The 2014 NEWi Awards were held recently and local advertising and technology agency, The Village of Useful, won three of the 14 awards presented.
The annual NEWi Awards recognise digital creativity, showcasing the best work in technology, advertising, design and communications. Created by The Lunaticks Society the awards are now in their fourth year with finalists determined by a panel of industry experts. The 300 members of The Lunaticks Society then undertake a secret ballot to vote for the winners, choosing from three finalists in each category.
The Village of Useful won Digital Agency of the Year, Best Website of the Year (in partnership with Newism) and Best Retail Solution of the Year (in partnership with Newism).
The Village of Useful’s founders Adam Lance and Andy Howard believe usefulness is the pursuit of all great companies. Their agency manifesto suggests useful is the Gandhi of the business world – gentle but powerful.
The website and retail awards were in recognition of their work for Inspirations Paint.
“It was our mission to create Australia’s most useful painting website,” Andy Howard said.
“The entire website is geared around painting projects and our approach is based on market research, global best practice and user experience studies.”
“The website integrates with over 100 stores nationally for customer accounts, live pricing and inventory. It’s technically complex project with live data integration and demanding interface design requirements – a perfect fit for our mates at Newism. We’ve been working with Newism on high-end technology projects like this for over two years.”
The Village of Useful’s partners, like Newism locally, work as an extension of the agency. Partners are located across Australia, USA, UK, South Africa and Europe.
“We have been extremely fortunate to work with great clients looking for innovative and useful technology for their customers, as well as world-class partners that can help us deliver that technology efficiently,” Adam Lance said.
“The Village is about creating a community of the best people for the project at hand. Our clients and their project shouldn’t be limited by the people we have permanently on staff. There is a world of amazingly talented people out there ready to help, many we know, some we are meeting now and some we’ll need to know tomorrow.”
The full list of winners is below:
- BEST WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY TAFE HUNTER
Inspiration Paints – The Village of Useful and Newism
- BEST ONLINE NEWS PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
- BEST MOBILE APPLICATION OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY SECCOM GLOBAL AUSTRALIA
eCoach for iPads – Futura Group
- BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Sh!t in the woods campaign – Animals Asia by Enigma
- BEST TECH START-UP OF THE YEAR
- BEST HEALTH SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
Hunter Health Kick – Newcastle Herald
- BEST EDUCATIONAL SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
eCoach – Futura Group
- BEST RETAIL SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY GROWTHWISE
Inspirations Paints mobile site – The Village of Useful and Newism
- BEST GOVERNMENT SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY KINETIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Tamworth Regional Council – Social PinPoint
- BEST CLOUD SERVICE OF THE YEAR
Kaooma – VIMOC Technologies
- BEST TOURISM SOLUTION OF THE YEAR
Feel Inspired 2104 – Out Of The Square [OOTS]
- BEST ONLINE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
It’s In Your Hands ‚Äì Enigma
- BEST DIGITAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
The Village of Useful
- THE JOE AWARD
SPONSORED BY HUDSON RECRUITMENT
VIMOC Technologies – Kaooma smart city project on Darby Street and Palo Alto
Steph Hinds – Growthwise
BarTV – local sports broadcaster
Image | Emma Levine (Account Manager, The Village of Useful), Andy & Brandi Howard
