 June 2012.
• Prize: (much coveted) Lion trophy.
• mobiThinking verdict: A Lion trophy brings a lot of kudos for the winners; and great publicity for all entrants – every entry has a dedicated page, with a description of each campaign. These detailed summaries (often with videos) are an inspiring and educational read for observers. This would be a great showcase of mobile campaigns if only there were a mobile category. In 2010 and 2011, mobiThinking went some length to pick out all the winning mobile campaigns from the various categories, so you don’t have to. The main disadvantage for entrants is the level of competition – there were 28,800 entries in 2011.
• The big news (announced November 2011) is that there will be a mobile category at Cannes in 2012. • Disclaimer: mobiThinking advised the Cannes organizers on the Mobile Lions.
• Categories in 2012: The Mobile Lions will reward creative excellence in categories for Creative Use of Technology; Mobile Websites and Web Apps; Mobile Apps; Tablet Apps; Games; Rich Media Mobile Advertising; Integrated Campaigns led by Mobile.
• 2011 mobile winners include (brand/agency): Homeplus (Cheil Worldwide), Mini (Jung Von Matt), Heineken (AKQA), Viv Magazine (Alexx Henry), Starhub (DDB), Reporters Without Borders (Publicis), Commbank (IKON), Converse (R/GA), Nike (AKQA), Airwalk (Y&R), Audi (Neue Digitale/Razorfish), UNICEF (Serviceplan), Domino's Pizza (Hakuhodo), Westpac (Colenso BBDO)
• Full details of 2011 mobile winners with descriptions and 14 videos.
• Full details of 2010 mobile winners with descriptions and eight videos.

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Global Mobile Marketing Awards for Innovation, Creativity and Leadership (also known as ‘The Smarties’)

• Founded: 2004.
• Organized by: Mobile Marketing Association.
• Nominations start: June, each year.
• Deadline for entries: August, each year.
• Winners announced: November each year, at the Global Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles.
• Categories in 2011: Best use of mobile marketing for… brand building; cross-media integration; direct response; product/services launch; promotion; relationship building; social impact; plus awards for: innovation in mobile marketing; mobile marketing academic of the year; outstanding individual achievement; and overall excellence. In each category there is an award for best in North America, Latin America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, as well as the Global Award.
• mobiThinking verdict: The MMA Awards are well-respected and in the past has drawn in a broad range of mobile campaigns from big brands around the globe. In recent years, however, the variety of mobile media has diminished as novelty mobile apps have come to the fore. It is unclear if this is because apps dominate entries or the MMA judges prefer apps to mobile ads, messaging or mobile Web-led engagement. Many agencies go to considerable lengths to showcase their best work, often putting together video case studies. Thus it is gratifying that in 2011, the MMA provided links to videos and images for some of the winning campaigns. But there are no descriptions of the winning campaigns or links to case studies, so for those campaigns with no video – more than half – we don’t know why they won. In 2011, the MMA rebranded the awards ‘The Smarties’. While this name might sound catchier, it may cause some confusion, not least as Smarties is not an acronym for the awards.
• 2011 Winners include: Old Navy (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) Coca-Cola (McCann Worldgroup), Converse (R/GA), OMO (Brandtone) Petrobras (FingerTips), Pringles (Crispin Porter + Bogusky), Nike (Groupo.mobi), Garanti (Rabarba), Situation Sthlm (Mobiento), Lawry's (R/GA), HBO Go (PHD and BBDO), Mini (Mobile Dreams Factory), Mars M&Ms (Proximity Canada), Coca-Cola (Scholz & Volkmer), Pepsi (Rabarba), Samsung Galaxy (InMobi and Starcom), NOO Mag (Ginga), YoungAfricaLive (Praekelt Foundation).
• Full details of 2011 winners, with 16 excellent video case studies.
• Full details of 2010 winners, with 22 excellent video case studies.

