Find us a marketer who doesn\u2019t like seeing their work receive an award, and we\u2019ll give you a trophy.<\/p>\n
Actually, we don\u2019t have any to spare (we only got one for our recent Webby win for our Marketing Brew Weekly podcast!), but Jesse Feister, executive director of Webby Media Group, might. We caught up with Feister, who is now in his second year leading the organization that sets out to honor the best of the internet across more than 100 categories, to dig deeper into some takeaways from this year\u2019s winners<\/a>, particularly in the advertising, media, and PR categories.<\/p>\n \u201cEach generation of the internet has people who are really individually making their mark, and we\u2019ve recognized that for various points throughout history. It’s now pretty different,\u201d Feister told Marketing Brew. \u201cThere\u2019s just an explosion of creative people making things across the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n Talk to me a little bit about the brand side of things, and brand creative in particular, online. How have you and the Webbbys seen this particular category evolve?<\/p>\n One of the big trends that I\u2019m observing is that it\u2019s almost like the creative is coming out of the internet. And it\u2019s not just insights about the audience, but actually intersecting with what creators are already doing and figuring out how to not just tap into that but engage in it in a way that builds on it.<\/p>\n So the Dr Pepper jingle is a really good example of that, where it\u2019s coming literally from the internet. And I think you\u2019re seeing there\u2019s still space for really, really, I would say, more traditional digital creative, but more and more what you\u2019re seeing is it\u2019s a dialogue with the internet\u2014back and forth, and a lot of the award-winning work this year came from the internet, not the other way around.<\/p>\n An area that every industry is grappling with is AI. Talk to me a little bit about the impact of AI on the Webby\u2019s submissions, nominees, and winners this year.<\/p>\n We have AI categories in advertising, [like] Best Use of AI in an Advertising Campaign, but also, I believe that most of the work that was submitted in some form [uses AI]. AI is just becoming a part of the creative process, and there\u2019s a lot of different layers to what that can mean.<\/p>\n We did not require disclosure of AI use. We felt like it was on the judges to decide if the work was delivering and gaining trust with its audience. And I think that was a pretty important distinction, but it allowed us to sort of evolve with the internet, because where we were a year ago and where we are today, with how AI is being used, has changed so much, and it\u2019s going to continue to change. The expectation is that this technology will [be] used and that our community will figure out how to do it in a way that builds trust with their audience.<\/p>\n Get marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n What other highlights from the ad campaigns and branded content winners stick out to you? Particularly, are there any winners that signal something to you about where the industry is headed?<\/p>\n