Top row, from left: Thinkbox Chief Executive Tess Alps, Mediaedge:cia Chief Executive Tom George, Editor of Media Week Steve Barrett, ITV Integrated planning director Simon Orpin, Director of insight, Sky Media Jeremy Tester, Honda UK Customer Communications Manager Ian Armstrong, Former Lowe Chief Executive Amanda Walsh

Bottom row, from left: OMD UK Managing Director Jonathan Allan, MediaCom Chief Strategy Officer Sue Unerman, GlaxoSmithKline Media Director Andy Bolden, InBev Senior Media Manager Paul Evans

The Thinkbox TV Planning Awards reflect how technology is making TV advertising more versatile.

The judging day for this year's Thinkbox TV Planning Awards featured a stellar line-up of judges drawn from agencies, media owners and clients, who provided expert insight and analysis from all quarters of the media industry.

The planning awards, held to celebrate "brilliant uses of TV", have evolved since last year to incorporate three new categories. For the first time, the judging process recognised excellence in integrated planning, editorial marketing, and the use of new TV technologies, as a reflection of how technology is liberating television and making TV advertising ever more versatile.

Key to grabbing the judges' attention was a well-written entry, such as MediaCom's succinct one-page submission for Aquafresh for kids, which narrowly lost out to the Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles campaign in the editorial marketing category.

Many campaigns were supplied with strong creative executions - such as the Snowman creative for Irn-Bru - which helped the judges put the TV planning strategy into context. Debate was often lively, with robust exchanges between the panel as they argued the finer points of the entrants' TV planning strategies.

Here, we present a behind-the-scenes look at the judging process, celebrating all the shortlisted entries and providing an insight into why the winning campaigns emerged as the worthy recipients of this year's Thinkbox TV planning awards.

Best use of TV in an integrated campaign

 Entries in the best use of TV in an integrated campaign category had to feature the use of broadcast TV alongside any number of other media, including non-broadcast TV.

Carat's Jungle Book - Jungle Fever campaign for Walt Disney was "good solid work", according to Sue Unerman, although she felt that the entry could have been made even stronger still by being "more emotional". And Honda's Ian Armstrong praised the campaign for its "sound media approach" in creating a viral to generate buzz.

However, the other Carat campaign on the shortlist, the Rugby World Cup 2007 advertising for Guinness, emerged as the winner in this category because "it used the copy in all the right places, there was clear thought into the consumer insight, and you got the sense that it delivered results". Unerman said: "I liked this: it was a strong integrated campaign. It covered all the touchpoints that rugby supporters are interested in and it captures the spirit of rugby players really well."

Ian Armstrong commented: "The Guinness campaign gave an authoritative set of results," while Tom George said: "This felt almost like a full broadcast campaign, even though the advertiser only used 30-second spots."

Meanwhile, Sue Unerman described the final entry in this category, PHD Media's campaign for AA Roadside, as "a beautifully written brand responsive execution". However, although a strong entry, the judges felt that the campaign could have shown more evidence of thinking about the relationship of TV to other media.

Best long-term use of TV

 This category recognised campaigns that have used broadcast TV over three or more consecutive years, with the best entries reaping exponential returns for the advertiser.

PHD North's Pride of Scotland campaign was praised for its well-written entry, and Amanda Walsh was impressed by the Phones4U presentation as "a challenger brand in a cluttered marketplace", punching well above its weight. Other judges praised the Phones4U campaign's clear evidence of effectiveness and its "trendy, edgy appeal". Tom George said: "The executions were fresh and innovative and they performed well, despite being outspent by competitors."

However, there was a "clear winner" in this category: Arena BLM's entry for Domino's, which was also awarded the overall Grand Prix. Praise for the long-term sponsorship strategy ranged from, "This was the strongest argument for using TV solus I have ever seen" (Tom George), to "Consumer insight was there right from the start. The argument for using TV was incontestable" (Amanda Walsh). Jeremy Tester added: "The phones were ringing straight after the sponsorship bumper: this is the best measure of success. The brand fit is unparalleled."

