A dessert lounge, green screen filming area, faux pub, dance floor and pair of musical Normans graced the foundations of the Waterloo Bridge. The festivities were only the supporting act as they helped herald in the announcement of the winners of the 31st annual BIMA Awards.

The awards recognise excellence in British digital communications across marketing, advertising and corporate communications. Adam Graham, chair of BIMA and managing consultant at Cact.us, says, “The industry continues to evolve at a pace and the advancements in technology are tremendously exciting.”

This year’s awards acknowledged changes to the digital industry by reexamining the sector categories and adding the ‘Brand of the year’ category. Year old ‘Start-up of the year’ was a popular option and ‘Student of the year’ received a slew of entries from students in brand communications, digital, advertising and other programmes. Tiffany St James, BIMA executive and co-chair of the judging panel, says, the categories were determined to support the role of digital communications in Britain. “Our industry adds huge value to the UK economy and in approaching the BIMA Awards 2015 we wanted to ensure this contribution is acknowledged and honoured.”

Judges worked diligently to ensure the winners adhered to high standards in the strategy and insight, creativity and innovation, execution and effectiveness of their campaigns. The result was a diverse group of winners that prove digital communications strategy has evolved. No longer is digital an add-on, a supporting element or a last thought. It is truly integrated into communications and most campaigns include a digital strategy from the outset.

Winner in the content category, the ‘Spirit of Bacardi,’ saw agency Citizen create and distribute a custom graphic novel relevant to Bacardi. The print book was beautiful, but it was always intended to run in full and in excerpts online. This allowed fans to share the novel and to delve deeper into the rich world drawn on its pages – both virtual and physical. Social category winner ‘Sergio the Shoe Hunter’ for the Outnet by Atelier was another campaign that took what traditionally would have been an offline stunt and media relations campaign and turn the conversation digital instead. Sergio revolutionised London Fashion Week communications as a result.

Premium awards were distrbuted to Seenit, for ‘Startup of the year’ and Rufus Leonard for ‘Agency of the year.’ An innovative app designed to encourage energy efficiency for Npower earned Joel Buckley the ‘Student of the year’ nod. ‘Brand of the year’ was taken home by Always (P&G) for the ‘Like a Girl’ campaign by Holler and Leo Burnett and WCRS took home the Grand Prix for it’s work for Women’s Aid’s ‘Look at me’ campaign.

As usual, the BIMA Awards party was full of fun, music and a free bar. Normski presented the awards and Norman Jay MBE spun the decks at One Embankment.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Grand Prix
Winner: Look at Me — WCRS
Brainlabs & Alpharooms: Real Time Bidding For The First Time Ever — Brainlabs
House of Mamb — AKQA
Like A Girl — Holler and Leo Burnett

Agency of the year
Winner: Rufus Leonard
Brainlabs
Kotikan
Lab
Wunderman UK

Startup of the Year
Winner: Seenit — Emily Forbes
Cornerstone — 383
Get Invited — Get Invited
Only — Only
StashMetrics — Sam Oakley
The Happiness Index — The Happiness Index

Student of the year
Winner: Countdown for Npower — Joel Buckley
Bamboozle — Mads and Charlie
Endangered Soles — Frazer Price, Teddy Souter, John Trainor
Game On or Game Over — Nicholas Kugge & Zoe Jezeph
Give a shit — Elin Jarlstrom & Søren Birk
Urban Bees — Carine Olsen

Brand of the year
Winner: Always (P&G) — Holler & Leo Burnett

Jury prize for best work on a smaller budget
Winner: THE OUTNET Sergio the Shoe Hunter — Atelier

Jury prize for best single execution
Winner: House of Mamba — AKQA

Sector

Automotive
Winner: The Attention Test — ais London
C-Class iPad App — Digital Annexe
Lexus NX House — Amaze
The AA Breakdown and Traffic App — Rufus Leonard & The AA
What drives us is you — Isobar

B2B & professional services
Winner: Licence Bureau Compliance Portal — DotLabel
Allianz Presents #SchoolRunStories — Gravity Thinking
Honeywell RMU — Sequence Agency
Sky's the limit: FerroNATS — CDD
Soundjack — Nimbletank
The world is in beta — VML

Consumer goods
Winner: Taste With Tarquin — Havas Helia
#STANDFORSOMETHING — ODD
Ben McBean's #First Big Poppy Run — AKQA
Glenfiddich: Father's Day Restoration Project — Gravity Thinking
Like A Girl — Holler and Leo Burnett
Lucozade Sport Conditions Zone — Knit and TRO
The Spirit of BACARDI, a graphic novel — Citizen
TWEET TO EAT — AMVBBDO, Clear Channel UK, Talon & OMD UK

Consumer retailers
Winner: THE OUTNET Sergio the Shoe Hunter — Atelier
#MINDFCUK — Lost Boys
#UGGSOS — Lost Boys
Fortnum & Mason E-Commerce re-design and build — Red Badger
Online Field Trips — Zone

Consumer services
Winner: Tesco Bank Mobile Services — Nile, Tesco Bank & Tesco Bank customers
Do-it — SOON_
PlayStation.com — BAE Systems Applied Intelligence
Scottish Friendly Refresh — Blonde

