AmEx Wins Digiday Award for Brand Innovation

American Express won the first every Digiday Award for most innovative brand in recognition of the work it has done to integrate social media as part of its business.

The awards, given last night at a ceremony in New York, also recognized Nike vp of digital sport Stefan Olander as most innovative person for his work in building Nike’s tech products as a key driver of the brand’s future. Huge was named most innovative agency, on account of its work in developing the HBO Go application and proving that agencies can be about making things that change businesses. Buzzfeed took the nod for most innovative publisher as it morphed from a site of aggregated viral content to a new model of publisher built for the social era.

Amex was recognized, in particular, for its Synch pioneering integrations with Twitter, Foursquare, and Facebook that created an entirely new way for brands to interact with consumers through social channels.

Other winners included OMD for best branding campaign for consumers, in recognition of its work for Gatorade. HBO Go won best branding platform and Say Media took the honors for best publishing platform for its Orion content management system.

The full list of winners is below.

Most Innovative Brand
American Express

Most Innovative Agency
Huge

Most Innovative Publisher
Buzzfeed

Most Innovative Person
Stefan Olander, Nike

Best Branding Campaign, Consumer
OMD, Gatorade

Best Branding Campaign, B-to-B
AOL Advertising, “Environment Matters”

Best Direct Response Campaign
Beeby Clark+Meyler, Marriott mobile app

Best Creative
Carmichael Lynch, Suburu “First Car”

Best Brand Platform
HBO, HBO GO

Best Publishing Platform
Say Media, Orion

More in Marketing

Retail leaders at Target, Lowe’s and more on the AI investments they’re plotting for 2026

Anywhere from 33% to 83% of respondents used AI to do their holiday shopping in 2025.

Why cookware brand HexClad is sitting out of the Super Bowl for a broader field

With Super Bowl ad costs hitting $8 million, brands like HexClad are pivoting to streaming and other sports stages for a better marketing bet.

Inside the brand and agency scramble for first-party data in the AI era

Brands are moving faster to own first-party data as AI and privacy changes alter the digital advertising landscape.