Thebestof wins Innovative Business of the Year award

National network of local marketing websites thebestof has been voted the top Innovative Business of the Year at the Fast Growth Business Awards 2008 held in London. Thebestof beat its innovative rivals, Broadbean Technology and Challs International to achieve its wining status.

The award judges were Peter Jones from BBC's Dragon's Den, Simon Kossoff MD of Carluccios and TV presenter and business guru Rene Carayol. They were looking for companies who had been innovative and had transformed their product or service offering.

Thebestof was chosen for its forward thinking business vision, it has 350 sites with 65,000 SMEs covering the majority of the UK from Aberdeen to Plymouth, Norwich and Llanduno all of which are run by local franchisees and provide details of local businesses, information, events and things to do.

Chief Executive of thebestof Nigel Botterill said: 'It was fantastic to be shortlisted for this highly competitive category and tremendous to have won it! The company's franchising model and thebestof brand in particular has evolved tremendously over the last year. It is not just an online community website, it is more than that.

'Through innovative schemes, such as introducing review pages to our site, launching thebestof monthly awards and thebestof network groups we have revolutionised word of mouth and online marketing, and it's great to be applauded for this, especially from a selection of such highly regarded entrepreneurs and businessmen as those that sat on the FGBA panel.

'Thebestof has exciting ideas planned for the next few months. In the fast-paced environment that we operate in, it's important to stay ahead of the game - innovation is key to this, and is why we have become so successful in such a short space of time.'