Best newcomer to TV

 The newcomer to TV category, for advertisers that had not used broadcast TV since January 2002 until doing so in 2007, was won by the "charming" Farmhouse Fare campaign Proper puddings for proper Sundays, which Ian Armstrong described as: "A beautifully written story." Simon Orpin added: "The campaign brought the unifying families on a Sunday theme together really well, and we got an emotive feel through the short clips."

Andy Bolden added: "There is a message here - doing something really simple, really well. This was a really good entry."

Bolden also admired the Daihatsu submission, which he described as "well constructed, well controlled, and it works". Completing the category, the entry for Strathmore Water "played well on its regional strengths", according to Simon Orpin, while the Virgin Media campaign featuring Uma Thurman was "an impressive exercise in quick cover build around the launch date". Sue Unerman said: "This was a cut-through campaign: it stopped you in your tracks."

Best use of editorial marketing

 The best use of editorial marketing category - which assessed submissions ranging from sponsorship, branded content and advertorials to promotions, televised branded events and PR - contained some of the strongest and most hotly debated campaigns. One highlight was the "very well-produced" ad-funded programme by Vodafone on the back of the sponsorship of ITV's Formula One season.

Initiative's work on the Dulux sponsorship of Channel 4's Ugly Betty had an enthusiastic response from the judges - thanks to a strong visual presentation incorporating filmed material - with Jonathan Allan describing the Dulux/Ugly Betty strategy as "a very good fit". The judges had some ideas of their own for further innovation: Allan wondered whether Dulux could have launched an Ugly Betty paint range.

Meanwhile, the parents among the judges were familiar with MediaCom's Aquafresh for kids campaign on the Cartoonito channel, which had a "quality creative" and a "quality song" and helped parents encourage their children to go to bed.

However, despite the campaign's brave approach in creating a "genuinely unique piece of content", and its "concise audience insights", the strategy came a close second to the Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles entry.

And so to the winner, described in its awards submission by ITV's group marketing director David Pemsel as "the strongest association I have seen for some time". The Rowntree's collaboration with Britain's Got Talent stood out because the creative worked well with the audience, according to Jonathan Allan, and because the advertiser knitted together 10-second spots with sponsorship effectively.

Best use of new TV technology

 The final category, designed to reward campaigns that have used new TV technology such as pre-rolls, downloads, on-demand and mobisodes, was won by MindShare for its HDTV campaign for the Ford Mondeo: the first-ever integrated HDTV campaign.

Satisfied client Mark Jones, Ford's UK advertising and sponsorship manager, said: "MindShare showed how versatile TV can be. The first fully integrated HD campaign mirrored the design and quality credentials that were so important in challenging preconceptions about the Mondeo and making it attractive to new customers."

Ford's HD campaign demonstrated an impressive ability to overcome technological limitations by sewing the ads into HD programming, since HD advertising content is currently expensive to produce. The campaign also incorporated futuristic out-of-home HD "pods", giving further evidence of good use of new technology.

The judges praised the Lloyds TSB campaign as an innovative strategy for a "relatively staid sector". Meanwhile, Jeremy Tester described the eBay campaign as "well-structured and easy on the eye". He said: "I liked the fact that it had clear objectives and I got the message - and I felt that they were finding neat ways around new technology."

Sue Unerman was also "charmed" by the eBay entry and felt that ITV was a good home for the campaign.

Jonathan Allan added: "This gets the experience of eBay out to a mass audience - and credit to the client for being brave enough to try something like this."

The judging session ended with the secret ballot to determine the winner of the overall Grand Prix - a category that could not be entered for but was awarded to the campaign that, in the judges' opinion, stood out above all the rest.

When the votes were counted, it was perhaps no surprise that Arena BLM's entry for Domino's swept the board almost unanimously.

Jonathan Allan summed up: "Do you wish you had done this? Yes: it's brilliant."