Hosted by comedian Chris Ramsay, the night recognized outstanding achievement in UK online media in what has been a fantastic year for digital publishing.
John Barnes, AOP chairman and managing director of Incisive Media Digital, said: “I didn’t think we could surpass last year’s amazing event, but we did, thanks to the superb efforts of our incredibly talented and resourceful industry. The sector continues to go from strength to strength, not only helping to reposition traditional media owners in the digital 21st century, but also creating new business opportunities and rewriting business models."
"After 10 successful and dynamic years celebrating the enormous strides that have been made by our industry, this year’s AOP Digital Publishing Awards mark a new era in digital publishing, where media owners are building better digital businesses and where innovation and entrepreneurial excellence are developing new revenue streams and creating wealth across the sector and beyond.”
This year’s awards were marked by an unprecedented number of high quality entries and showed that even the most traditional media owners have embraced the opportunity to transform their business through digital publishing, says the AOP.
The AOP Grand Prix 2012 went to Haymarket’s FourFourTwo Stats Zone mobile app for a 'standalone app that seamlessly integrates social features to power its commercial success'.
Presenting the award, Lee Baker, AOP Managing Director, said: “The judges were impressed with how a long standing print title developed and executed a digital first idea, drawing on all of the best and most creative skills of our industry. They’ve thought about their audience and used their web data to deliver a genuinely innovative new product.” FourFourTwo's Stats Zone app also scooped the AOP Innovation award and Use of Mobile award.
Last year saw Future Publishing win the inaugural AOP Grand Prix and this year it picked up two awards: Consumer Digital Publisher of the year and Launch for its magazine portfolio on Apple Newsstand.
NME.com also scored a double, winning the award for Use of Social Media, a new category for this year and the highly contested Consumer Website prize.
The Use of Video award went to Guardian Music and the newspaper group narrowly missed out on more wins, being highly commended by the judges in three categories - Innovation, Digital Editorial Individual and Consumer Editorial Team.
UBM picked up the Business Website award for Property Week, while Alex Fletcher, Digital Spy, was the stand-out winner for the AOP Digital Individual, with the judges noting how his energy and enthusiasm had had a direct impact on the site.
Sky “challenged existing concepts to produce a foundation stone study that will be referenced in many future works” to win the AOP Research and Insight Project, while "very creative use of an existing idea totally customised to its target audience" at Farmers Guardian won it AOP Cross Media Project, beating stiff competition from Immediate Media’s Top Gear and Gardeners World, which both received commendations from the judges. This year’s team awards were harder than ever to pick, with the Business Editorial Team award going to Business Green with a “good old fashioned B2B editorial story that delivery real value back to the business”, while the consumer editorial team prize went to Shortlist, whose tiny team produce “pitch perfect content for its audience and who are clearly having fun in the process”.
Digital Ad Ops Team 2012 was won by Trinity Mirror, praised by the judges for a “remarkable effort”, while the Product Team of the year was the Auto Trader mobile product team whose "customer-focused approach places the business well for the future."
The AOP Digital Advertising Sales Team 2012 was Mail Online. AOL/Huffington Post won the Pureplay Digital Publisher and Dezeen the Digital Publisher Business.
The 2012 AOP winners
Launch 2012
Winner: Future magazine portfolio on Apple Newsstand – Future
Judges’ Comments: ‘A bold investment, successfully working with Apple to deliver strong commercial results and highlighting a commitment to the future.’
Highly commended: Emerald Street - Shortlist Media
Editorial Team - Business 2012
Winner: BusinessGreen - Incisive Media
Judges’ Comments: ‘A good old fashioned B2B editorial success story. Small team getting great results by building influence and securing exclusives. In a challenging sector, delivered real value back to the business.’
Editorial Team - Consumer 2012
Winner: Shortlist - Shortlist Media
Judges’ Comments: ‘A tiny team delivering pitch-perfect content for a young brand and clearly having fun in the process.’
Highly Commended: Guardian - Reading the Riots - Guardian News & Media
Research & Insight Project 2012
Winner: Online Engagement: 'Myth' or Metric? - BSkyB & Cranfield School of Management
Judges’ Comments: ‘Challenged existing concepts and provided a template for the future evaluation of engagement. A foundation stone study the judges are sure we'll see referenced in many future works, it’s a good balance of commercial and academia.’
Digital Ad Sales Team 2012
Winner: Mail Online
Judges’ Comments: ‘A team at the head of its game, who really took the bull by the horns in the judging year.’
