Matmi triumphs at Big Chip Awards

MATMI, a digital agency based in Macclesfield, swept the board at last night’s Big Chip Awards.

The annual event, staged this year at Manchester’s Palace Hotel, celebrates the work of digital businesses – those designing websites, phone applications, games and social media campaigns – across the North.

Matmi picked up five of the 21 awards including the Big Chip New Media Agency Award. An online game it produced for United Airlines scooped the Grand Prix which recognises the best of the winners.

Manchester-based e-commerce website specialist Ampersand IT won three awards, including Best E-business Project for the site it designed for furniture retailer Made.com. Manchester’s Code Computerlove also won twice, picking up the awards for innovation and best use of visual design.

Matmi project manager James Tibbles said: “I’m really impressed that we won the Grand Prix – that came out of the blue.”

He put the firm’s success down to the “unique” way it approaches projects. “Clients enjoy working with us and we just go for unusual ideas. Our founder Jeff Coghlan (pictured) comes up with unique ideas and pushes boundaries.”

As well as working for United Airlines, Matmi has produced online content for Red Bull and Nokia as well as the pop acts Lily Allen and Gorillaz.

The winners of this year’s Big Chip Awards were:

Best E-business Project
Winner: Ampersand IT
Project: Made.com: Luxuriously Affordable, Great Design

Best Public Sector Project
Winner: mediaburst
Project: Florence

Best Not for Profit Project
Winner: Skylab
Project: British Gas Swimfit
Commended: Individuals and Tandot Ltd.
Project: MadLab

Best Mobile Project
Winner: Matmi
Project: Optathlon

Best Use of Visual Design
Winner: Code Computerlove
Project: Visual Design Brings Thrills of Florida Theme Parks To Life

Best Application of Technology
Winner: Stardotstar and All Out Productions
Project: Radio 1 on IPTV (concept project)

Best Use of Animation
Winner: Mi
Project: The Sharp Project

Best Use of Search
Winner: 11 Out Of 10 Ltd.
Project: Pure Gym
Commended: Lakestar Media
Project: SEO for online fashion retailer Missguided

Best Use of Social Media
Winner: Greater Manchester Police
Project: GMP24 – Greater Manchester Police Twitter Day

Best Digital Marketing Campaign
Winner: Matmi
Project: Optathlon

Best On-line Brand Development
Winner: Matmi
Project: Gorillaz: Escape to Plastic Beach

Best Newcomer
Winner: cahoona

Best Established Freelancer / Micro-Enterprise
Winner: Digital Blah Blah Ltd.
Commended: Sam Easterby-Smith

Big Green Chip Award
Winner: The DTP Group
Project: Knight Frank sees TCO plunge 90% with DTP

Game of the North
Winner: Distinctive Developments Ltd.
Project: Hockey Nations 2010

Little Chip Student Award
Winner: University of Central Lancashire
Students: Matt Slade and Naseem Naeem

Big Green Chip International Award for Innovation
Winner: Code Computerlove
Project: Flash vs HTML

Big Chip New Media Agency Award
Winner: Matmi

Anthony Wilson Original Modern Award
Winner: Ampersand IT
Project: Made.com: Luxuriously Affordable, Great Design

Tasty Website Award
Winner: Ampersand IT
Project: Made.com: Luxuriously Affordable, Great Design

Grand Prix
Winner: Matmi
Project: Optathlon