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RECAP: PORTFOLIO REVIEW 2021

Ad Club Of Buffalo

The second virtual Student Portfolio event was a total success! Thanks again to our wonderful professional volunteers and student participants for your patience and for dedicating the time to make this event happen.

Although many of AAF Buffalo’s events have taken a virtual spin, that has not stopped us from providing support and resources to our student network in the most important time of their life – exiting college and entering the professional world.

The 2021 Student Portfolio review was conducted through Zoom Breakout Rooms. Registered students had fifteen minutes with each professional where they had the opportunity to share their work, ask questions, and network.

Similar to last year, each Breakout Room nominated a student portfolio of their choice and selected students received a cash prize. Many colleges and universities were represented including Rochester Institute of Technology, Villa Maria College, Daemen College, and Buffalo State College. Congratulations to all the winners:

 

Henny Zack, Villa Maria College

Laurie McMurray, Buffalo State College 

Kelsey Sikora, Villa Maria College

Zachary Nosbisch, Daemen College

 

Thanks again to everyone who participated. We look forward to the 2022 event, hopefully, it can be in person!

Events Students

RECAP: DON NICHOLS 2021

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Each year, AAF Buffalo hosts a scholarship competition honoring the late Buffalo great, Don Nichols. Don Nichols began teaching at the Albright Art School. He founded its Graphic Design Program in 1950 and brought it to UB where, until his death on July 7, 1987, he served as the program’s head and an extraordinarily dedicated teacher. He educated hundreds of graphic designers, a number of whom attained national prominence. Nichols received the Osborn Award for Creative Excellence from the Art Directors/ Communicators of Buffalo and the Chancellor’s Award  for Teaching from UB in 1982.

The scholarship competition was open to all Western New York undergraduates in design, writing, communications, illustration, photography, and fine arts. This year’s theme had students reimagine their take on the year 2020. Entries were judged by a panel of professionals from Crowley Webb. And the results are in.

Please join us in congratulation this year’s winners!

Events Industry Updates Speaker

VIRTUAL INTERVIEW RECAP: OXFORD PENNANT’S DAVE HORESH

Ad Club Of Buffalo

“Together we will see it through”

If you’ve been going for a lot of walks in the neighborhood lately (because what else has there been to do?), we’re sure you have spotted these flags hanging in the doorways and windows of your neighbor’s homes created by local pennant manufacturer, Oxford Pennant. The message “together we will see it through” is more than just a feel-good statement. These words gave us something to smile about during a time when many of us were feeling scared, lonely, anxious, and a host of other unsettling emotions over the last 13+ months.  So first, we would like to sincerely thank Oxford Pennant for helping us bond together as a community, while instilling in a hope, resiliency, and a sprinkle of joy when we needed it most.

On Tuesday, April 27th, AAF President, Josh Gumulak and board member Sarah Warner had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Horesh, co-founder of Oxford Pennant at Jordan Lema’s Lemur Studios on Main Street downtown. And while we were right across the street from the Oxford Pennant store, the interview was conducted virtually (what times we’re livin’ in) so that Dave could carry on his fatherly duties while simultaneously wowing us with his knowledge and expertise as an entrepreneur, business owner, and marketing and branding expert.

The interview honestly felt like chatting with an old friend. Dave is fun, relaxed, passionate and an incredibly insightful person. In an hour’s time, we covered everything from how Oxford Pennant got started, what the company’s structure looks like today, to where he sees it going in the future (they’re committed to Buffalo)! He shared how they have successfully built and expanded their brand through Instagram, some things he’s learned in his travels that Buffalo could benefit from, and his best advice for those with aspirations to start their own business.

We had a blast talking with him and we hope our listeners enjoyed it just as much! Learn more about AAF, membership perks and upcoming events at aafbuffalo.com or follow us on social @AAFBuffalo.

Blog Board Latest News

AAF Asks: Favorite 2021 Super Bowl Ad?

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Well folks, 2020’s football season was one to remember for many reasons. The Buffalo Bills won their first playoff game in over twenty years, fans were largely not allowed in stadiums to cheer on their teams, and Tom Brady (finally) left New England for greener pastures. Although the Bills didn’t make it all the way, the board still tuned in to watch the big game this past Sunday. Check out their favorite ads from throughout the night.

As always, GO BILLS.

McKenna Murray – Alexa’s Body, Amazon

Maybe I’m a book nerd, or simply a romantic… but anything with Michael B. Jordan’s dulcet audiobook tones has my vote. As someone who has never been interested in owning an Alexa, I sure thought about it. 