Highly Commended: Parenting - Immediate Media
Digital Advertising Operations Team 2012
Winner: Trinity Mirror
Judges’ Comments: ‘A great story about a hard working team with bags of personality who really roll their sleeves up and get stuck in. The judges thought it a remarkable effort and most impressive how such a small team had trafficked so many campaigns across the year, while working within such a large sales team.’
Highly Commended: Telegraph
Product Team 2012
Winner: Auto Trader Mobile Product Team
Judges’ Comments: ‘The winners had very clear objectives and exceeded them. A truly innovative customer-focussed team whose approach puts the business in a good place for the future.’
Highly Commended: BSkyB Mobile Applications and Services Team
Innovation 2012
Winner: FourFourTwo Stats Zone app – Haymarket
Judges’ Comments: ‘Brilliant innovation in a competive space. Demonstrating excellent viral credentials with fantastic real-time features for users.’
Highly Commended: The Guardian Facebook App
Cross-Media Project 2012
Winner: Farmers Guardian Tractor Factor - Briefing Media
Judges’ Comments: ‘Tractor Factor created wow factor on a small budget, with very creative use of an existing idea totally customised to its target audience.’
Highly Commended: Gardener’s World / PG Tips - Immediate Media
Top Gear / Hertz - Immediate Media/BBC TopGear
Use of Mobile 2012
Winner: FourFourTwo Stats Zone App - Haymarket
Judges’ Comments: ‘A standalone app ideally suited to mobile which seamlessly integrated social features all of which powered its commercial success.’
Commercial Partnership 2012
Winner: Microsoft - Ford C-Max – Microsoft
Judges’ Comments: ‘The only entry you couldn't have done 2 years ago. It's an integrated, cross-platform solution that really worked. The judges liked the innovative concept and would like the industry to aspire to this.’
Use of Video 2012
Winner: Guardian Music - Guardian
Judges’ Comments: ‘Producing everything from live streaming to full scale editorial content, this team has mastered telling stories with video native to digital platforms. The quality of its output would be the envy of some broadcasters.’
Use of Social Media 2012
Winner: NME.com - IPC Media
Judges’ Comments: ‘Reimagined the whole brand through the intelligent use of social media, covering all touchpoints and platforms appropriate to its audience.’
Digital Editorial Individual 2012
Winner: Alex Fletcher, Digital Spy - Hearst Magazines UK
Judges’ Comments: ‘A stand-out winner - you can see his energy and enthusiasm had a direct impact on the overall success of the site.’
Highly Commended: Paul Lewis – Guardian
Technology Partner 2012
Winner: Local Stars
Judges’ Comments: ‘Local Stars brought order to the chaos of online advertising with a groundbreaking solution that harnesses the long tail of demand.’
Highly Commended: Pugpig
Website - Business 2012
Winner: Property Week – UBM
Judges’ Comments: ‘A well-rounded B2B brand that innovated in 2011 with impressive mobile and subs strategies linked to strong commercial success, making this a worthy winner.’
Website - Consumer 2012
Winner: NME.com - IPC Media
Judges’ Comments: ‘With a host of innovative partnerships, a great example of how digital has become the dominant platform for a brand has made a successful transformation from print to digital.’
Highly Commended: Digital Spy - Hearst Magazines UK
Pureplay Publisher
2012 Winner: AOL Huffington Post Media Group
Judges’ Comments: ‘With a very strong product portfolio, they are market leaders that have shown strong growth over the past year. On a number of initiatives they are leading the market. Strong strategic vision and measurable execution.’
Digital Publisher - Business 2012
Winner: Dezeen
Judges’ Comments: ‘A smart entrepreneurial brand, with beautifully designed products - from websites to pop-up shops. Strong evidence of experimentation, fast growing revenue and audience.’
Digital Publisher - Consumer 2012
Winner: Future Publishing
Judges’ Comments: ‘From its innovative approach to new launches, significant organic growth to reaching the tipping point where digital revenues offset those from print - Future is the deserving winner!’
Grand Prix 2012
Winner: FourFourTwo Stats Zone App – Haymarket
Judges’ Comments: ‘The judges were impressed with how the winner developed a long-standing print title with a digital first idea and execution that called upon all of the best and most creative skills of our industry. Leveraging audience and data, this entry delivered a genuinely innovative idea that elevated its brand to a new level of product thinking.’
