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2024 American Advertising Awards Recap – Camp Wannawinanaddy

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Before we get into the whole “camp” of it all, we just gotta say: the dedication and passion from everyone who put this show together was nothing short of inspiring. Oftentimes in our industry, things can get cliquey and competitive, politics get in the way of partnerships… it’s a thing. We get it. It happens. And yes, Mr. Smith Agency, dPost, and the AAF Buffalo Board had a beautiful camp romance, but we went into this show truly wanting to make Camp Wannawinanaddy a place where we all get together and celebrate each other no matter what “cabin” you’re in. Too kumbaya? F*ck you! (Better?) But we really did wanna make the best damn show we could for everyone because we love what we do, we love what you do, and because great work deserves to be celebrated. Period. Okay, now onto the show…

Nestled amongst the Villa Maria Forest, Camp Wannawinanaddy opened for its 2024 Winter Session (although, at 60º, we hardly needed our long johns).

After months of build-up and anticipation, campers filed in by the dozens and received their final Wannawinanaddy collector pins. Decked out in shorts, flannel, and sleeping bags (we even spotted a few visitors from neighboring Camp Crystal Lake), we were treated to s’mores, PB&J’s, and coolers filled with “Mommy & Daddy drinks.” After a few hugs and “Hello’s,” Camp Director Tony ushered us from Registration, up through Brand Rapids, and into Camp Wannawinanaddy.

Once inside, Camp Creator, Frank Cappola, treated everyone to a gorgeous landscape that set the tone for a spectacular show. Our Camp Counselors, Mary, Lindsay, and Evan, kicked off the evening and we got right into the awards. It was a show that saw us celebrate tons of fellow campers for their year of hard work and creative results—including junior camper, Jennifer Lay, who took home Student Best of Show! And we honored some extra special bunkmates: Dre LoPiccolo (Future Star), Kyle Rogers (Joe Crowley Award for Service), and Crista Pfahler (Levy-Osborn Excellence in Communication). We had a sing-along, tug-of-war, there was a raccoon and a bear… it was campin’ good time.

Crowley Webb’s haul shined as bright as the stars above, taking home a truly impressive 40 awards. But smaller shops won big too – especially Abbey Mecca, taking home golds, the Mosaic Award, and Best of Show for their work with The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, “Two Wars: The Road to Integration.”

We’re clearly partial but this night felt like some good clean fun. And for as much as we wanna win an addy, we also wanna celebrate our friends and colleagues. Congrats to all the winners—we hope you had fun. If you wanna relive the evening, click here for the entire run-of-show or here for the full gallery.

(and it’s worth mentioning again… this show would not have happened without the massive support and guidance from Tracy Rozler at Villa, Shannon Silva, and Frank Cappola. A shout-out to all long-hours from the judges, Anibal, Chris, and Lauren. And one again to Mr. Smith for the theme and branding, the site, assembling awards, compiling the showbook… and dPost for writing the show, doing the reels, making some killer videos, and logistic-ing like you wouldn’t believe.)

ADDYS Events Students

2023 Jingle Bowl

Chelsea Carney

The Martin Group winning team holding the golden pin.

It was the yearly unveiling of the American Advertising Awards theme, amidst agencies vying for the coveted golden pin, a plethora of donated food and cans, and one agency emerging triumphant in the end.

Crowley Webb, The Martin Group, dPost, Mr. Smith, Mower, FARM, Luminus and more gathered for an incredible night of bowling at Manor Lanes. So, who took the golden pin home? The Martin Group—congrats! 

Attendees donated to FeedMore WNY upon entering the event. Together, we collected 208lbs of non-perishables to help feed a total of 173 families in our community. Let’s go, Buffalo!

The grand finale of the night was a camp counselor’s dream revealing 2024’s American Advertising Awards theme: Camp Wannawinanaddy. For the first time ever, two agencies are collaborating to put on a show night that campers will never forget—dPost and Mr. Smith Agency! We can’t wait to see their ideas come to life.

Thank you to all who came to donate to a good cause and helped us spread some holiday cheer. We’re wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!

The outside of Manor Lanes bowling alley.

