The IAB held its inaugural UK Online Creative Week late last month, the centrepiece of which was a showcase of the industry's best creative output during 2005.
While this sort of thing is always going to be open to accusations of mutual back-slapping, the IAB has also been working hard - alongside the IPA Digital Marketing Group - on an initiative that will bring much of this excellent work to the attention of the client community.
The Rich Media Roadshow is about to start rolling. Its aim is simple: to demonstrate to curious clients what is possible online.
Essentially, it's a presentation of the best work around, complete with the story behind each campaign and its effectiveness.
IAB and DMG reps will visit clients by invitation over the next few months and tailor work to their particular needs and sector. The hope is that, by experiencing the creative potential of the web first-hand, these clients will have their eyes opened to today's opportunities. No-one invests in something they neither envisage or understand. The road-show will address this issue and will be particularly relevant to marketers who are skeptical of the web's ability to make an emotional connection with consumers.
The 'hook' is the growth of broadband because this is something most clients are well aware of and it has a real impact on what can be done online. Much of the work featured in the roadshow uses sound and video - a direct consequence of the faster download speeds that broadband allows.
Not all of the work is 'advertising'; some is really content.
A lot of it is interactive, but some isn't. Some entries are just strong, appropriate ideas that have been well executed. Collectively, though, this body of work sets the standard for web marketing creativity.
The challenge is for all of us in the creative community to move the game on. I'd like to think that in a few years' time we'll look back at the roadshow and smile nostalgically at how basic it was. The sense I get from the roadshow is one of huge excitement and massive potential, which is still mostly unfulfilled. The show has only just begun.
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