Noteworthy mention of Come Together by M&M. They did a great job of incorporating relatable and timely pain points: Karens, gender reveal parties, even mansplaining “mansplaining” — and did so in a funny way. Throwing in Dan Levy was icing on the cake (or, peanut butter in the M&M?)

Jeff Quinn – Wayne’s World & Cardi B, UberEats

Playing off an old school bit from Wayne’s World was a great combo. There were more than enough great advertisements to choose from, but UberEats leads the charge. I was also fond of the Paramount+ commercials!

Adina Pera – 5 to 9, SQUARESPACE

Over the last few months, I have discovered this newfound obsession with Dolly Parton, so when I saw this spot I immediately loved it. The message speaks to so many and provides the nudge to continue to pursue your dreams and embrace the side hustle. Also, let’s not forget about those great M&T Bank spots that Crowley Webb shot and produced!

Maura Noonan – Certain is Better, Rocket Mortgage

Normally I lean more towards the commercials that make me cry, but this Tracy Morgan spot had me actually laughing out loud. Morgan on his own is awesome, but I also loved the cameos from Dave Bautista and Liza Koshy. I think Rocket did a great job of balancing the humor, while ultimately still getting their point across and marketing their new app. When buying a home, certain really is better. Honorable mention would be the Paramount+ Sweet Victory commercial because I love a good Survivor torch moment with Jeff Probst.

Mary Amenta – The Neighborhood, DoorDash

Nothing like bringing back some childhood memories and the iconic characters from Sesame Street and mixing it with the modern days of delivery food services! Personally, I thought they did a great job in tying in “the neighborhood” theme highlighting the different things you can get delivered, which is pretty much anything at this point in time. Nice little mention at the end too that for every order, $1.00 would be donated to Sesame Workshop!

Katie Hazel – Last Year’s Lemons, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade

I like the way that Bud Lite Seltzer Lemonade played off of the “When life gives you lemons” expression and showed people being bombarded with lemons raining down from the sky. It was funny and timely for how people feel about 2020. 

Second Favorite: Certain is Better, Rocket Mortgage

I also really liked the Tracy Morgan Rocket Mortgage spot. It was funny and really did a great job of being humorous while still selling the app the entire spot.

Third Favorite: Jessica Long’s Story, Toyota

The Toyota Team USA spot was captivating and gave me chills. You were engaged from the start and it kept your attention while bringing awareness to this special family and Olympian, Jessica Long. The art direction was beautiful as well.

Alex Keogan – Will Ferrell, General Motors

Although it was a very close call, I have a soft spot for the comedic genius of Will Ferrell. The focus on sustainable energy, American made, and millennial comedy got me hard. There were some fantastic clap-back commercials from Norway, go watch!

Cody Andres- Wayne’s World & Cardi B.,UberEats

Playing off the vintage Saturday Night Live “Wayne’s World” skits, Uber Eats, “Eat Local” ad calls for communities to support their local restaurants during these challenging times. I felt like this ad really hits home with our strong food community here in Buffalo. I found the ad to be absolutely hilarious with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey re-take of a classic. Rapper Cardi B. was the perfect feature, as it really helped expand the audience age range in my opinion. I think they really hit the mark with this one. Excellent!

Samantha Lonczak – Certain is Better, Rocket Mortgage

Tracy Morgan Rocket Mortgage spot was one of the highlights of the game. Well first who doesn’t love Tracy Morgan? He planned to behave recklessly because he’s “pretty sure” everything will turn out okay, I think this was funny and a creative way to sell the app. The pandemic has brought new meaning and significance to the place where we live. Honorable mention goes to General Motors’ “No Way, Norway” spot where Will Ferrell hilariously sets out to give Norwegians a piece of his mind.

Caroline Jette – Let’s Grab a Beer, Anheuser-Busch

Although not a funny one, the Anheuser-Busch ‘Let’s Grab a Beer’ commercial really stuck out to me this year. It touched on a lot of low points of 2020, as well as highlighting what a lot of us still miss, something as simple as grabbing a beer with anyone. Anheuser-Busch found a creative way to subtly incorporate a multitude of their beer brands throughout the ad, keeping the focus on the experience more than the brand you choose. Overall, I found it relatable and welcomed the realistic approach to the ad during our socially distanced Super Bowl.

Josh Gumulak – Last Year’s Lemons, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade

Paying homage to all that was 2020, as well as an all-around great phrase, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade put together a great ad for the Big Game. Funny, candid and sarcastic – the ad was extremely on-brand for a beer that doesn’t take itself too serious, even when expanding into one of the most competitive categories there is in modern-day alcohol shenanigans. 