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Recap: Preview Night 2019

Lauren Carmer

We’re not sure what was more apparent on Wednesday, February 13th – that old man winter can’t stand in the way of ad folks and a great party or that there is incredible creative talent in Buffalo.

From student up-and-comers to seasoned pros, both were on full display at the 2019 AAF Preview Night. Thank you to everyone who braved the storm to take a sneak peek at all of the dazzling entries for this year’s show.

The turnout was tremendous, especially considering the weather. Some attendees came because they are unable to make it to the show while others come to enjoy the casual camaraderie. Regardless of the reason for joining us for Preview Night, it was a terrific evening to show off all that our city has to offer and to celebrate everyone’s great work.

There were more than 500 entries on display at a tremendous location and an AAF Buffalo favorite: Big Ditch Brewing Company. The members of the board and the ADDYs committee are grateful to Big Ditch for once again serving as the host and perfect backdrop for the event.

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Awarded at ADMERICA

Dan Nesselbush
By Dan Nesselbush

The annual gathering of the American Advertising Federation brought club and industry leadership together in Chicago for four days of education, networking, and awards at ADMERICA 2018. We bring you these updates from The Windy City:

Accolades for AAF Buffalo

While we came up a little short on our goal of a repeat as Club of the Year, we were still happy to exit Chi-Town with a stack of awards deeper than a pizza pie at Lou Malnati’s. AAF Buffalo received eight awards in the AAF’s Club Achievement Competition! For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 19 awards over the last three years.

2018 Club Achievement Awards 1st Place:
• Communications
• Programs
• Membership

2018 Club Achievement Awards 2nd Place:
• Advertising Education
• Public Service
• Government Relations
• Club Operations
• Diversity and Multicultural Initiatives

A huge thank you goes out to each and every member of our board of directors who contributed to another successful year: Tim Bouchard (Luminus), Kyle Rogers (BlueCross BlueShield of WNY), Josh Gumulak (Gelia), Andrew Bevevino (Martin Davison Public Relations), April Brown (Delaware North), Shannon Silva (dPost), Ally Balcerzak (Lloyd), Erin Haskell (Great Lakes Orthodontics), Brittany Klotzbach (Gelia), Jillian Minderler (Quinlan), Jaime Applegate (NOCO), Grace de Rosa (Telesco Creative Group), Teresa Carosa (Independent Health), Paige Meckler (Crowley Webb), Lauren Carmer (FARM), Greg Pokriki (Invest Buffalo Niagara) club admin Tina Pastwik, and our student liaison Noah Herman. They balance their work and family, yet still find a way to volunteer their time and energy throughout the year to make club initiatives happen.

It would be remiss of us not to thank our members, corporate members, sponsors, and the employers of our board members for their tremendous support throughout the year. Your participation allows our organization to thrive and create opportunities for all involved in the marketing communications field in Western New York, and that backing is greatly appreciated.

 

Shout-Out to SU

The student team from Syracuse University, members of AAF District 2, earned first place in the 2018 National Student Advertising Competition for their Ocean Spray campaign.

The NSAC is the premier college advertising competition that provides more than 2,000 college students the real-world experience of creating a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for a corporate client. Students develop a marketing plan and then pitch their work to advertising professionals at the district, semifinal, and national levels.

 

Celebrating Diversity

The AAF’s Mosaic Awards recognize companies, agencies, and individuals whose commitment to diversity and inclusion is evident through their creative work and organization-wide initiatives. Our attendance at last year’s awards ceremony inspired the board to promote these practices at the local level with the creation of the CommUNITY Award for Inclusive Advertising. The local award in the American Advertising Awards competition recognizes content that extends beyond stereotypical portrayals and depicts multicultural communities and individuals as the complex, multifaceted, and dynamic groups they are. While you’re working on your 2019 submissions, check out a couple of winners from this year’s Mosaic Awards.

FCB Health | Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC): Blood Equality: Blood Dumpster, Mosaic Awards 2018 from American Advertising Federation on Vimeo.

FCB West | Levi Strauss & Co: Circles, Mosaic Awards 2018 from American Advertising Federation on Vimeo.

