I just got back from the Prix Boomerang 2005 awards show here in Montreal. The Boomerang awards are presented by InfoPresse Magazine and dedicated to celebrating the best in Quebec interactive marketing.
The Prix Boomerang took place at the Centre Mount-Royal and kicked off with a hot (as in temperature-wise) and happening cocktail. With nearly eight hundred people in attendance, the scene was also enhanced by “actors” doing all sorts of weird stuff – like someone ironing clothes in a bathrobe, a couple talking in bed and someone else in a faux Hawaiian scene hanging out in Bermuda shorts. Bizarre but cool.
The awards ceremony was a blast. I had a chance to do a two-minute speech on NABS – National Advertising Benevolent Society – which is known as BEC (le Benevolat d’Entraide aux Communicateurs) in Quebec and the Twist Image website was a finalist in the B2B Promotional Website category (sadly, we did not take home the award).
The post-event party was hosted by Sympatico MSN and nothing says “love-in” like free beer and catered food.
Final thoughts: A lot of the winners were either big portals or very well crafted Flash sites. I call this the PorP website model (Pretty or Portal). In the coming years, I hope the Boomerang Awards people start choosing sites based on usability, functionality, conversion, traffic generated, revenue creation, community building and brand lift.
I look forward to the InfoPresse Prix Boomerang 2006.
If you are interested in reading more about the event and the winners, go here: InfoPresse – Prix Boomerang 2005 Article – Les Gagnants Des Boomerang 2005 (the article is in French).
The website also has a list of the winners: InfoPresse – Prix Boomerang 2005 Website.
This was the 11th edition of the Boomerang Awards – wow… eleven years of interactive awards.