Canon Canada and Dentsu Canada took home Best of Show honours at the 2008 Digital Marketing Awards in Toronto last night.

Canon's "Tell Your Story" campaign, which promoted the company's line of digital cameras, first earned a Gold in the Online Advertising: Integrated Campaign category before capping off the evening with the top prize.

Canon invited consumers to upload photo essays to a dedicated microsite and then used the best submissions as the basis for creative executions in traditional media.

Mike Kasprow, vice-president and creative director at Toronto's Trapeze Media and a member of the DMA jury, believes the Canon campaign succeeded due to its simplicity and its effective linking of new and traditional media.

"I think it was a truly integrated campaign, and all the communications in all the channels were beautiful and well executed," Kasprow said. "Everything drove back to the web, and the ‘ask' was very simple."

Five other Golds were awarded last night, including the website developed by Toxa on behalf of Montreal magazine Urbania. In addition to winning a Gold in the Websites/Microsites: Entertainment, Arts and Tourism category, the Montreal en 12 lieux website also earned a special Judges' Choice Craft Award for its media-rich online tour of Montreal's hotspots.

Other Gold winners included Taxi Toronto's integrated campaign for the Sydney-based YoungGuns International Advertising Awards. Taxi also won a Gold for a website designed for insurance company Aviva.

BOS' online video "Mr. Tree" for Mac's Convenience Stores and a Toyota Matrix banner produced by Saatchi & Saatchi rounded out the Gold winners.

In total, 63 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Certificate Awards were presented at the awards event. The DMAs capped off the first day of Marketing Week, which continues today with Media Excellence Day at the Westin Harbour Castle and the Media Innovation Awards tonight. Marketing Week will wrap up tomorrow with the Canadian Creativity Summit.