What made it even better was the paid placement coming back from commercial break when they commissioned @dudewithsign to be spotted in the stands, beverage in-hanCd, holding a homemade sign sporting the tagline. Great complimentary placements!

Shannon Polvino – Alexa’s Body. Amazon

I needed some serious humor after all that was 2020, and the commercial for Amazon’s Alexa accomplished just that. The spot was very well-produced and featured the incredibly attractive Michael B. Jordan portraying himself as Alexa. I was in stitches the whole time and am absolutely purchasing an Alexa. I also appreciated the Drake from State Farm commercial. State Farm commercials have been a staple this football season, so adding stars to the mix (Paul Rudd is my favorite human) added a freshness to the series.

Events Skillshop

SKILLSHOP RECAP: THE RISE OF THE MARKETING GODZILLA

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Mid-December of 2020, Mower’s very own Matt Babiarz joined AAF Buffalo to host a skillshop on The Rise of the Marketing Godzilla. The presentation was held at Lemur Studios and was presented virtually to the attendees in a therapy-like format. But many of you may be thinking, what the heck is a Marketing Godzilla?

By definition: Living in the Era of The Marketing Godzilla consists of a landscape ruled by merciless but necessary marketing leaders, born out of crisis in a hyper-competitive, unforgivingly chaotic corporate environment, where humans are interchangeable resources, a sense of reality can be challenged, and a result can only be accepted if it has been forecasted.

Matt kicked-off the presentation getting the audience’s opinion on their perception of crisis; discussing the difference between danger and opportunity. This soon led to the ultimate conclusion that people work too hard, for too long, for too little, which creates the dreadful Marketing Godzilla. The audience got involved via Zoom chat to share their experiences and thoughts on topics such as stress in the workplace, compulsion loops and the anxiety caused by notifications.

A few additional key takeaways include:

  • According to the American Psychological Association, 70% of workers were found to be stressed in 2020, an increase of only 9.8% during the pandemic
  •  A McKinsey study showed that 39% of time is being spent on job-specific tasks, and 42% of time is spent on answering emails and meeting internally
  • Notifications on our phone and email are indeed causing anxiety, causing individuals to feel the need to respond almost instantly

Although we weren’t able to get together as a group, we’d like to send a big thank you to Matt for taking the time to chat with us virtually. We also wanted to send a shoutout to Lemur Studios for helping make the event happen and for everyone who attended. For more info on all of our programming for the club year, check out AAFBuffalo.com/events.

Students

RECAP: 2020 PORTFOLIO SEMINAR

Ad Club Of Buffalo

People can say “don’t judge a book by its cover” as much as they want, but that phrase will never apply to the job market. Appearance is everything and an interview is essentially a judgement day, so applicants want to be sure their portfolios are as refined as possible. AAF Buffalo hosted a Portfolio Seminar virtual this year, with three speakers to provide insight to college design students on how to best prepare for entering the job market.

Maggie Blaisdell AAF Buffalo 2019 Portfolio Winner and a Graphic Designer at RIT; Noah Herman a Graphic Designer at Gelia; and Dave Riley, Creative Director at The Martin Group sat on the panel for this year’s Seminar. AAF Buffalo’s Board Member Cody Andres, Graphic Designer at The Martin Group hosted the event, sharing his own insight, as well, during the Q&A session.

Maggie Blaisdell, 2019 Portfolio Winner; Graphic Designer at RIT
Blaisdell began the Seminar, focusing on the best formatting of a portfolio and suggesting the best pieces to highlight in an interview, estimating around 6-10 of the applicant’s best examples of work. Adding variety to these pieces is best, selecting examples from different genres to reflect the range of skills.

To further reflect skill level, highlighting just a couple of these pieces to show the timeline and the progression will portray brainstorming and creativity, workflow and the skills in each step; such as illustration and sketching, problem solving, etc. When doing a storytelling approach on a piece, it is important to not show every step, but rather just a few of the checkpoints that reflect key skills. Furthermore, showing the finished product first before going into the steps to reach completion is crucial; that way, the applicant can be sure the interviewer(s) will see the finished product.

Noah Herman, Graphic Designer at Gelia
Herman encourages students to have their work speak for itself. He reminds students to embrace white space and to avoid their designs being influenced by surrounding noise. Their pieces can be a reflection of not only their skill levels, but also their creativity and personality.
“Don’t live on a static definition of yourself,” Herman said during his session.