 

THE American Advertising Awards

The larva that is an 11th hour scramble to stuff envelopes and fill out online entry forms each January turns into the beautiful butterfly known as the American Advertising Awards each June. The national show honors the best of the best in advertising. While our Spotlight Speaker Series pals from Brunner brought home a few gold awards for their work on The Journey, it was also great to see a lot of creative work that wasn’t necessarily on our radar before. You can see all the winners at the 2018 American Advertising Awards website. Here is a personal favorite from the night.

Lonely Whale Foundation “Sucker Punch” Directors Cut from CURIOSITY SHOPPE on Vimeo.

Come on. Who doesn’t like watching people being slapped by a tentacle in slow motion?

Once again, ADMERICA provided great opportunities for our executive board to hear from industry leaders and champions of diversity initiatives, meet with our fellow AAF chapters, attend a slew of workshops, and draw inspiration from the best of the best at the American Advertising Awards.

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The ADDY goes to

Dan Nesselbush

Due to a scheduling conflict we needed to move the date of the WNY American Advertising Awards show earlier than normal. In doing so we felt a rematch of last year’s wrestling-themed show wouldn’t be fair to all of our attendees and entrants with a shortened training schedule, so we turned over the creative reigns to our pals at Gelia.

As you may have seen in The Road to the ADDYs series, co-chairs Brittany Klotzbach and Jason Yates have been on a months-long journey to make this The Greatast ADDYs Ever. In a nod to Old Hollywood-style award shows, with an appropriately satirical spin on our industry, it’s safe to say the hard work of the entire ADDYs committee allowed the 420 attendees inside Kleinhans Music Hall to properly recognize the greatast advertising our region created in 2017.

Judges from Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C. scored over 500 professional and student entries in January.  Without further ado, see who had an extra great night by bringing home some hardware.

Professional Winners

A repeat of last year’s local competition, Crowley Webb brought home the most ADDYs with a total of 35 awards (14 gold, 21 silver). The Martin Group added 22 ADDYs (6 gold, 16 silver) to decorate their new digs on Main Street. Gelia (4 gold, 14 silver) and White Bicycle (3 gold, 8 silver) were the other firms to crack double-digit awards. Rounding out the top five was Telesco Creative Group with nine ADDYs (2 gold, 7 silver). A total of 26 companies took home at least one gold or silver award.

Best of Show

The best of the best on the greatast night in advertising went to Crowley Webb, picking up the Best of Show Award for their campaign for the Irish Classical Theatre Company’s The Wake.

 

Special Awards

In addition to the all of the work that is created, we pause each year to recognize several professionals for their contributions and accomplishments in the Buffalo creative community. The 2018 recipients were:

Mike Gluck, President at Gluckworks – Levy-Osborn Award for Excellence in Communications – This award was created to recognize outstanding achievement and service in the communications industry.

Brittney Sikora, Designer at White Bicycle – AAF Buffalo Future Star Award – This award honors an outstanding young professional in the marketing and advertising field who has demonstrated great potential in their early years in the industry.

Matt Low, VP, Creative Director at Crowley Webb – Joe Crowley Award for Service – This award recognizes not only hard work, but also outstanding achievement in furthering the activities and interests of AAF Buffalo.

The Veritiv Creative Use of Paper Award

An award designed to make digital natives a little twitchy, the Veritiv Creative Use of Paper went to a new winner this year as Crowley Webb creatively used paper for their 2017 Holiday Card for Praxis. A special thank you goes to Jean Clemens from Veritiv for her continued support of AAF Buffalo and this award.

 

The CommUNITY Award for Inclusive Advertising

Introduced for the 2018 competition, the CommUNITY Award for Inclusive Advertising recognizes content that extends beyond stereotypical portrayals and depicts multicultural communities and individuals as the complex, multifaceted, and dynamic groups they are. The award recognizes advertising that addresses issues experienced by under-represented communities and gives voice to groups that have been stereotyped or ignored in media and by society, increasing viewer’s perceptions and understanding of multicultural communities.

Crowley Webb’s poster campaign for Buffalo Prep earned them the first edition of the CommUNITY Award for Inclusive Advertising.