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The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards (EMMAs)

• Founded: 2010.
• Organized by: Mobile Marketing Magazine.
• Deadline for entries: September, each year.
• Entry fee: free (though originally there was a fee).
• Winners announced: November, each year at an awards dinner in London, UK.
• Categories in 2011: Most Effective Mobile… Site; Couponing or Barcode Campaign; Sales Promotion/Direct Response; Ticketing; CRM; Ad Campaign; Mobile Charity Campaign; mCommerce Solution; B2B App; B2C App; Tablet App; Ad Platform/Network; Mobile Operator Campaign; Travel & Tourism Solution; Publishing Solution; Mobile Payment Solution.
• mobiThinking verdict: The quality of the entries for EMMAs have been quite impressive for a newcomer to the awards circuit. The entries tend to be skewed towards the UK and Western Europe. The distinguishing feature of these awards is the focus on effectiveness. That means these winners have been honored because they delivered ROI for the client, not just because the creative looked nice. The organizers went to some trouble to précis the winning campaigns in a special magazine, which is a lot more useful than the list of winners that some awards think is acceptable.
• Judges include: David Murphy, Mobile Marketing magazine; Helen Keegan, technokitten.com, Mobile Monday; John Mew, IAB; Peggy-Anne Salz, MSearchGroove; Rob Thurner; Andy Favell, mobiThinking; James Cameron, Camerjam; Nick Lane, mobileSQUARED; Michael Nutley, journalist; George Cole, journalist.
• 2011 Winners include (brand/agency): The Guardian; Sainsbury’s (Groupe Aeroplan); BSkyB; Pepsico (Rabarba); Auto Trader; New Look (MIG); TripAdvisor; British Airways (Incentivated); Debenhams; Chiltern Railways (Masabi); Disasters Emergency Committee (OpenMarket); Txtlocal; Sony Columbia Music (Fetch Media); Buongiorno; Mippin; Rippll; Flexion.
• Full details of 2011 Winners with descriptions and nine videos.
• Full details of 2010 Winners with descriptions and videos.

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Mobi Awards

• Founded: 2009
• Organized by: DIGIDAY
• Deadline for entries: July, each year.
• Early-bird deadline: June, each year.
• Entry fee: (in 2011) US $195 for early-bird submission, thereafter US $295.
• Winners announced: September 21, 2011, at the Mobi Awards Gala in New York City.
• Categories in 2011: Best mobile… branding campaign; location-based campaign; direct response campaign; promotion for a product launch; tablet advertising campaign; creative. Best integrated… mobile/social campaign; mobile/cross media campaign. Best mobile app for… editorial content; branded content; advertising/marketing; social media; ecommerce/retail; push notifications; UGC content; OCR, imaging, camera; location. Best…. branded mobile game; mobile video; mobile website; location-based mobile website; mobile platform innovation; mobile ad network; mobile agency.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Mobi Awards attracts a good caliber of participant. In common with many mobile awards, entries tend to be dominated by smartphone apps, often only for the iPhone/iPad platform.
There’s an in-depth report on each of the winners and finalists – as good as those provided at Cannes – but these are only available for a limited time to non-subscribers. All awards should provide details of each campaign – not only do such reports provide excellent publicity for the winners/finalists, and help educate the rest of us to the DNA of an award-winning campaign, but also adds to the authenticity of the competition – i.e. you can judge for yourself if they are worthy winners.
• 2011 Award winners include: Volvo (Mobext), GOL Airlines (Grupo.Mobi), Bravo, Expendables (Initiative), White Collar (Glow Interactive), Bing (Point Reach), National Geographic, HBO Go (Huge), Fandago (Trilibis), Mobext, PHD, InMobi, Target (Ubermind), Intel, Purina (Triad), Expedia TV.com (CBS Interactive)
• Full details of 2011 Mobi Awards winners with descriptions and 12 videos.

