As technology roils and transforms media and marketing, innovation, while essential, has become basic table stakes. Iterative tactical thinking is evolutionary, as technology forces a revolution. To stay truly relevant and survive, invention must be the industry’s focus. A burgeoning maker culture, conceiving and creating true firsts, is here—and the establishment has come to the sober realization it can be disrupted at anytime by anyone with a great idea and armed with the ultimate leveler: digital technology. So, agencies have established in-house studios where staffers are encouraged to tinker with concepts as well as arduinos. An early champion of this inventor culture is Lori Senecal, chairman and CEO of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, who helped guide the creation of Adweek Project Isaac, in which we search for and award the smartest inventions in the business. Senecal, as jury chair—along with fellow judges Michael Caruso, editor in chief of Smithsonian Magazine; Joanne Wilson, angel investor and advisor; Beth Comstock, svp and CMO of General Electric; and Joe Rospars, founding partner and creative director at Blue State Digital—considered 500 entries across 35 categories. (Judges abstained from voting in categories in which their own companies were entrants.) What follows are gold winners in 29 of those categories, one of which will be honored with the inaugural Gravity Award for overall excellence during the Clio Awards ceremony Wednesday, May 15, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
View the Winners here:
Marketing & Advertising | Media | Digital | Best Practices