 

Best Show Book Ad Award

A fun award that acknowledges the best advertisement directed at advertisers went to Luminus who won for their greatast-acceptance-speech-you-didn’t-hear-tonight-themed ad.

Student Winners

As mentioned earlier, college students were also included in the action. Taking home the Student Best of Show were Noah Herman, Danny Rosina, Randy Oviasogie, Jason Murawski, Danielle Romaneo, Joseph Pietromicca, Jessica Mjoen, Anna Simpson, and Shelby Janczyk of Daemen College for their Daemen All High: See and Be Seen campaign.

A total of 20 ADDYs were awarded in the student competition with winners coming from Buffalo State College, Canisius College, Daemen College, St. Bonaventure University, and Villa Maria College.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

The 2018 WNY American Advertising Award Show would have been less great if it weren’t for the support of our sponsors FB Displays & Designs and VSP Graphic Group.

The Road to the ADDYs keeps going…

The gold and silver winners in both professional and student categories will have the opportunity to compete in the AAF District 2 American Advertising Awards with the hope of moving on to the national show in Chicago in June.

Congratulations to all the winners and another successful year of work in WNY!

See all the greatness in the 2018 American Advertising Awards show book below and make sure to view pictures from the night on our Facebook page which will be uploaded in the coming days.

ADDYS Blog Events

The Greatast Preview Ever.

Dan Nesselbush
By Shannon Silva

Another great ADDYs Preview Night is behind us and what a night it was! The AAF Board of Directors and ADDYs planning committee were proud to have the opportunity to display 474 professional entries and 53 student entries, which included campaigns, billboards, print, broadcast and multi-media, among other assets. We had our largest crowd yet as over 160 attendees viewed a year’s array of diverse and impressive work while enjoying an evening of camaraderie with Buffalo ad industry peers.

Many thanks to all who planned and coordinated the evening, and congratulations to all for your award-worthy entries.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the 2018 WNY American Advertising Awards on Friday, February 23!

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American Advertising Awards updates for 2018

Dan Nesselbush
By Dan Nesselbush

Each year, amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we like to throw a few extra things on your to-do list with the American Advertising Awards. Here is a quick recap of some new highlights for the 2018 WNY American Advertising Awards (or ADDYs if you resist change).

The David I. Levy Communicator of the Year and Osborn Award for Creativity have been combined

AAF Buffalo’s roots trace back to a pair of organizations – the Professional Communicators of Western New York and Art Directors/Communicators of Buffalo – each with their own special awards to acknowledge individuals who helped shape our region’s creative scene.

The Professional Communicators of Western New York presented the David I. Levy Communicator of the Year annually while the Art Director/Communicators of Buffalo awarded the Alex Osborn Award for Creativity. Now united as one group of marketing communications professionals, AAF Buffalo’s board decided that the time is right to combine the awards due to parallel criteria for the honors.

In an effort to preserve the legacy of David Levy, one of the top ad agency executives in Buffalo from the 1950s through the 1980s, and Alex Osborn, the inventor of brainstorming and manager of the Buffalo office of Barton, Durstine & Osborn (precursor to the global agency BBDO), we’ve merged and reintroduced the awards into one honor each year which will now be known as the Levy-Osborn Award for Excellence in Communications.

The Levy-Osborn recognizes outstanding achievement and service in the communications industry. Recipients of this award are individuals who, through a consistent, high degree of original thinking in their field, have left an indelible mark on the Western New York creative community. Winners have a distinguished record of achievement over an extended period of time, which includes contributions to their company, the industry and the community. Nominations for this award, as well as the Joe Crowley Award for Service and Future Star, are being accepted until January 8, 2018.

CommUNITY: a commitment to a more diverse ad industry

Our board was honored to win first place in the AAF Club Achievement Awards Competition for Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives in 2016-17. We had the privilege of attending the Mosaic Awards gala during ADMERICA 2017 and drew inspiration from those who are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the industry, which was evident through their creative work and organization-wide initiatives. Following that event, one goal of our executive board was to take action locally to increase awareness of those inclusive advertising practices and encourage the development of a more diverse community of marketing professionals in Western New York.