In order to be as efficient as possible, he recommends students updating their portfolios periodically to avoid it being a bigger task leading up to an interview. For students to truly make a memorable impression, he suggests paying for the domain for their portfolio to avoid the added text in the URL, and to go into each interview with enthusiasm and confidence, as that will shine through in their work, as well.

Dave Riley, Creative Director at The Martin Group
In addition to showcasing a collection of design pieces, Riley says to list two to three references on a resume with their portfolio. He also suggests for a cover letter to reflect as much personality as the design pieces themselves. The letter is an outlet to showcase an individual’s brand.

Students should do interview prep leading up to their appointment time, including a list of questions, printing out copies of the cover letter, resume and pieces of the portfolio. He believes self-promotion pieces are equally as important, as well; showcasing the designer’s creativity, individuality, and complete skill set. Brand is important as an individual when it comes to design work.

Key Takeaways:

  • Include 6-10 pieces in portfolio, with a select few showcasing the design process
  • Add 2-3 professional references in the resume
  • Prioritize the cover letter as much as the portfolio to reflect your brand
  • Buy the domain for chosen portfolio site
  • Be confident, enthusiastic, and most importantly, yourself.

Be sure to check in with AAF Buffalo in the spring for the Portfolio Review, the second part of the design portfolio series.

AdWeek Events Social Media Speaker Speaker Series

ADWEEK 2020 RECAP: NIKKI SUNSTRUM, SPOTLIGHT SPEAKER

Ad Club Of Buffalo

The prominence of social media has not only altered the way in which we communicate personally, it has reshaped the information we consume, distorted emotional responses, and manipulated the visual identities of its users. In an ever-connected world, everyone struggles to balance competing priorities, remain engaged, and retain authenticity.

For this year’s AdWeek 2020 Spotlight Speaker, we invited Nikki Sunstrum, University of Michigan Director of Social Media and Public Engagement, to discuss methods for addressing the ever-increasing demands of pandemic communications, and how to deal with online negativity, competing interests, and mental fatigue. Although virtual, we were all able to carve out an evening and hear from Nikki on what this past year has taught her.

*insert “This is Fine” meme*

Throughout her hour-long talk, Nikki covered a range of topics, but first, she addressed the giant non-elephant in the room: the pandemic. While it’s no secret that the pandemic quickly impacted the way we live, learn, work, and interact with each other, Nikki focused her presentation on the impact the pandemic has had on marketers and communicators. Namely, how we speak to our audiences and communities. The way we approach our content was starkly changed, instead of encouraging users to participate with brands, and engage with us, strategies quickly became more about advocating for them to stay away, and thus stay safe. The emotions and reactions we were trying to evoke from our communities were now incredibly different than what we had been planning for, and we were left with no instructions on how to forge ahead.

Reality Check

Nikki described the pandemic as a reality check for us all, it was important to address the reality of the situation and address these alterations both internally and externally. She reminded us that social media is likely the first-place people connect, the first people complain, and the first-place people celebrate. Nikki suggested that as professional communicators we stop treating social as a solution, but rather a tool to navigate the uncertain days ahead. It was important to ask ourselves “what are we trying to accomplish by communicating outside of our organization?”. The answer? To strengthen our communities.

Another few key takeaways she shared were:

• Social media requires wit, wisdom, and wherewithal
• Social media demands proactive, preventative, and passionate messaging
• Social media necessities continuous connectivity, customer service and societal awareness
• Social media is strategic communication, and not a last resort

Although we couldn’t host her in our city and show her that city of good neighbors’ spirit, we’d like to send a big thank you to Nikki for taking the time to chat with us virtually. And thank you for everyone who attended or participated in any of this year’s AdWeek events! For more info on all of our programming for the club year, check out AAFBuffalo.com/events.

AdWeek Events Industry Updates

ADWEEK 2020 RECAP: DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION PANEL

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been the subject of many conversations over the past few months. We recently had the opportunity to speak with leaders from the Buffalo community and dig deeper into DEI: what it means, how it can be incorporated into the workplace, what the biases and barriers are, and how we can take action.

It is important to remember that with DEI, you cannot have one without the other two. Diversity, equity, and inclusion should be present and maintained in all aspects of life in order to progress forward, so stopping to assess how DEI fits in and plays (or could play) an active role in your workplace is imperative.

What are diversity, equity, and inclusion? 

Ekua Mends-Aidoo, chief equity and inclusion officer at Evergreen Health, recommends keeping organizations top of mind when defining these words.

