The 2nd Annual Searchlight Award Show, held at the Time-Life Building in New York on February 22, 2007, was an enjoyable event, with over 200 marketers and agency executives packing the auditorium.

Keynote Speaker Laura Desmond (CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group), provided insightful commentary on "How to Compete for the Future" when it comes to search. Ms. Desmond challenged the audience to embrace the future with the themes of "innovation, integration, reinvention and imagination."

Four agency finalists presented campaigns that integrated elements of traditional media, online display advertising and search:

• Sprint-Talladega Nights, presented by NeoSearch
• Special K, presented by Leo Burnett
• Lexus. The All-new LS, Unprecedented, presented by TeamOne
• Choose Chase, presented by Avenue A | Razorfish

Our esteemed media panel provided witty and thoughtful critiques of the four agency finalist campaigns. Our panelists included:

• Brad Berens, iMedia Communications
• Jon Fine, BusinessWeek
• Brian Morrissey, Adweek
• Greg Sterling, Sterling Market Intelligence

Audience voting was close, but Avenue A | Razorfish emerged the winner-largely due to their solid results bidding on broad terms (like "credit card") as part of a branding strategy. Notable results include: Highest unaided recall in the credit card category, 77% lift in brand perception, 31% lift in positive brand consideration and over 10% increase in Yahoo! Buzz Index in Q4 2006.

>> 2006 Recap
>> View the winning campaign