While we’re in our second year of working with high school students at Buffalo Prep, we decided the next step we’d take at the professional level would be through the creation of a local category in the American Advertising Awards competition. New for 2018, the CommUNITY Award for Inclusive Advertising is designed to mirror some of the principles of the aforementioned Mosaic Awards program.

The award recognizes content that extends beyond stereotypical portrayals and depicts multicultural communities and individuals as the complex, multifaceted and dynamic groups they are. This award recognizes advertising that addresses issues experienced by underrepresented communities and gives voice to groups that have been stereotyped or ignored in media and by society, increasing viewer’s perceptions and understanding of multicultural communities.

Changes with national American Advertising Awards categories

The public service print ad category will now accept campaigns.

Public service print ad campaigns of 2-4 pieces can be entered under category 22B. Work that qualifies as public service is advertising that has its goal being the improvement of the public’s health, education and/or welfare. Advertising work done for non-profit social organizations or causes, charities or NGOs should be entered in a Public Service category. Other Public Service submissions include work done for local, state and national governmental bodies, public safety, environmental, diversity, religious and education.

The Apps category has expanded this year to Apps, Games and Virtual Reality to accommodate virtual reality entries.

39E Virtual Reality: The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimension image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment.

The Elements of Advertising division now has a CGI category.

86B Computer Generated Imagery (CGI): Computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, shorts, commercials, videos and simulators.

Complete details about entering the 2018 WNY American Advertising Awards, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes videos following the production of the show, can be found at greataddys.com

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2017 ADDYs Recap: AD SMACK BATTLE RUMBLE MANIA

Erin Collins 1 Comment on 2017 ADDYs Recap: AD SMACK BATTLE RUMBLE MANIA

On Friday, March 10, the local ad community came together to recognize the true winners of our industry: the creative geniuses of Western New York.

More than 410 advertising masterminds entered the ring at Buffalo RiverWorks to attend the 2017 WNY American Advertising Awards. From snarky signs to exclusive entourages, the atmosphere was lively, competitive, and celebratory – reflecting the show’s theme, “AD SMACK BATTLE RUMBLE MANIA,” perfectly.

Developed by local agency Crowley Webb, this year’s awards show satirized the hyped-up competition between local ad agencies around award season. Over 500 professional and student entries were received and scored by judges from Atlanta, Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C.

Special thanks go to co-chairs Marcia Rich, UX Designer at Crowley Webb, and April Brown, Art Director at FARM Buffalo, who worked hard to ensure a raucous time was had by all.

And now, on to the winners.  Read on to view the great achievements of the night.


 

Professional Winners

Crowley Webb brought the final smack down, taking home the most ADDYs with 29 awards (5 Gold, 24 Silver). Gelia received a total of 26 awards (16 Gold, 10 Sliver), Block Club was honored with 16 awards (3 Gold, 13 Silver), The Martin Group took away 13 awards (13 Silver), White Bicycle secured 12 awards (7 Gold, 5 Silver), and dPost 11 awards (8 Gold, 3 Silver). A total of 26 companies took home at least one gold or silver award.

Other award winners include:

  • FARM Buffalo (2 Gold, 6 Silver)
  • Eric Mower + Associates (1 Gold, 4 Silver)
  • FIFTEEN (8 Silver)

Best of Show

The big winner of the night was Gelia, picking up the Best of Show Award for their Smiling Teds, “Science of Used Car Dealers” campaign.

Special Awards

Several very talented individuals were also honored with Special Awards.  The 2017 recipients were:

  • Andy Donovan, President, dPost – David I. Levy Communicator of the Year Award
    This award was created to recognize outstanding achievement and service in the communications industry.

    Andy Donovan, President of dPost accepts the David I. Levy Communicator of the Year Award.
  • Laurie Wolfe, Broadcast Producer, Laurie Wolfe Productions – Alex Osborn Award for Creativity
    Named in honor of Alex Osborn of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn fame, this award recognizes individuals who, through outstanding creative achievements, have left an indelible mark on the Western New York creative community.
  • Ted’s Hot Dogs – The Odysseus Best Client Award
    The Odysseus Award was established in 2011 by the Advertising Club of Buffalo to honor a client in the Western New York market (individual or group/department) who has used the discipline of strategic marketing and advertising in an extraordinary way.
  • Charlie Riley, Director of Marketing and Communications, Lawley – Joe Crowley Award for Service
    This award recognizes not only hard work, but also outstanding achievement in furthering the activities and interests of the club.
  • Sam Tato, 3D Artist, dPost – AAF Buffalo Future Star Award
    This award honors an outstanding young professional in the marketing and advertising field who has demonstrated great potential in his or her early years in the industry.

