Polar Design’s Cheers And Homebin Websites Selected As 2007 Mitx Awards Finalists

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 24, 2007 – Woburn, MA  – Polar Design today announced its Cheers e-commerce site (www.cheersboston.com) and HomeBin MLS directory (www.homebin.com) have been selected as finalists in the E-Commerce and Real Estate category for The 12th Annual MITX Awards. Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX Awards recognize excellence in the creation of web innovations designed, produced or developed in New England.

Begun in 1996, the MITX Awards has grown to the largest and most prestigious awards competition in the country for technology innovations and celebrates the best creative and technological accomplishments emerging from New England.

“New England continues to be a thriving center of technological and creative innovation. We are thrilled to report continued growth in awards entries year on year, as well as in our organization in general,” said Kiki Mills, executive director of MITX. “Our awards finalists consistently raise the bar and we are very proud to provide the platform to showcase their work to the public.”

Polar Design created and launched a revolutionary all-Flash merchandise e-commerce site for Cheers, a popular 80s sitcom show set in a local Boston pub. The website’s exclusively Flash driven interface is highly adaptive and integrates with a Web 2.0 e-commerce platform, InsightBuilder® ECOM, a Polar Design product. To ensure search engine visibility, Polar Design implemented the Flash interface inside a hypertext container with HTML hyperlinks. The dynamic e-commerce website now allows fans of the show to purchase official licensed merchandise in a fun, on-line destination without visiting the actual store.

For the Real Estate category, Polar Design created a custom designed interface for HomeBin Discount Realty, in an effort to draw in the first time buyers, generally a younger market, with powerful interactive MLS home search capabilities, integrated maps, and the ability for visitors to save their search profiles in “portfolios”. Additional features such as town comparisons and profiles inform visitors of the communities where they are considering a purchase.

Polar Design will be recognized with the other finalists in the category of E-Commerce and Real Estate at a gala awards ceremony traditionally attended by over 900 of the region’s top interactive technology and business professionals. Winners will be announced at the ceremony in the Boston Marriott Copley Place on Thursday, November 8th. Tickets can be purchased at www.mitxawards.org.

The 2007 MITX Awards program is sponsored by Backbone Media, Berman Gobin Creative, Digitas, DLA Piper, Doubleclick, Eyewonder, Fidelity Investments, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC and Technology Review.

About Polar Design
Polar Design (www.polardesign.com) is a mid-sized interactive agency with offices in the United States and Europe, founded in 1999 with the mission of elevating corporations' and non-profits' Internet communications.  Our 30 employees serve the web marketing and e-commerce needs of Fortune 1000 and small businesses alike through their diverse specialties, from identity and concept development, to graphic and multimedia flash design, to programming and database development.  In addition to custom design and development, Polar Design provides a range of marketing solutions, an affordable “hosted” content management and e-commerce platform, as well as application hosting with twenty-four hour support.

About MITX
Established in 1996, MITX—the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange is the leading industry organization focused on the web, bringing together digital technology, marketing and media. Reaching more than 6,000 professionals in New England, MITX is a dynamic and growing community of thought leaders, collaborators, and individuals in search of insight, education and opportunity. MITX hosts over 60 events annually from specialized roundtables, monthly panel discussions and networking events to conferences, forums and two of the largest awards recognition programs in the country. For more information go to www.mitx.org.