Dear members and friends of the Austin Advertising Federation, Well... since we had so much fun with the last one, we decided to slap together another newsletter before the holidays catch up with us. There's a lot going on in the month of December for the Austin Advertising Federation. Our annual Hollydaze party at Zilker Park is coming up on December 9th and this year's Addy® Call-For-Entries will be on December 18th at the College of Communications building (25th and Whitis) on the UT campus. More info on these events is included in this newsletter. We are still in the early stages of this project it is our goal to publish a new newsletter on a bi-monthly basis. As a reader, your feedback is vital to helping us improve our communication efforts. We love to be able to brag about our members and the Austin advertising community, so if you have any suggestions for articles please send an e-mail to news@austinadfed.com! Special thanks to our email Vendor/Partner, Ecursor.net. Ecursor.net is an electronic messaging service provider who manages email, voice, and fax messaging for clients in cost-effective customer cultivation. They provide comprehensive reporting, analysis and delivery consultation. We're happy to have them as our e-Newsletter management service. Happy Holidays! Mark Good President, Austin Advertising Federation EVENTS Hollydaze Party 2003 Holiday shopping, travel plans, family gatherings, no holiday bonus! Don't let that get you down, here's a chance to blow off some steam and have yourself some good 'ol Holiday cheer! Come on down and kick off the Holiday season with your friends of the Austin Ad FED, The Austin AMA and the CTDMA. And if that's not reason enough, you can enjoy free food a drinks on us! Tuesday, December 9, 2003, Zilker Clubhouse (200 Zilker Clubhouse Road (off Rollingwood Drive). Party begins at 6PM and last until 9PM. Admission to this event is FREE; however toys and non-perishable food donations will be taken at the door to benefit: Toys for Tots and Capital Area Food Bank. Enjoy an evening filled with great music, witty company, sumptuous food and beverages, and giveaways galore! RSVP to: rsvp@austinadfed.com. For more info, visit www.austinadfed.com, also to find driving directions to avoid the trail of lights… ADDY's The 2004 Austin ADDY® Awards are coming! Call for Entries is Thursday, December 18, 2003 from 3:00-7:00 pm at the UT College of Communications. Get all the essential information on categories, eligibility, preparing your entries and how to enter online at www.austinaddys.com. The Austin Addy's award event is February 6th, 2004 at the Palmer Events Center. CULTURAL DIVERSITY In the coming year, the Austin Ad Fed will be appealing to Ad Fed members and others to help introduce minority students and young adults to careers within the Advertising community. We will be enlisting Ad Fed member businesses to take on students in the national "Groundhog Job Shadow Day" which takes place annually on February 2, 2004. For more info, email: Carl Settles at csettles@bighos.com, To read up on the Ad Fed's cultural diversity program, click here. CRY FOR HELP Now is the busiest time of year for the Austin Ad Fed. Planning for many activities and events is currently in progress, including preparations for the 2004 ADDY Awards, the 2003-2004 lunch programs series and our new public service campaign, Hill Country Ride for Aids. Do your civic duty, win some Brownie points, or just help your fellow ad people, please get involved. Current volunteer opportunities include: ADDY Call for Entries - December 18 ADDY Judging weekend - January 9-10 ADDY Awards - February 6 Hill Country Ride for Aids - April 24-25 Please visit the Ad Fed volunteer page for more information. For job opportunities and postings, and for companies recruiting new talent, to post a job or apply for a position today, click here.. PUBLIC SERVICE Art from the Streets Consider this the world's biggest "Thank you!" We had the best year EVER for Art From the Streets! Your support for Art From the Streets helped us sell over $67,577 in art by the homeless. We also collected $5,392 in donations! Your donation of time, as well as the Outdoor, Television, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, Internet, Postering, and Post Cards, all worked together to get this most important message out to the people of Austin. This year over 2,430 people attended the event- a 73% increase over last year's attendance! Our success is a due to only one thing - you. With your contribution the whole city of Austin came together to help the homeless. We hope we can count on your support again next year. Our 12th Annual Art From the Streets Show and Sale will happen in November 2004. We know that next year's show will be an even more grand reflection of the caring spirit inherent in Austin. We would be happy to send you a 2004 Media Partnership packet outlining the benefits of supporting Art From the Streets. Please let us know if you would like a packet and if we can count on you again next year by calling me at 476-2548. Again- Thank You! Hill Country Ride for AIDS Following up on two first-place national Club Achievement awards, the Public Service Committee is helping Hill Country Ride for AIDS grow with fresh media strategies and new collateral. Co-chairs Valerie Davis, Tuerff-Davis Enviromedia and past president Scott Van Osdol have