The Veritiv Creative Use of Paper Award

White Bicycle received this award once again for their Andrea Nardello “Fire” Packaging for Blue Elephant Records. A special thanks to Jean Clemens from Veritiv for her continued support of AAF Buffalo and this award.

 

Best Show Book Ad Award

FIFTEEN won this year’s award with their interactive thumb battle rumble mania-themed ad.

 

 

Student Winners

College students were also included in the action. Taking home the Student Best of Show were Alexandra Casarsa, Courtney Ewings, Gina Griffo, and Samantha Lonczak of Villa Maria College for Skald Book Design. Lonczak’s 4 student awards (1 Gold, 3 Silver) were the most overall. Angela Marini of Daemen College took home 2 Gold awards, while Holly Norris of Buffalo State College took home 1 Gold and 1 Silver. A total of 17 students took home at least one gold or silver award.

Courtney Ewings, Gina Griffo, Samantha Lonczak, and Alexandra Casarsa of Villa Maria College accept the Student Best of Show Award for Skald Book Design.

Students each taking home one Gold award include:

  • Grace Gruarin, VIlla Maria College
  • Noah Herman, Daemen College

Student Silver award winners include:

  • Alexandra Casarsa, Villa Maria College
  • Troy Deweever, St. Bonaventure University
  • Courtney Ewings, Villa Maria College
  • Jeffery Marotta, Villa Maria College
  • Jessica Puskar, Villa Maria College
  • Rachel Peck, Canisius College
  • Alicia Salerno, Villa Maria College

Thank You to Our Sponsors

The 2016 WNY American Advertising Award Show was sponsored by: Buffalo Limousine, Holiday Inn Express, WNED TV, Gateway Printing & Graphics, Inc., Big Ditch Brewing Company, IMG_INK, Veritiv, Cohber Press, Inc., Hodgins Engraving, Minute Print, PromoWorks, CJ Sound, Sound Video Solutions, and Speier Displays.

On to a Bigger Ring

The Gold and Silver winners in both professional and student categories will have the opportunity to compete in the AAF District 2 American Advertising Awards with the hope of moving on to the national show in New Orleans in June.

Congratulations to all the winners and another successful year of work in WNY!

 

Watch the judge’s Best of Show selection process below. Special thanks to Jason Yates for this superb contribution.

 

Relive the memories by flipping through the 2017 American Advertising Awards show book, or view pictures from the night on our Facebook page.

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A Look Back

Scott Bartels

AAF Buffalo club achievement awards

As another Ad Club year winds down, it is a perfect time to reflect on the many successes of 2015-16 and to look ahead to the future.

A better Ad Club

Our focus in the past year was to bring new and exciting events to our members as well as enhancing our successful annual events, this included:

  • More guest speakers from out of town including Anthony Shop, Anne Esse and Brokaw.
  • Introduction of member-only Skillshops to help you learn and grow in your career.
  • Brand Hack, an all-day “hack-a-thon” for our creative professionals and students
  • Networking trivia nights
  • Your favorite events, bigger and better: Preview Night, Holiday Bowling Tournament and Uber Bowl

Buffalo Wins National Honors

In June, the AAF honored the winners of the Club Achievement Competition at the “Salute to Achievers Ceremony” at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.  This competition is designed to recognize outstanding accomplishments of its affiliated advertising clubs, showcasing the programs and projects its professional member clubs undertake each year. It was established to honor significant contributions to the AAF network of professional advertising clubs and to encourage excellence in areas of club operations that strengthen the AAF’s member clubs.

For the first time ever, the Ad Club of Buffalo received awards in the three categories we entered.

