Airwalk has been named winner of the Experimental & Innovation award in the 15th Annual Webby Awards Mobile & Applications category for its one-day only virtual “pop-up shop” concept.

This is the first Webby win for Airwalk. The concept was also nominated in the Mobile & Applications: Best Use of a Device Camera category and for the Interactive Advertising: Augmented Reality division.

Additionally, Airwalk.com was listed as an Official Webby Honoree.

Airwalk’s winning concept was launched last fall when the brand partnered with New York-based creative firm Y&R to create a one-day only virtual “pop-up shop” in conjunction with the relaunch of Airwalk’s iconic JIM sneaker, a silhouette originally issued in the 1990s.

The downloadable GoldRun application used augmented reality to allow mobile shoppers to view the limited-edition style on their mobile device and to purchase the shoes before they became available on Airwalk’s e-commerce shop.  Customers were required to be within a certain geographic location to be considered in the “store”; the designated areas were the beachside boardwalk in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park and Venice, Calif., both locales that support creative expression and align with the brand’s essence. The initiative garnered national attention for the brand, including coverage on “The Today Show.” A video case study on the project can be viewed here:
http://205.247.222.80/mwente/2010/Airwalk_CaseStudy.html.

“The Webby Awards are an important distinction and we are honored that Airwalk was among other pioneering brands. We constantly strive to challenge our savvy youth audience in the digital space with new thinking and this accolade pushes us further in that direction,” said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO of Collective Licensing International (CLI), the company that owns and manages the Airwalk brand.

Airwalk’s web site was named an Official Honoree in the Awards Website’s Best Practices section. Relaunched in summer 2010, complete with a fully functioning e-commerce store and arsenal of old-school footwear reissues, Airwalk partnered with Denver-based creative house Legwork Studios on the project. Legwork enhanced the platform’s JavaScript capabilities and created a structured data flow on the site’s back-end and within its content management system. Sites nominated for Best Practice serve as an industry benchmark for the most innovative and advanced practices in web development. This year, more than 10,000 entries were submitted for consideration as an Official Honoree and less than 10 percent made the cut.

Winners of The Webby Awards are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, whose members include David Bowie, Arianna Huffington, Darren Aronofsky and Richard Branson, among others. Nominees are based on criteria such as creativity, visual design and overall experience. Airwalk will be among the winners honored at The Webby Awards live broadcast at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom on June 13. Viewers will be able to view the event from The Webby Awards web site, www.webbyawards.com and The Webby Awards Facebook page.