Education
Winner: FeelingNuts — DF London, Attention Seekers
Online Field Trips — Zone
Pelican Books — Fiasco Design
Rugged Rovers — Preloaded
The Holidays are Made With Code — Nexus Interactive Arts

Internal communications
Winner: Orange — Global brand guidelines — e3
'Throw it out there' — Aviva Customer Cup — Big Dog agency
Sainsbury's History Timeline — We are Tilt Ltd
Shell Ideas 360 — Browser London

Media
Winner: Don't Stop The Music — Rocket / Fresh One / Oxfam
Adventure Time: Finn & Jake's Big Adventure — Waste Creative Ltd
BFI Player 2.0 — Ostmodern
Madeon: Adventure Machine — Sony Music Digital Creative & We Make Awesome Shit
The New Doctor Lands — Red Bee Media

Public life
Winner: Look at Me — WCRS
#DontPanicButton — We Are Social
BFI Player 2.0 — Ostmodern
FeelingNuts — DF London, Attention Seekers
Google Year In Search — R/GA London
Reverse The Odds — Maverick Television & Chunk
The Next Photo — Wunderman UK

Sport & leisure
Winner: House of Mamba — AKQA
#allin or nothing — We Are Social
Brazuca — We Are Social
Google World Cup — R/GA London
Hilton Weekends — 383
Lucozade Sport Conditions Zone — Knit and TRO

Wellbeing & health
Winner: The Story of the Tooth — Hometown
ghd Christmas 2014 #getthehintdarling — Atelier
The London Stare — Razorfish
UV Blaze — Redweb
Why A & E? — 2am

Disciplines

Content
Winner: The Spirit of BACARDI, a graphic novel — Citizen
#allin or nothing — We Are Social
BBC Earth — BBC
Best Summer Ever Project — AnalogFolk
Brazuca — We Are Social
THE OUTNET Sergio the Shoe Hunter — Atelier

Data
Winner: Karen — Blast Theory
Brainlabs & Which? - Mad Scientists — Brainlabs
Google World Cup — R/GA London
Google Year In Search — R/GA London
Lucozade Sport Conditions Zone — Knit and TRO

Immersive
Winner: Kasabian in 360 — Visualise Creative Ltd
Canon at photokina 2014 — Imagination
Inside Rolls-Royce — Imagination
Monty's Magical Toy Machine — Techdept Limited, Microsoft Advertising UK, adam&eveDDB, Manning Gottlieb OMD
Sunset Overdrive Glitch — McCann London / B-Reel

Integrated
Winner: Don't Stop The Music — Fresh One / Rocket / Oxfam
Africa United — We've Got Your Back — M&C Saatchi London / TouchCast / Freuds / KYNE
DesignSpark Power Hack — Freestyle Interactive
FeelingNuts — DF London, Attention Seekers
Kinder Surprise — Storymakers — Pablo London

Location
Winner: Look at Me — WCRS
Hiut Denim Shop Window Hack — Knit
Lucozade Sport Conditions Zone — Knit and TRO
TWEET TO EAT — Clear Channel UK, Talon, OMD UK & AMVBBDO

Mobile
Winner: Pelican Books — Fiasco Design
Heineken @wherenext — R/GA London
Taste With Tarquin — Havas Helia
The New Eurosport — Huge
The Next Photo — Wunderman UK
TWEET TO EAT — AMVBBDO, Clear Channel UK, Talon & OMD UK

Native mobile apps
Winner: RTE International — Nice Agency
FanDuel — Kotikan
Liftshare — DigitasLBi
Minicabit — Nimbletank
The AA Breakdown and Traffic App — Rufus Leonard

Performance
Winner: Brainlabs & Alpharooms: Real Time Bidding For The First Time Ever
Flight to Ferry — DigitasLBi
Unleashing the potential of broad tail search to increase audience, traffic and revenue — iCrossing

Social
Winner: THE OUTNET Sergio the Shoe Hunter — Atelier Winner
Brazuca — We Are Social
FeelingNuts — DF London, Attention Seekers
Forza Fuel — DF London
Language of Football — AKQA
Like A Girl — Holler and Leo Burnett
My Burger — Razorfish

UX & service design
Winner: BFI Player 2.0 — Ostmodern
Easyfundraising ios mobile app — ribot
Google World Cup — R/GA London
Jump — London Bus Tracker — Noble Union
My Burger — Razorfish
Ximbio — Cyber-Duck

Video
Winner: Like A Girl — Holler and Leo Burnett
Google Year In Search — R/GA London
Online Field Trips — Zone
The Attention Test — ais London
THE OUTNET Sergio the Shoe Hunter — Atelier

Web design & build
Winner: Fortnum & Mason E-Commerce re-design and build — Red Badger
Brompton Bicycles — Ngoar (Development) Webcredible (UX & Design)
My Burger — Razorfish
The Guardian Bookshop — Lab
The Independent — i100 — Nice Agency
The New Eurosport — Huge
World Baking Day — M&C Saatchi London