As part of AAF Division Two, which includes clubs with 250 to 499 members, we won the following:

  • Advertising Education – 1st place
  • Communications – 1st place
  • Programming – 1st place

American Advertising Awards

What a night it was in March at the 2016 WNY American Advertising Awards show at Statler City, over 420 of the industry’s best gathered to celebrate the achievements of the year.  We had a record of more than 500 professional entries and nearly 50 student entries.  We continued celebrate our region’s great work with an impressive showing at the district awards level as well as a handful of winners at the national show.

On top of all this awesomeness, we were presented the AAF Incentive Award. This award is given to the top 10 clubs nationally that showed the highest increase in entries to the American Advertising Awards.

Saying goodbye…

The summer is always bittersweet as we say farewell to our departing board members and welcome a new group to help guide the club.

Matt Low served five years on the board, including last year as vice president. Not only did he lend his great creative talents and leadership to everything the club did, but Matt was instrumental in improving our academics committee and overseeing the Don Nichols Scholarship Competition.

Corey Crossman served two years on the board as treasurer. Corey brought incredible passion to everything he did for the club, including ensuring the club’s financial success, overseeing the communications committee and leading our efforts in this past year’s Club Achievement Awards.

Sarah DiPofi and Christie Witt Berardi both served two years on the board and took on the difficult role as American Advertising Awards chairs not once, but twice. Their hard work paid off with two successful celebrations of our great industry, setting record attendance each year.

The club is in a great place because of these dedicated individuals and we thank them for their contributions.

Newbies

Our executive board welcomes two second-year board members into new roles, Tim Bouchard as vice president and Kyle Rogers as our new treasurer.

We also welcome five new board members that bring a wide range of experience and skill to the board.

  • Andrew Bevevino – Martin Davison PR
  • Erin Collins – BlueCross BlueShield of WNY
  • Erin Haskell – Crowley Webb
  • Matt LaSota – Outer Harbor Development Corporation
  • Tess Alberts – EMA

Thank You

All of this work would never be possible without a strong team to run the club. I continue to be impressed more and more each year at the talent that makes up our board of directors and volunteers. They put in countless hours and have fun doing it. I thank each one of you for your continued dedication to making the club a huge success.

What’s next?

We are excited about 2016-17 as we take the Ad Club to the next level beginning this August. Join us at The Big Tip-Off on August 25 at Soho Burger Bar to find out more and help support our scholarship fund!

-Scott Bartels, Advertising Club of Buffalo President

ADDYS

Three WNY Companies and one Student Presented National Awards at the 2016 American Advertising Awards

Scott Bartels

It all began in January, when over 500 entries were submitted into the WNY American Advertising Awards. The competition recently concluded on June 7 in Anaheim, California with the National Show.

We are proud to announce that three local companies and one student took home national advertising awards!

Western New York recipients:

andrewbird likeness

White Bicycle (1 Gold, 1 Silver) was awarded a national Gold ADDY for the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston Andrew Bird: Sonic Arboretum Poster and national Silver ADDY for the Burchfield Penney Art Center-Philip Burke “The Likeness of Being” Book.

independent-health-foundation-vending-machine-prank-eat-healthier-promise-600-13205

Gelia (1 Gold) was awarded a national Gold ADDY for the Independent Health Foundation Vending Machine Prank.

notredame

Crowley Webb (2 Silver) was awarded a national Silver ADDY for the Notre Dame Academy Uh Oh Poster: Cornflakes and another national Silver ADDY for the Notre Dame Academy Uh Oh Poster: Play-Doh.

GG-3

Grace Gruarin of Villa Maria College (1 Silver) won a national Student Silver ADDY for the Fjallraven Annual Report.

Hosted by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the American Advertising Awards is theadvertising industry’s largest and most representative competition attracting more than 40,000 entries every year from local Club competitions. The mission of the awards is to recognize and reward the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising.

A Gold ADDY is recognition of the highest level of creative excellence and is judged to be superior to all other entries in the category. Entries that are also considered outstanding and worthy of recognition receive a Silver ADDY.

Winners will receive a trophy and were recognized a ceremony attended by 750 marketing and advertising executives representing some of the largest companies and advertising agencies nationwide.

View a complete list of national winners here.

Congratulations on great work and well deserved recognition!