Mika Tuupola

All photos by Annika Haas, Fotobrigaad.

It was talked about in several different places. Last thursday it became reality. First Estonian Internet Awards winners were announced. These are my comments as a member of jury.

The Winners

There was two world level entries. Edicy which was judged as an online service (not just a website). Fraktal is setting a benchmark for Estonian startups on how things should be done. Stop Killing Dogs which was great example of a campaign where social media usage has a point. At the same time it was clever self promotion of Uniteddogs.com. Why a great self promotion? Because was not trying to promote too much.

Rest of shortlisted entries were good. Nothing earth shattering. Good basic work. I especially liked Velvet’s Rahvusmeened.ee and Estonian Air Tantsupidu banner.

What Was Missing?

There are couple of good projects I think should have been submitted. SeeMe by Oskando was missing. Maybe it was released before 2008? Unitedcats.com and Uniteddogs.com as a service were missing too. Metrix would have been a great non-profit candidate.

More Catchy Name?

Competition should be branded with a name. Now it is hard to descibe what you won. “I won bronze in campaigns category of Estonian Internet Awards”. This is a bit awkward. It would be much easier to say “I won bronze jaaniuss in campaigns category.”

About Categories

I think next year the categories could be adjusted. Too many categories seemed to cause quite much confusion. Most of subcategories were merged together anyway. My suggestion for next years categories are:

• B2C services
• B2B services

Service could be a corporate website, online bank, online newspaper, online shop etc. I’m sure you get the point.

• B2C campaigns
• B2B campaigns

Campaign can be a mini- or microsite, banner, email newsletter or combination of all of them.

• Best online ad

Banner or a banner like advertisement. Can be also a banner submitted as part of project in campaigns category.

• Non-profit

Because not everyone has a large budget.

• Best design

To keep those full Flash websites with sound and flying stuff from polluting other categories.

• Best results

Because results are important. Sometimes campaign can look awful but have spectacular results. This is the category for them.

Thanks to All!

Big thanks to J.Margus Klaar of ADC Estonia and Hando Sinisalu and Silja Oja of Best Marketing for organizing the event. Big up to Robin Gurney of Altex Marketing being the chairman of the jury. Also hi-five to all other jury members. It was nice to finally meet you all in real life.