BROOKLYN – HUGE was singled out by Ad Age’s prestigious A-List for the second consecutive year. 

Calling us an Agency to Watch in 2011, Ad Age writes:

 

The Interpublic digital shop had a blowout year that started with the much-hyped digital execution of Pepsi Refresh. Huge built the social-media voting platform for the beverage giant, which has been doling out grants to the most popular community projects posted to the site.

 

Beyond growing our clientele, 2010 saw HUGE broaden service capabilities, investing heavily in our Mobile and Emerging Platforms division; launching a new Social Engagement practice; and introducing an Audience Monetization department, where HUGE represents digital properties to sell advertising sponsorships and develop branded content partnerships.

HUGE was one of four Interpublic agencies—and among seven digital properties—to be honored in this year’s edition. As the premier agency for building digitally-driven businesses, HUGE has exploded from 10 employees in 2005 to 300 personnel across 6 offices and 4 continents today. 

HUGE will continue to develop relationships with the world’s biggest companies and brands in 2011.

Brooklyn, NY – Most people can tell you their age, their height, and – if they trust you – their weight, but how many people know their Body Mass Index number?

Body Mass Index – or BMI – is critical to know in order to assess physical health, and is used by heath experts to determine risk for weight-related health problems. Now, users can quickly and accurately calculate their BMI and assess the health of their bodies using Nutrisystem’s BMI – Body Mass Index, an easy-to-use mobile app available for free in the iTunes app store.

Nutrisystem Inc, a leading provider of weight management products and services, partnered with HUGE (an agency with a respectable BMI, thank you very much) to design and build a mobile version of its online BMI calculator, which tells users whether they are underweight, healthy or overweight based on their age, height and weight.

Unlike other BMI calculators, BMI – Body Mass Index is a tool that helps users take steps to improve their health. The app reminds users to monitor their BMI and lets them track their data over time. It also provides diet plans and tips to help users achieve and maintain a healthy BMI number.

The release of BMI – Body Mass Index is one of a number of ways Nutrisystem is utilizing mobile technology to serve their customers and help people lose weight. In October, the company launched a fully mobile version of Nutrisystem.com.

Nutrisystem’s BMI – Body Mass Index is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. To download and try the app for free, click here.

BROOKLYN – Capping an extraordinary year, the Pepsi Refresh Project was lauded in Advertising Age’s special Book of Tens issue as having one of the biggest impacts on the industry in 2010. The multichannel campaign was featured in four of the year-end lists: “Biggest Stories," “Social-Media Campaigns We Liked," “Cause Campaigns," and “Campaigns Creativity Loved.”

Pepsi decided to redirect its annual Super Bowl budget this year toward the community-building Pepsi Refresh Project, with the campaign immediately becoming “one of the most hotly watched by fellow marketers.” 

Advertising Age offered a brief summary of the trendsetting, social-media-driven effort:

 

The company has given away $1.3 million a month to individuals and organizations that have posted to its website ideas on how to "Do Good," one of its mottoes. Thousands of people have posted ideas, including helping children who have experienced trauma and clothing homeless mothers in designs by local artists. Grant winners -- who have received $5,000 to $250,000 -- are those who get the most votes by fellow users at the end of each month. And users are encouraged to promote their ideas on Facebook and Twitter. One recent winner, a scientist at a public university in Michigan, received $50,000 to research compounds found in the spice cumin that may prevent cancer.

 

Meanwhile, sister publication Creativity highlighted the impressive results to date:

 

Demonstrating what a reallocation of a portion of a mega media budget could do, the campaign ended this year with nearly three billion media impressions, 51 million votes from a broad demographic sample and millions given to worthwhile grassroots causes. The campaign has been a massive success in terms of awareness and -- say Pepsi bottlers, no less -- palpable goodwill toward the brand.

 

HUGE completed strategy, design and development for the award-winning marketing platform and created an overarching social media solution to promote widespread engagement and participation. The campaign will expand into Europe, Asia and Latin America next year, while continuing to fund projects throughout North America.

BROOKLYN – The New York Times' media columnist David Carr named the Reuters News Pro a top media iPad app for its usability and utility. One of the first to market, and recognized as Engadget's "favorite news app” upon its release, Reuters News Pro delivers the latest business news and market data in a highly customizable design that fully leverages the iPad's interactive capabilities and increased screen real estate.

