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RECAP: 2023 Annual Meeting

The 2023-2024 club year is in full force and this year’s Annual Meeting was held at one of our favorite locations, Big Ditch Brewing.

Returning and prospective members had the opportunity to mingle before president Mary Pace kicked off the evening’s proceedings. After the introduction of new executive board members, and chairs the head of each committee gave the audience a taste of what to expect this club year.

We heard from:

  • Lindsay Neilson, VP of Programming on upcoming events and exciting new programs
  • Chelsey Carney, VP of Communications on where you can go to get the latest communications from the club
  • Joe Ray, Membership and Sponsorship Chair on how to become a sponsor and which membership is right for you
  • Noah Herman, Education Chair on how educational programs are back in session for students

In case you missed it, get ready for more professional development and networking opportunities with returning favorites like AdWeek, the student Portfolio Series, and the American Advertising Awards (AAA’s).

To get access to member-exclusive events and special discounts, become a member today.

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AAF Asks: Favorite 2021 Super Bowl Ad?

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 AmentaThe 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 KeoganWill 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 GumulakLast 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.

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We’re Back-to-Back Champs!

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 club year, we made it a Board goal to build off of last year’s momentum and bring home back-to-back Club of the Year awards.

Well, fellow advertising/marketing/communications friends, we did it! AAF Buffalo is officially the 2020 Division 2 AAF Club of the Year, and President Josh Gumulak is President of the Year. 💪

This year, AAF National restructured the Club Achievement Awards, condensing the total number of categories down from eight to five. In addition to Club of the Year, AAF Buffalo also won awards in all five categories

  • Club Operations (first place)
  • Cornerstone Initiatives and Events (first place)
  • Membership Development and Communications (first place)
  • Programs (second place)
  • Public Service (first place)

While the long-form award submissions are crafted by members of the AAF Buffalo Board, the content we write about wouldn’t exist without the dedication and participation of our members — aka you and the Western New York advertising community.

via GIPHY

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years, attended events in the middle of snowstorms, and filled out a post-event survey to give us feedback on ways to enhance the member experience. You’re the reason our award submissions always max-out the page limit and include new, unique details year-over-year.

With that said, it’s time for us to go celebrate offline. Enjoy your summer and be sure to keep an eye out for announcements about membership renewal and next club year’s event plans!

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A Message from the President on Covid-19

Hi Members, 

By now, it seems like you’ve received this email hundreds of times. From your favorite store. From your airline of choice. From that one startup you met at SXSW six years ago. 

While this one will detail much of the same — cancelations, diligence, and caution — my hope is it will also be a bit more personal, as our extremely close-knit community we know and love is being directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic here in Western New York. 

We’ve been monitoring the pandemic as it continues to unfold, and makes its way into our beloved community. In doing so, we made the decision to cancel all our events scheduled in April, both professional and student. 

For pros, this includes our third Spotlight Speaker of the year, Liz Jackson, who was scheduled to join us on April 2nd. It also includes a brand new event that we were ecstatic about, Laugh Ad Loud, which was planned for April 23rd. 

For students, Portfolio Review scheduled for April 18th is canceled. In brighter news, our Don Nichols scholarship competition remains as scheduled with entries due March 27th, however, all entries are to be submitted digitally only rather than dropped off at Crowley Webb. Students, if you have questions, we encourage you to reach out to your school’s ambassador or to us directly at info@aafbuffalo.com.

All those who purchased tickets for the events detailed here will be issued a full refund. For those with the Spotlight Speaker Series Pass, we hope to reschedule Liz’s talk, where we will honor your series pass. If that’s not possible, we will address more robust reimbursement options at that time. 

In the meantime, we are exploring creative ways to possibly bring one or more of these events to life digitally. More info will follow in the coming weeks. 

We’re continuing to closely monitor this global event as it directly impacts our community, as we expect each of you surely are as well. 

More updates will certainly follow. Until then, we urge all members of our community, in advertising and beyond, to work from home if at all possible, be diligent about social distancing, and responsibly support local businesses to the best of your ability.

On behalf of our entire advertising community, I want to thank you for your continued support of what we do. Our hearts go out to all those affected by this pandemic. We look forward to reconvening at a happy hour on the other side of this.

Josh Gumulak
President, AAF Buffalo

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Awarded at ADMERICA

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

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.

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Club. Of. The. Year.

By Dan Nesselbush
Board members Tim Bouchard, Jaime Applegate, Dan Nesselbush, and Scott Bartels show off AAF Buffalo’s eight AAF Club Achievement Awards.

Yes, you read that right. Of the 200 American Advertising Federation chapters across the United States, your friendly neighborhood ad club known as AAF Buffalo left New Orleans with the title of 2016-17 Club of the Year! The honor also earned recognition for Scott Bartels as 2016-17 President of the Year during ADMERICA, the AAF’s annual national conference.

