After a heavy evening of drinking and celebration the A4U awards 2008 was finished, the next day many an affiliate and affiliate manager nursing hang overs appeared on my MSN, some having travel from Manchester and further north, some still wearing their tuxedos from the night before, yet some still slightly tipsy from the event of the year, as for myself haveing only had no more than 5 hours sleep over the last two nights a long friday awaited as I closed off the week.
The A4U awards 2008 was a fantastic event having been held in the Sheraton Park lane hotel in London, covering 4 floors of the hotel, there was fantastic entertainment in the form of the hilarious Michael Mcintyre and a surprise appearance of a Channel 4 spoof show, and lets not forget the oxygen bar by Affiliate window complete with nintendo wii, air hostess and a spontaneous poet and from the key sponsor - Jackpot Joy was the Jackpot joy girls, of course there was no shortage of food and drink not to mention fantastic company from old faces and new. It was a fantastic event full of laughs and great conversation, naturally the awards were great, but like Eurovision, they were a tad predictable, but thats not to say I’m bitter, certainly all the winners and runners up deserve their awards, what I am saying is that there were no real surprises.
Here’s the list of winners, congrats to all and see you all next year:
Best Use Of Creative
* Winner: PrezzyBox
* Highly Commended: Jackpotjoy
Best Network Innovation
* Winner: Affiliate Window
* Highly Commended: Paid on Results
Best Merchant Innovation
* Winner: PrezzyBox
* Highly Commended: Firebox
Best Use Of Affiliate Marketing As Part Of An Integrated Campaign
* Winner: Hotel Chocolat
* Highly Commended: Play.com
Publisher’s Choice Awards
Publisher’s Choice Of Network
* Winner: Affiliate Window
* Highly Commended: Affiliate Future
Publisher’s Choice Of Account Manager
* Winner: Julie Wood
* Highly Commended: Thuy Pham
Affiliate Manager of 2008
* Winner: Chris Clarkson (Sunshine.co.uk)
* Highly Commended: Zak Edwards (PrezzyBox)
Community’s Choice Awards
Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2008
* Winner: Kieron Donoghue (here.org.uk)
* Highly Commended: Kirsty McCubbin (affiliatestuff.co.uk)
Affiliates4u Award For Excellence
* Winner: Nicky Iapino
Agency Of The Year
* Winner: Existem-AM
* Highly Commended: R.O.EYE
Publisher Of The Year
* Winner: eConversions
* Highly Commended: Quidco
Vertical Awards
Finance
* Winner: Credit Expert (Experian)
* Highly Commended: Leadbay / Dot Zinc
Retail
* Winner: buyagift
* Highly Commended: iTunes
Gaming
* Winner: Virgin Games
* Highly Commended: Jackpotjoy
Travel & Leisure
* Winner: Travelodge
* Highly Commended: DFDS
Technology & Telecoms
* Winner: SKY
* Highly Commended: Vodafone
I’d also like to extend a warm thank you to Dan Morley of Alpha Room who kindly got me a ticket at the very last minute, what a great guy! And of course thanks go out to A4u and Matt Wood for a fantastic night, but he deserves a slap considering the state of my head right now.