Carr writes:

 

For the business minded, Reuters has separate buttons on the bottom for current information on markets, stocks and currencies. And the main page bifurcates horizontally into top news and video, with a horizontal navigation that invites skimming across lots of rich content. Once you are deeper in the app, there is a drop-down index that lets you see news by country and region.

 

After establishing its consumer-facing digital presence with the award-winning Reuters.com in December 2009, HUGE worked with Reuters to create a user-driven iPad app that would build on the success of the iPhone News Pro and launch in sync with Apple’s wide-scale release of the tablet. HUGE delivered a fast-loading, flexible product that features up-to-the-minute news coverage, extensive global financial data and premium multimedia. The content is elegantly organized and scannable, and a caching mechanism allows time-strapped business professionals to access the information they need anytime and anywhere.

The Reuters News Pro iPad app is now available for free download. HUGE and Reuters are currently working on a full suite of mobile applications to further enrich the experience of news on the go.

LOS ANGELES – Mattel is expanding its partnership with HUGE's new Audience Monetization Division to help monetize its properties through the sale of display advertising, content integrations and sponsorships. The Mattel family of sites welcomes over 8.9 million unique visitors each month, and was recently ranked #2 in total audience for entertainment-kids sites.^[1]

Formed this past August, the partnership allows Mattel to fully integrate relevant brands throughout their prime content, and has already produced advertising deals with Disney, Microsoft, Nintendo, General Mills, Scholastic and PBS for Mattel properties such as Barbie.com, HotWheels.com and the newly launched MonsterHigh.com. Veering away from the antiquated ad network model, the new outbound advertising aligns key brands with site-specific content. 

HUGE’s A. David Shapiro, Vice President of Audience Monetization, leads this effort. A former VP of Digital and Mobile for TV Guide, Shapiro has a proven track record as a digital sales leader, leveraging his deep knowledge of the digital industry to produce winning advertising solutions for Mattel and a growing roster of current and new clients. The Audience Monetization Division makes it as facile as possible for clients to generate new revenue streams through their existing digital presence, as well as to develop strategic ways to create new areas for monetization in content ranging from videos to games to social applications. 

“We’re able to leverage the insight and knowledge from digital strategy, design, development and user experience that are our core competencies within HUGE to create the strongest possible advertising environments for brands within digital content,” says Shapiro, who is rapidly growing the department, based out of the HUGE Los Angeles office. “With this new division, HUGE is not only defining how a digital platform should be designed and structured to optimize advertising opportunities, but delivering the sales strategy and partnerships to best capitalize on the platform.

 

1. ComScore, October 2010.

BROOKLYN – HouseLogic.com was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Website Design field at this year’s min Editorial & Design Awards, which celebrate excellence in content and design among consumer, business-to-business and specialized information media brands.

Through a series of tools and practical advice about taxes, community, and finance, this new site by the Realtors Association lets visitors understand home ownerships through the lens of financial value,” wrote Steve Smith ofminOnline.

HUGE worked with the National Association of REALTORS® to design, develop and launch HouseLogic in the fall of 2009. The platform, the first of its kind created just for homeowners, serves as an invaluable resource to help plan and organize home projects related to improving home value. Through HouseLogic.com and accompanying social outlets, homeowners receive timely, pertinent news and stories to constantly improve their habitat. 

BROOKLYN — HUGE won four prizes at the 2010 OMMA Awards, including Best in Show for Integrated Online Campaign for the Pepsi Refresh Project. HUGE Design Director Felipe Memoria accepted the award at the gala in New York, thanking the client, partners, team and, most importantly, the users.

The Pepsi Refresh Project also took home the title for Best Integrated Online Campaign in the Non-Alcoholic Beverage category. With its success and sustained popularity, Pepsi recently announced plans to extend the groundbreaking marketing platform for social good to Europe, Asia and Latin America in 2011. Thus far, the program has accumulated 42 million votes on over 7,500 submissions.

