Webby Awards Tap Diesel Design - to design Web sites for the awards - Brief Article

Brandweek, March 12, 2001 by Janis Mara

The Webby Awards--the so-called "Oscars of the Net" honoring the best sites on the Web--has picked interactive boutique Diesel Design to create an advertising campaign and three Web sites. Both The Webbys and Diesel Design are based in San Francisco.

"The Webbys' visual aesthetic is always retro-hip and sophisticated, and we knew Diesel would capture that," said Tiffany Shlain, creative director and founder of the 5-year-old Webbys. The awards cover categories including activism, finance, fashion and the ever-popular "weird."

Though Diesel is not designing the awards' main Web site, the agency will create three ancillary sites: one dedicated to award nominees; an RSVP site for guests; and a site for the winners. Also, Diesel will create print and online ads promoting the awards show, as well as interior signage, posters and invitations for the July 18 awards ceremony in San Francisco. The Webbys have not yet selected the agency to design the main site.

Because the Webbys' theme is kept secret until the day of the ceremony, reps from both companies would not divulge details about the theme and appearance of the work that Diesel will produce.

Judged by Internet time, both the awards and the agency are dinosaurs; Diesel has been in business for six years, a factor in the Webbys' choice, according to Jeffrey Harkness, CEO of Diesel Design.

"The Webbys people looked at the invitation we designed for our sixth anniversary party and liked it," said Harkness. Because candy or iron are the traditional presents for a couple's sixth anniversary, Diesel sent out the invitation in a test tube with a ball bearing and a jawbreaker.

According to Shlain, this edgy marketing approach fits the Webbys perfectly. The invitation to last year's awards ceremony was a circular disk resembling a pie chart delivered in a metal box.

Another factor in the Webbys' choice of Diesel was its reputation for executing good work for print as well as interactive environments, according to Harkness.

"We work with about 75 percent technology companies and 25 percent entertainment," he said. Diesel, a 22-employee shop, is profitable and claims clients such as Cisco, Netscape, Warner Brothers and LucasFilm.