assembled a creative powerhouse to work on the project. To contribute contact Scott Van Osdol at sv@constant.com, 444-7376. Helmet Heads The Ad Fed Veloci-Peddlers train for the Hill Country Ride every Saturday morning, 8 AM, at the Veloway on South Mopac. Our motto is "Our Campaign's Got Great Legs!" Contact Coach Scott at sv@constant.com. AD OF THE MONTH Seen or heard any good stuff from local talent lately-TV, print, radio, web, other? We're looking for submissions from astute ad consumers. It's ok to submit your own stuff, but we on the "board" get to pick what we will feature, purely on our whim. And feel free to contact us with content ideas or content topics you think we should have here. Submit content ideas and ads (attach jpegs with credits please) to news@austinadfed.com				December 2003 • Events • Cultural Diversity • Cry for Help • Public Service • Beyond Austin • District and National News • Member Alert • Member Lounge BEYOND AUSTIN Assault on Alcohol Industry Continues Anti-alcohol advocates are again pressuring Congress to limit advertising for and increase the "sin" tax on alcoholic beverages. The latest tactic to drum up support for the cause is to show alcohol restrictions are favored across the political spectrum. A survey recently released by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth stated that parents blame advertising for underage consumption. The survey claims that 81 percent of parents do not believe advertising alcohol is a "legitimate" business practice and that a majority of them find several types of marketing, specifically Web sites that include special features like games and television advertising, "very troubling." AARP Asks Medicare Conferees to Reconsider DTC A letter from AARP executive director & CEO William Novelli to members of Congress conferring on the Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation ask members to consider tighter controls on DTC advertising. The letter lists numerous items the group would like included or amended in the final product before endorsing the legislation. Among the items, Novelli asks for stronger FDA oversight of DTC ads because he claims the ads cause an unnecessary increase in drug demand and spending. FDA oversight is already of DTC ads is already tough enough as to make prescription drug ads the most heavily regulated of all advertisements. DISTRICT and NATIONAL NEWS The AAF Foundation is inviting nominations for the premier advertising industry awards program to recognize and recruit outstanding minority college graduates. This year's two-day program will be held on February 12-13, 2004, at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. In addition to the Building Bridges for Our Future awards luncheon, the program also will include a career development session and on-site interviews with recruiters. MEMBER ALERT ADTAX = BAD TAX The Texas legislature is expected to convene in a special session in late 2003 or early 2004 to consider school financing. Insiders expect this to include a look at the state's sources of tax revenue, especially sales tax. We expect the legislature to consider eliminating the current sales tax exemptions on most advertising services. It is important that our industry be familiar with the many reasons why it's a bad idea. To check out our talking points and other resources, click here. MEMBER LOUNGE Austin Advertising Federation Board Member Henry Medrano of Nourzads has been selected as our new Vice President of Programs. Henry has been a member of the Austin Ad Fed for three years and began serving on the board in June of 2003. Most recently, he served as Chairperson for the 2003 Hollydaze party. THANKS to all who attended the Austin Ad Fed Membership Mixer September 23 at Red Fez! You were one of the nearly 100 people there networking and mingling with the who's who of the Austin ad scene. Special thanks to sponsors OnRamp Access and Austin Mobile Detailing, as well as other door prize donors Austin Business Journal, Crimson, Liaison Resources, McDonald's, Texas Advertising Group, Tiffany's Treats, and Unisource. Welcome the following new members that took advantage of the get 3 months free membership promotion at the mixer: Jason Grule, Cartis Group, Chad Harlan, Jennifer Hatley, Marketing Mileage, Patrick Nguolo, World Business Review. Do you want to see your name in the Austin Ad Fed "Member Lounge"? If you are a member and have exciting news at your company, email Heather Ladage at hladage@bizjournals.com. MEMBER BENEFITS Don't forget, it pays to be a member. Lots of free stuff, good info, networking opportunities. Click here to join, or renew. For a list of current discounts and promotions, click here. FYI, BTW, ETC… The Lunch Lady is back! Having a rough day? Call the Lunch Lady at 510-351-7654. Each day, her recorded announcement lists the day's lunch menu at a San Leandro, CA convalescent hospital, intersperced with cheery greetings, happy songs, and homespun humor. It's sure to pick you up. www.lunchlady.com You received this email because you are on our mailing list or a friend has forwarded this email to you. If you would like to join our mailing list click here. If you are saying, "Take me off this #*+%$# list," reply to this email and type "remove" in the subject line, or click here. Newsletter design and development by Olive Design. Newsletter delivered by Ecursor.net.