Reuters.com and History.com were honored for Web Site Excellence in the News/Politics and Non-News Entertainment: TV categories, respectively. The redesigned Reuters.com delivers all the news and content that time-strapped business professionals need to know through a dynamic, highly customizable interface. History.com was praised by OMMA for “refocusing the cable network's web presence from an emphasis on show promotion to a destination” where “users can search a vast database for articles, videos and photos on historical topics - all connected via a newly custom-tailored taxonomy.”

The new AlvinAiley.org was also nominated for Web Site Excellence in the Charity/Non-Profit Organization category. HUGE Creative Director Claudia Chow served as an industry judge and presented the award for Best in Show in Online Advertising Creativity.

The OMMA Awards recognize those who push the boundaries of creative work, and each year honor the very best in online media, marketing and advertising.

BROOKLYN — Penton Media, one of the world’s leading B2B media companies, relaunched nine websites this week, each reengineered to better deliver on its promise to disseminate the vital content that moves markets. The releases represent the first step of a larger, company-wide strategy by Penton to translate its authority in print to digital, unify its extensive network of brands online as well as transition many of its B2B sites to the new, content-driven platform over the coming months.

HUGE completed strategy and build for the platforms, collaborating with Penton over the past year to create business-transforming resources that would not only capitalize on its massive influence across multiple industries, but drive revenue through new opportunities for advertising and sponsorships. Months of customer research and a full evaluation of editorial workflows were integral to the overhaul, after which HUGE developed a content strategy that was more intuitive and relevant for the professionals visiting the site, allowing them to analyze and compare products as well as access important reference, training and how-to materials.

“You might say that we started from scratch – except for the rich content we already own – knowing that our goal was to attract more users, make the user experience more robust, and have a much more modular component architecture that enables editors to introduce new features,” Sharon Rowlands, CEO of Penton Media, explained. “The work takes us from the legacies of magazines’ companion sites to providing full-fledged Web-first products.

The new sites for Delta Farm Press, Southeast Farm Press, Southwest Farm Press and Western Farm Press feature enhanced navigation, fresher content and plenty of interactive media like blogs, videos, podcasts and webinars. Five other properties are set to launch in the coming weeks, including Farm Industry News, Corn and Soybean Digest and National Hog Farmer.

“These redesigns are far from being merely cosmetic; they have been designed to serve readers, who will be able to quickly access relevant content and solve business problems,” said Rowlands. Nino Tasca, Penton’s vice president of Internet technology added, “We have changed the functionality so that there is a better relationship between the user and the content. As Penton continues to launch the other sites within our vertical markets, we will leverage that relational data so both our advertisers and readers have a superior digital experience.”

With these sites and those to launch in the near future, Penton is redefining the marketplace for B2B media sites, delivering the essential tools, analysis and news that help professionals solve business problems and grow their enterprises.

BROOKLYN — Following an exceptionally successful year, Pepsi announced that it will expand the popular Refresh Project to Europe, Asia and Latin America in 2011 while continuing to fund projects in the U.S. and Canada. Originally considered a social media experiment by many in the industry, the award-winning marketing campaign has garnered 45 million votes on over 7,500 worthy ideas since its launch in January, becoming a full-blown global marketing platform for one of America’s most trusted brands.

"The Pepsi Refresh Project has demonstrated that bringing simple ideas to life can create a powerful impact in local communities," said Lauren Hobart, CMO sparkling beverages, PepsiCo Beverages America. "Over the past year, we've been inspired by the quality and impact of the ideas put into action by Pepsi fans across the U.S. And we're excited to extend the impact of the program next year in the U.S. and around the world.”

HUGE completed strategy, design and development for the community-focused platform, which continues to build momentum with a growing number of votes and idea submissions each month. "When you look at the powerful movement that we are creating, there's no question that we have on our hands something big. Good ideas need to expand. They cannot be encapsulated, especially when something is working for the brand,” Ami Irazabal, marketing director at Pepsi, told Advertising Age regarding the expansion. “Pepsi Refresh Project is going to be an integral part of the brand going forward."

The iconic brand has awarded 256 grants since it decided to funnel its annual Super Bowl budget into a program that empowers those who want to better their communities. Starting next week, Pepsi will also tap its largeFacebook community, which has grown fourfold to over a million fans since the project’s inception, for ways to strengthen the program.