Category: ADDYS

Summary by Scott Bartels

The 2016 WNY American Advertising Awards was truly a special night.  Over 420 people from our local industry gathered on Friday, March 4 at Statler City in Downtown Buffalo for this year’s celebration.  The theme presented by FARM was “Married to Your Work” which pays homage to the labor of love in advertising.

There are so many people to thank for putting another great show.  It all starts with the chairs, April Brown (FARM), Sarah Dipofi (The Martin Group) and Christie Berardi (The Martin Group).  They did a phenomenal job, planning the show since September and executing an event that everyone can be proud of!  Well done and thank you once again.

Their supporting cast really helped bring the show to life.  FARM’s own Greg Bauch was a huge hit kicking off the show with his catchy versions of popular songs such as ADDY (Happy), Route (Shout) and Sweet Headline (Sweet Caroline).   Jon Koziol was the man behind the scenes, running the flawless production of the event.  Lauren Cius and team compiled a beautiful hard cover show book.  The entire team at FARM deserves a lot of credit and thanks for their dedication and work to bring this year’s show theme to life. 

Of course you can’t have an awards show without winners.  And here are the great achievements of the night:

Professional Winners

Gelia was the big winner of the night, taking home the most ADDYs with 35 awards (17 Gold and 18 Silver).  Crowley Webb received a total of 29 awards (4 Gold and 25 Sliver), Block Club was honored with 19 awards (7 Gold and 12 Silver), 15 Fingers took away 12 awards (5 Gold and 7 Silver), and dPost secured 10 awards (2 Gold and 8 Silver). Other award winners include:

• The Martin Group (1 Gold and 7 Silver)
• White Bicycle (5 Gold and 2 Silver)
• Quinlan (5 Gold and 1 Silver)

Best of Show

The whole night built up to the final award of the night, the Best of Show.  This year’s winner was Block Club, picking up for their UNYTS, “Save Warren” TV spot.

Special Awards

Some very talented individuals were also honored with Special Awards.  The 2016 recipients were:

• Edward J. Healy, Vice President of Marketing, Visit Buffalo Niagara – David I. Levy Communicator of the Year Award
  This award was created to recognize outstanding achievement and service in the communications industry.

• John Paget, Paget Films – 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.

• Peter Burakowski, Director of Marketing, 43 North – The Odysseus 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 Fashana, Client Strategy Director, FARM Buffalo– 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.

• Jillian Minderler, Graphic Designer, Quinlan & Company – Advertising Club of 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

This year it was awarded once again to White Bicycle for their Charles A. Burchfield, “A Resounding Roar” LP Package for the Burchfield Penny Art Center and Righteous Babe Records.  A special thanks to Jean Clemens from Veritiv for her continued support of the Ad Club and this award.

Best Show Book Ad Award

This year had a tie between BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and Charles Waldorf Photography.  Congrats to both!

Student Winners

College students were also included in the action. Taking home the Student Best of Show was Jessica Puskar of Villa Maria College for No. 2 Pencil Box. Megan Sweeney from Buffalo State College received 5 awards, 2 Gold and 3 silver.  Students each taking home one Gold award include:

• Chelsea Turton, Damen College
• Grace Gruarin, Villa Maria College

Student Silver award winners include:

• Chad Hornberger, Buffalo State College
• Eric Hostetter, St. Bonaventure University
• Grace Gruarin, Villa Maria College
• Lucy Norton, Villa Maria College
• Rachel Surdi, St. Bonaveture Universtiy
• Samantha Lonczak, Villa Maria College

Thank You to Our Sponsors

The 2016 WNY American Advertising Award Show was sponsored by: Buffalo Limousine, Comfort Suites Downtown, WNED TV, Charles Waldorf Photography, Gateway Printing & Graphics, Inc., KC Kratt photography, Big Ditch Brewing Company, IMG_INK, Veritiv, Cohber Press, Inc., Hodgins Engraving, Propellerhead Media, CJ Sound, Premier Sound, TOPS Friendly Markets, Orchard Fresh, Santoras Catering.

On to a bigger stage…

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 Anaheim in June. 

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

Our American Advertising Awards judges spent Saturday, January 16 carefully looking at more than 500 professional entries and nearly 50 student entries submitted this year, and while they had great things to say about all the work, there were a few that made them say “That’s the one.”

Katherine O’Brien:

Mighty Taco Siri-Us Radio, McCandless Marketing & Media

I chose the Siri-Us spot for Mighty Taco because it’s simply great radio. It did everything right, from featuring a unique audio technique to focusing on a simple, relatable problem to solving it with the product in a way that feels authentic. This spot was funny, catchy and resulted in all of the judges hitting Might Taco on Saturday night.

Bill Starkey:

Andrew Bird “Sonic Arboretum” Poster, White Bicycle

Sometimes something just reaches from the page, or the screen, or the wall, and grabs you and won’t let you go. Looking back at this judging experience, this poster was that piece for me. As soon as I saw it, I absolutely knew I wouldn’t forget it.

I had no idea what this exhibition was, but I instantly wanted to know.

(And I found out right after we finished judging—thanks Google). Moreover, I wanted to go. And that is the whole point, right?

The beauty of this poster is it did its job without words, without a joke, without a strong call to action or any of those other “advertising” things. It does it simply with how stunning it is. It stopped me with craftsmanship in the illustration, and with the exceptional detail in the printing, which both combined quietly speak volumes about this exhibition. Every detail right down to the selection of the stock made me feel what the designer intended me to feel. It starts to transcend just a piece of communication – it starts to get into the world of art promoting art.

Most of all it stopped me with calm and beauty. What a relief from our world of digital bombardment – moving images and clickbait and photoshopped everything with a life expectancy of about 6 seconds. I would gladly frame this and hang it. Hint hint.

John Howard:

Queen City Roller Girls Travel Team Posters, Gelia

I chose the Queen City Roller Girls Lake Effect poster campaign as my Judge’s pick. An incredible well-crafted movie style poster series, it talks smack perfectly—with clever twists along the way. Individually each is fantastic, however together they sing like a perfectly conducted chorus. From the DC’s roller girls-themed American flag or Pittsburgh’s opposing faces in steel, the designer brought a unique eye and depth to his design. These four posters reflect a creative who started with a good idea and morphed it into an exceptional campaign. And, clearly, he had a blast doing it.

Kelly Butler:

Queen City Roller Girls War Posters, Gelia

I loved the idea behind this campaign. The visuals were also very well-done and stopped me in my tracks. In short, I asked the chapter if they’d send a copy to me so I could hang it on my wall. That’s how much I liked it!