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Author: Marcia Rich

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Previewing our 2016-17 Calendar

Marcia Rich
By: Marcia Rich

It’s September, which means a new year for AAF Buffalo (formerly the Advertising Club of Buffalo). And as a second-year board member, I’m excited to give you a sneak peak into what we have in store for 2016–2017.

This year, we’re planning to hold at least two Skillshops. The first Skillshop of 2016 is scheduled for September 8 and the team from Pegula Sports and Entertainment will teach attendees some tips for DIY video production. The event is for members only, so don’t forget to renew or sign up now (shameless plug).

skillshop-video

New this year is our Spotlight Speaker Series. Four out-of-town speakers will be coming to Buffalo throughout the year to present on different hot topics in marketing and advertising. We’ve restructured ticket pricing for these events to give you the best bang for your buck. Check the events page often to make sure you’re getting the best value.

  • October 12: Zontee Hou, principal and founder of Media Volery LLC, will present “Marketing Your Customers Want: The Alchemy of Content Marketing.”
  • November 15: Aaron Irizarry, director of UX at Nasdaq, will present “Hold Fast: Managing Design Teams When Sh!t Hits the Fan.”
  • April 11: Todd Radom, independent graphic designer specializing in branding for professional sports franchises and events, will present “Design for Sports with Todd Radom.”
  • May 9: Jonathan Kranz, copywriter and founder of Kranz Communications, will present “Nightmare Marketing: How to Create Great Content for ‘Boring,’ Complex, and Undifferentiated Products.”

Zontee Hou will present during Ad Week, which begins Monday, October 10. The first event of Ad Week will be with Buffalo Prep, where students will spend the day immersed in the advertising world. The students will visit Crowley Webb, Luminus Media, and dPost to get a well-rounded view of our industry and different career opportunities they might be interested in. Be sure to visit our website for more details on Ad Week (coming soon!).

We’re also bringing back favorite events like the holiday bowling tournament, Uber Bowl, Preview Night, and – our biggest event of the year – the American Advertising Awards. Crowley Webb will be taking the creative lead for the show this year, and I’d love to tell you more about what they’re cooking up, but you’ll just have to wait.

So, yes, there’s a lot to look forward to this coming year. Including seeing all your lovely faces at these exciting events.

AdLab Events Social Media Stuff

The power of your people.

Marcia Rich

At our most recent Ad Lab, we were honored to have Anthony Shop (@afshop) present at The 9th Ward. Anthony cofounded the digital innovation agency Social Driver. It has since been named the seventh fastest growing agency in the U.S. by The Agency 100. As chief strategy officer, Anthony has sparked innovative campaigns for a portfolio of industry-leading clients.

0421161818All that is great, but you know what is even greater? The iconic movie The Goonies from 1985, which is exactly what Anthony used to start off his talk. Hundreds of people each year travel to visit the house featured in the film. No one told them to do this (in fact the home owner did not want visitors), it just happened organically. The point is, you can’t force people to love something. Instead of trying to create a cult following or a viral moment – as so many brands are wishing for daily – tap into existing energy and use that to your advantage. Ask yourself: What do people already care about? Where is the energy already and how can you tap into it?

Very few brands have been able to successfully do this. Anthony gave two great examples in his talk. First was the Ellen DeGeneres selfie of the 2014 Oscars, which was taken on a Samsung phone. Samsung didn’t place its logo on the photo or do anything other than provide the phone, but that selfie ended up being the most retweeted post ever and even broke Twitter for a short period of time. Samsung was able to tap into the existing energy of the Oscars and place its product in an influential place at the right time.

IMG_20160421_182622The second example was “The Dress”: Did you see it as white and gold or black and blue? This argument caused everyone to freak out in 2015, and many brands tried to jump on this bandwagon. Anthony pointed out one company that was able to successfully use The Dress to their advantage in a campaign – Salvation Army. Check out the link to see the campaign designed to raise awareness of domestic abuse, which utilized the preexisting hashtag #StopAbuseAgainstWomen. Which brings us to Anthony’s next point: Don’t try to create your own hashtag and expect it to go viral. Use one that already exists and has some momentum. Embrace the opportunity to give up control and be authentic. Salvation Army was able to successfully innovate instead of imitate, like so many other brands did with The Dress.

Learning the importance of personalization and the benefits of using social media stars to advertise a brand were two other takeaways from Anthony’s talk. The third huge takeaway was how to have a streamline process for social media management. When a hot moment on social media is happening, brands need to be able to jump on it quickly or they miss out. This can seem impossible when you have four levels of approval to get through and it’s a Friday night after office hours, so he suggests a traffic light system: Topics, people, or keywords that are always okay to repost or retweet are green. Some that may still need a level of approval are yellow. And ones that are definitely a no-no are red. Have this system in place before a big event so your social media team can be ready to act at the drop of a hat. And speaking of hats, Anthony gave the example of Pharrell Williams’s hat worn to the 2014 Grammy Awards that coincidentally looked like the Arby’s logo. Arby’s quickly tweeted about it and social media history was made. Talk about flat, fast, and fun – one of Anthony’s mottos.

Read what Ad Lab attendees had to say about Anthony Shop below.

Blog

Uber Bowl VI 2016 Recap

Marcia Rich

By Marcia Rich:

Monday night we celebrated the sixth annual Uber Bowl. Thankfully, unlike last year, the weather held out and all were able to attend. This annual event is meant to be a review of commercials from the Super Bowl, held the previous night. This year, we decided to put a spin on things and change to a debate-style format.

We had four teams all competing for the coveted Uber Bowl rings (and some extra swag too). The teams raced the clock to choose their favorite, and least favorite ads, and then quickly and succinctly explain to the judges why they chose that ad taking into account creativity and originality, branding, the target audience, and the budget.

A huge thank you goes out to our moderator and referee, Rich “The Bull” Gaenzler from 97 Rock. Rich donned a ref uniform and led our teams through various categories of ads while our three judges (Erin Haskell from Crowley Webb, Ben Barnhardt from dPost, and Frank Conjerti from Quinlan) scored the teams as they presented their case for the best and worst ads. There were arguments and challenges and, of course, many laughs.

The ad categories were:

  • Most Memorable
  • Funniest
  • Most Annoying
  • Best Car Commercial
  • Biggest Let Down
  • Most Kick Ass, and
  • Weirdest

Thank you to all who attended, and thank you Shea’s Smith Theater crew who did a great job with the sound and visuals. We even got some great media coverage from 97 Rock and Channel 4. So, in conclusion, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby. Puppy. Monkey. Baby.

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