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The Meffy Awards (Meffys)

• Organized by: Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF).
• Founded: 2004.
• Deadline for entries: May 6, 2011 (closed).
• Entry fee: UK £350 (US $575) per submission; £150 ($247) for MEF members.
• Finalists announced: June 02, 2011.
• Winners announced: July 07, 2011 at the Meffys Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner.
• Prizes: Meffy Award trophy.
• Entry categories (2011): Best… ad campaign; blockbuster app; brand on mobile; content; content discovery & personalization; game; innovation in a mobile first market; innovative app; innovative business model; m-commerce service; mobile connected device; mobile Website; music service; social media service; technology innovation; TV & video service.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Meffys has been running for seven years, making it one of the more established mobile award ceremonies. But the Meffys lets itself - and the winners - down by simply listing the winning campaigns. There are no links, no description of the entry, no case studies or videos (even when available) and no indication of what the judges liked about any of them.
• 2011 Winners include: Sprite Slam Dunk (Coca Cola); BlackBerry Travel (RIM); A&N Mobile CRM (Velti/Ericsson IPX); Nigella Quick Collection (AKQA); Shazam for TV; Dead Space (Electronic Arts); Message Optimiser (ForgetMeNot Africa); Onava Data Shrinking App; Vishal & Shekhar Mobile Music Concert (Hungama); Karen Millen Mobile Gift Vouchers (Eagle Eye Solutions); iPad2 (Apple); CBS.com; Music for WiMP (Aspiro); Movellas; Onstar Mobile App; Media Hub (Saffron Digital)

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World Summit Award (WSA) for Mobile Content

• Founded: 2010
• Organized by: International Center for New Media – United Nations (Austria).
• Deadline for entries: July, 2012. Entries have to be nominated by the expert in your country.
• Winners announced: December 6, 2010, in Abu Dhabi.
• Categories in 2010: m-health, m-government, m-learning, m-inclusion, m-commerce, m-media and m-entertainment.
• mobiThinking verdict: One of the best, if not the best, of the many mobile awards of 2010. A sensible choice of awards categories. Entrants are nominated by an expert in each country, which ensures there is a perfect spread of the best in mobile from across the globe. For each winner, there is a description and a video (prepared by the WSA). It is impossible not to be educated and inspired by these winners, many of which were new to mobiThinking and the vast majority of which are using mobile to make a real difference to people’s lives. It would have been good to have links to the winners, but that is a minor quibble. The WSA mobile awards sets the standard by which all other mobile awards ceremonies should be judged: a big thumbs-up to the truly international WSA Awards.
• 2010 Winners include: Guatemalan Emergency Relay; Mobile Link; Bahrain Mobile Portal; M-Mantra for Forest Management; BBC Janala; Marks & Spencer; YouReporter; Sekai Camera; Angry Birds; The Guardian; Wikitude World Browser; SmartMuseum; Consumer Reports; Omlet.ru; Eko m-banking and lots more.
• Check out: all 40 winners come with a descriptions and/or video for each. Plus how to enter in 2011.

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The Webby Awards

• Deadline for entries: December each year
• Entry fee: starts at US $295
• Winners announced: May each year
• 2010 Winners include: (brand/agency) Nokia/R/GA; MLB; Target; Volkswagen/AKQA; WWF/BBH; New York Times; Standard Chartered Bank; Barnes & Noble; BBC News; Foursquare; Evernote
• Check out: how to enter, latest winners and case studies
- including five excellent videos.

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Don’t miss:
• China: 1 billion mobile subscribers; 400 million mobile Web users; world’s top smartphone market
• What you can learn from the FT Web app: interview with Steve Pinches
• Guide to mobile ad networks 2012 • with 5 new ad networks •
• GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2012 – the winners with videos and case studies
• Most popular content on mobiThinking in 2011
• Mobile events 2012: best conferences, great discounts and free tickets
• 19 video interviews with leading mobile experts
• The insider’s guide to mobile device security
• The mobile city project – the blueprint of a truly mobilized city
• The insider’s guide to device detection
• The insiders' guides to world’s greatest mobile markets
• Guide to mobile agencies
• Guide to mobile industry awards
• The big compendium of global mobile stats

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