As Ekua explained:

  • Diversity is a fact – either you have it within an organization or you do not.
  • Inclusion is a choice. It is up to the organization to decide and choose how they want to include people and make them feel embraced.
  • Equity is a policy that should become part of the organization’s practice. Equity is not It is about ensuring that people are getting the necessary and optimal resources that they need to achieve and succeed.

Incorporating DEI in the workplace.

Learning what these words mean is the first step, but organizations should be thinking about incorporating DEI in the workplace from the onset of the hiring process to onboarding and throughout career development. To maintain this mind-set and have DEI become a foundational part of your company, education is key. Whether it is a training series, a review of your company’s policies and structure, or a collaboration with groups and organizations to gain a better understanding of diversity issues, education introduces new conversations and poses questions for the future. These exercises may uncover certain biases that were never noticed before. But as was said by David Johnson, director of college counseling at Buffalo Prep, it is important that we are comfortable with being uncomfortable during the process in order to do the work that is necessary.

Taking action.

It is easy to stick with the status quo. Change can be difficult for everybody, and this work you are setting out to do can be challenging, but organizations cannot be afraid to have these conversations and seek out diversity. We need to be innovative and intentional with what we desire to do and how we are going to make that happen.

A special thank-you to our panel for taking the time to speak with us and for all that you do in our community:

  • Lisa Napier, Founder and President of WNY Media House
  • David Johnson, Director of College Counseling at Buffalo Prep
  • Ekua Mends-Aidoo, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Evergreen Health
  • Greg Addo, Director, Producer, Videographer, and Editor at Addo Productions

AdWeek Skillshop

ADWEEK 2020 RECAP: CRAFTING TRADEMARKS SKILLSHOP

Ad Club Of Buffalo

We put some marketers and an attorney in a [virtual] room and kicked off this year’s AdWeek with a Skillshop hosted by Katie Markert, an attorney within Barclay Damon LLP’s Branding, Trademarks, and Copyrights practice group. 

Katie laid down the law to help us understand what goes into developing a strong brand name, and it turns out, not all trademarks are created equal—they actually reside on a spectrum. She walked us through this spectrum and showed us, from worst to best, how trademarks can be created with strong legal backing. From generic trademarks to the fanciful, Katie described the varying levels of trademark strength and gave some real-world examples. 

Another big takeaway…beware of genericide! Did you own a “return top” as a kid? How about a “yoyo”? Well Katie asked us if we could think of the generic term for yoyo, and we were stumped. Turns out, YO-YO was actually a brand name trademarked by Duncan Co. in 1932 for “return top” toys. This product eventually fell victim to genericide due to a faulty trademark registration, and all of these toys could legally be referred to as yo-yos, and they were. The name continued to spread as the generic term, and thus, you probably owned a yo-yo as a kid–not a “return top”.

Katie concluded her SkillShop with a Q&A that answered our deepest branding and trademark questions. Thank you Katie! Learn more about Katie’s legal experience here.

Events

RECAP: THE BIG TEE-OFF

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Normally this fall we would be recapping our annual celebrity bartending event, the Big Tip Off, but we we weren’t able to organize that event this year. Typically the money raised from the Big Tip Off feeds the AAF Buffalo Scholarship Fund, established to support students in Western New York. Together we work to raise thousands of dollars each year to be used for scholarships such as the Buffalo Prep Future Marketer & Don Nichols Scholarship.

Our board put our heads together and sought to come up with an alternative because after all, the kids still needed us. Thus, the Big Tee-Off was born. With the inaugural theme “Hindsights 2020”, we invited agencies and free lancers in the area to creatively poke fun at 2020 with tee shirts designs. Partnering with local apparel favorite 26 Shirts, we were able to bring our idea to life.

We had participation from 11 agencies in the area:

  • Mower Agency
  • Dixon Schwabl
  • FIFTEEN
  • FARM
  • 19 Ideas
  • dPost
  • Crowley Webb
  • Manzella Marketing
  • Mr. Smith Agency
  • Gelia
  • The Quilted Squirrel

Our membership, 26 Shirts and the Buffalo community came together to support our scholarship fund, selling 459 shirts in total! Mower came away as the winner this year selling 112 shirts, with Dixon Schawbl & FIFTEEN rounding out the top three with 103 and 58 shirts sold, respectively. As per usual, we were blown away by the creativity and genorosity of our community. Thank you to everyone who submitted a design, purchased a shirt, or simply shared a social media post. Because of you we can continue this invaluable program helping students have access to more opportunities in our area.

Continue to keep a pulse on our event programming by visiting our website at AAFBuffalo.com/events.