The accolades, earned through AAF’s Club Achievement Competition, resulted in an extra checked bag fee thanks to a stack of awards presented during the four day conference. We collected eight plaques in the competition which recognizes local advertising clubs for their initiatives in a variety of categories established to honor the significant contributions of the AAF network of professional advertising clubs and to encourage excellence in areas of club operations that contribute to the strength of the AAF’s member clubs.

AAF Buffalo is part of Division II (250-499 members) for the club achievement awards competition and became club of the year based on points earned for first and second place finishes in the following categories:

1st Place AAF Club Achievement Awards

  • Club Operations
  • Membership Development
  • Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives
  • Government Relations

2nd Place AAF Club Achievement Awards

  • Advertising Education
  • Communications
  • Programs
  • Public Service

Being honored as AAF Club of the Year was sweeter than a Sunday morning beignet at Café Du Monde, but the NOLA edition of ADMERICA offered so much more for our organization. It 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.

A huge thank you goes out to each and every member of our board of directors: Scott Bartels (HSBC Bank USA), Tim Bouchard (LUMINUS), Kyle Rogers (BlueCross BlueShield of WNY), Jaime Applegate (NOCO), Andrew Bevevino (Martin Davison Public Relations), April Brown (FARM), Teresa Carosa (Independent Health), Erin Collins (BlueCross BlueShield of WNY), Brita D’Agostino (Daemen College), Erin Haskell (Great Lakes Orthodontics), Brittany Klotzbach (Gelia), Jillian Minderler (Quinlan), Marcia Rich (Crowley Webb), Shannon Silva (dPost), Grace Gruarin (Telesco Creative Group), Alexa Godwin (Crowley Webb), club admin Tina Pastwik, and our student liaison Angela Marini. They balance their work and family obligations, yet still find a way to volunteer their time and energy throughout the year to make club initiatives happen.

It would be very remiss of us to not thank our members, corporate members, sponsors, and the employers of our board members for 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.

All of those awards are the result of a very busy year, so we’re going to give everyone (except our board members) the month of July off. We’ll see you back at The Big Tip-Off on August 24 at Soho Burger Bar as we raise funds for our academic scholarship programs.

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2017 AAF Buffalo Future Marketer Scholarship

 

Buffalo Prep Gala 2017 Photos by Dawn M Gibson Photography

AAF Buffalo is proud to award the first Future Marketer Scholarship to Anthony Liriano. A senior at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, Liriano was recently recognized for this achievement at the annual Buffalo Prep Celebration event.

The Future Marketer Scholarship is awarded to a Buffalo Prep student planning to study marketing and advertising in college. Liriano will receive $500 per year for the next four years for a total scholarship of $2,000.

Buffalo Prep was founded in 1989 by education and community leaders to help promising, economically disadvantaged, underrepresented students prepare for, obtain entrance into, and excel at demanding college preparatory high schools.

AAF Buffalo President Scott Bartels with Future Marketer Scholarship Recipient Anthony Liriano

During last October’s annual Advertising Week, AAF Buffalo hosted a career day for Buffalo Prep students, including Liriano. Participants visited Crowley Webb, Luminus and dPost to learn about the careers and services each company offers relative to the advertising and marketing industry. The week also included Mayor Brown’s Ad Week proclamation ceremony at City Hall, where AAF Buffalo announced the new Future Marketer Scholarship program. Liriano spoke at the event about his experience with the career day and what Buffalo Prep means to him.

In the fall, Liriano will attend the University at Buffalo and major in marketing and advertising. He one day hopes to start his own advertising agency.

 

 

Take a look at how the Future Marketer Scholarship came to be.

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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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Welcome to AAF Buffalo

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 3.19.53 PMThanks for stopping by. If you weren’t at our Big Tip-Off event, you might be thinking, “Where the heck did the Ad Club go?”

Well, we’re still here and we’re better than ever. Today, we announced that our name is changing from the Advertising Club of Buffalo to AAF Buffalo (the Buffalo chapter of the American Advertising Federation).

Why the change?

In short, we wanted to better align ourselves with the American Advertising Federation at the national level, which we’ve been a chapter of for many years.

After a trip to ADMERICA, the American Advertising Federation’s national conference in California this past spring, we came away with a few things: a realization that we’re a strong chapter in the national advertising community, an appreciation for the national connections accessible to us through AAF, and new ideas on how to provide our members with the most value.

Most of our members haven’t realized that they’re also a member of AAF’s national network of organizations, which includes a host of resources, connections, and discounts. In fact, nearly 20% of our annual membership fee pays for access to AAF.

With input from our members over the last several months and unanimous approval from our board, we believe this is a natural and positive progression for our organization.

What to expect:

With our new brand, our logo isn’t the only thing that’s changing.

This move will help us transition our organization from a “social club” to a professional resource for members to gain greater exposure to the industry while staying current with the latest trends. This includes our first ever Spotlight Speaker Series, member-only Skillshops and more.

We’re evolving – and we hope you’re ready to do the same. To become a member or renew your current membership, please visit aafbuffalo.com/membership.
If you have any questions or comments about this exciting change, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@aafbuffalo.com.