AIMIA was an association for the digital media industry in Australia from 1992 to 2015. The name derives from the acronym of its original name, the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association, which fell out of use in favour of the acronym. It was best known for its annual awards, informally known as the AMY Awards. It was the peak Australian body representing the digital content, services and applications industry in Australia, with members drawn from a broad sector of the digital industry, including Australia's digital content, services and applications companies as well as major industry suppliers. After AMIA was wound up in 2015, the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising took over the functions of the organisation, which in 2017 was rebranded as Digital + Technology Collective.
History of AIMIA and Digital + Technology Collective
The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association was founded in 1992 as a not-for-profit membership organisation, by Richard Heale, CEO of Perth-based company Interactive Logic and a group of other invited CEOs from companies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Association had chapters in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, with the national head office in Sydney. AIMIA's primary focus was on advocating for federal government support for the fledgling "new media" industry, although it did also conduct an awards ceremony in Perth in 1992. In 1994 the AIMIA board gained funding from the Department of Industry, Science and Technology to appoint the first permanent national CEO, who was Stephen Schwalger, who had been a member of the board. After further lobbying, funds were allocated to AIMIA and the new media industry as part of the "Creative Nation" initiative by the Keating government, launched in the same year in every Australian capital city. Significant components of the Creative Nation initiative included The Multimedia Enterprise, a funding bank for the creation of CD titles, and "Australia on CD", where Australian cultural institutions and new media companies were encouraged to collaborate and bid for a pool of funds to create CD titles that reflected Australian history and culture. Over the next three years, AIMIA grew from a membership of 40 companies to over 800, set up state and federal structure for the association and negotiated state and federal funding for industry development staff in four states, developed and managed a three-year export strategy in conjunction with Austrade. Exports generated in this period exceeded million on Austrade figures. A national conference program was established.
ADMA takeover
AIMIA was wound up at the end of 2015, but agreed to host the AMY awards in 2016. In its announcement of going into administration, AIMIA cited a significant change in the industry: "The world of digital has now become so incredibly omnipresent across all industries that the current agency-centric scope of AIMIA is no longer commercially sustainable over the long term". The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising took over AIMIA, which in July 2017 was rebranded as Digital + Technology Collective, initially headquartered in Melbourne., and since 2019, the Collective is headquartered in Sydney, as is ADMA.
AMY Awards
AIMIA was best known for its annual industry awards for excellence that recognise the best digital work in Australia, established in 1994. After AIMIA was wound up in 2015, it hosted the awards for the last time in 2016. In 2017 and 2018 the Digital + Technology Collective hosted the AMY Awards in Melbourne, and in 2019 ADMA hosted a refashioned edition of the Awards in Sydney in combination with the ADMA Creativity & Effectiveness Awards, which had not been awarded in 2018.
Special Guests Included: Daryl Williams, Federal Minister for Communication, IT & the Arts Adam Spencer, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC, Triple J radio host Professor Peter A. Bruck, Head of the United Nations World Summit Awards
9th Annual awards, Melbourne
8th Annual awards, Melbourne
7th Annual awards, Melbourne, Convention Centre
6th Annual awards, Gold Coast, Royal Pines Resort
5th Annual awards, Melbourne, Crown Entertainment Complex
VIP Guests Included: Victor Perton, Minister for Conservation and Environment and Multimedia
4th Annual awards, Melbourne, Crown Entertainment Complex
VIP Guests Included: Richard Alston, Federal Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts
3rd Annual awards, Melbourne
2nd Annual awards, Melbourne
Special Guests Included: Richard Garriott, Computer Games Legend
