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The Event Formerly Known as The Big Wigs Reveals Over 30 Winners; New Name?
By Dana Maruffo, Board Member, Buzz Public Relations
Last month, nearly 200 attendees didn't let a little thunder and rain get in the way of The Event Formerly Known as The Big Wigs. The event was held at the Mansions at Judges' Hill, proving our local ad community really knows how to recognize its industry partners. And what a heckuva of a time it was! The sold-out ceremony oozed elegance and style, and we were quite impressed with those donning masks that turned 'creative' into an understatement.
Even though we could only select two mask contest winners - everyone shined. The silent auction raised nearly $3,000 for the Austin Ad Fed's annual funding of the National Student Advertising Competition. Online nominations and voting were positively overwhelming, clearly indicating that our community had someone, somewhere, in mind they felt needed recognition for his or her outstanding efforts... Read Article |
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Austin Advertising and Creative Agencies Shine with 15 National ADDY Awards and a Cannes Lion
By Scott Van Osdol, 2007 Addy Chair
In case you missed the big news, Austin Ad Fed members racked up nine Gold ADDY® awards earlier this summer – second only to New York and surpassing other larger, metropolitan areas regarded as advertising “meccas” such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.
Austin Gold ADDY winners include Ben Harman Design, Shiny Object, GSD&M, and Capital Printing Company with Laura Trail, designer and Bradford Lawton, creative director. University of Texas advertising students Linda Dang, Rodrigo Mendez, Ryan Fluet and Mandy Osterhout won three National ADDYs with instructor Sean Thompson’s creative direction. Additionally, GSD&M won three silver ADDYs. For a detailed list of Austin ADDY winners visit www.austinaddys.com and click on the ADDY “a” locker... Read Article |
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Jobline
Remember, austinadfed.com offers anyone access to our JobLine. For job seekers, it’s an excellent resource to find the best our town has to offer. Have a job to fill? Members receive free listings (see website for important details) and non-members still get a great deal.
Click here to visit our JobLine
Fun Stuff
Stay tuned for the next AdFed Happy Hour. Sure, it’s summer, but that won’t stop us from scheduling some quality social time!
It Pays to be a Member
Lots of free stuff, good info and networking opportunities. Also, there's a free t-shirt for anyone who renews!
Click here to join or renew
Current discounts and promotions |
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Thoughts on 2007 and Ahead
Between 100 million-plus-and-growing web sites, user-generated marketing, 250 HD TV channels, DVRs, product placement, HD radio, not to mention new advertising channels that seem to arrive with every sunrise, can we agree once and for all that media is officially splintered? If so, Austin’s advertising community has never been in a better position to capitalize on what trend spotters believe will be the key differentiating factor for at least the next ten years: creativity.
Take this year’s ADDY Awards. The 84 trophies won at district by Austin shops (including two “Best of Show” and two “Special Judge’s Awards”) dwarfed Dallas’ and Houston’s results. Small shops like Door Number 3 and Milkshake Media won side-by-side with their larger peers like Enviromedia Social Marketing and GSD&M. At the national level, GSD&M, Ben Harman Design, Capital Printing and Shiny Object struck gold, and so did the UT students. Austin’s (market rank: 54) eight Gold ADDYs were second only to New York’s (market rank: 1). It’s not the first time this has happened.
That Austin regularly outperforms much larger markets says that a lot of the country’s best talent is concentrated here and the ad world is beginning to take note. Austin is ascendant as a top source of creative talent and is often referred to as one of the most creative cities in the country. Yet, regionally based advertisers often still head to the big cities for creative work. And with few exceptions, advertisers in other parts of the country rarely bring their business here.
The Austin Ad Fed has redoubled its effort to help publicize the creative achievements of the Austin ad community. Given Austin’s track record, there’s simply no reason for regional advertisers to take their business elsewhere. Yet, there are countless reasons for national and global clients to come here for gourmet creative.
Austin agencies are writing an epic creative story and the Ad Fed is doing a better job of telling it.
Sincerely,
Pat Niekamp, President
Austin Advertising Federation |
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Virtual Worlds
By Paul Janowitz, Principal, Sentient Services
There is a lot of hype – positive and negative – about virtual worlds right now. Most centers on a platform known as Second Life. To read in detail about these discussions, visit our blog at www.sentientservices.com/blog. However, for this short piece I want to chat about the how virtual and extensible worlds affect research, branding and advertising today.
 The first thing to point out is that virtual worlds are not just Second Life – it is one platform and not even the largest. Second Life has major players including IBM, Dell, Starwood, American Apparel and others that have produced a mountain of PR, but there are many others coming online with different business models and approaches.
Finding the right platform for a given company is paramount. The current state of virtual worlds is similar to the multiple browser and coding platforms for the web at its nascent stages. Virtual worlds (those where fantasy rules) and extensible worlds (those that are more like 3D versions of MySpace where the platforms serve as extensions of one’s real world or social networking) are simply the next evolution of websites... Read Article |
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Meet Our New Board Members
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Charles Webre
Creative Partner
Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing |
Fun Fact:
In the 80's, I worked for Sherry Matthews and lived on Blanco Street. 25 years later, I work for Sherry again and live on Blanco Street again. It's scary how life comes full circle, isn't it? |
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Kevin Cassis
President & CEO
The Whitley Company |
Fun Fact:
It wasn’t until Kevin was working in printing full-time as a high school senior that he discovered he represented his family’s fourth generation of printers. |
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Mary Ann Stutts
Professor of Marketing
Texas State University - San Marcos |
Fun Fact:
I love to dance, especially to C&W and Rock n Roll. |
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Leslie Wingo
Vice President, Account Director
Sanders / Wingo |
Fun Fact:
Leslie tends to avoid the spotlight and rarely raises her voice (except to laugh). Just don’t call her “Mini Wingo” — she’s an advertising force of her own. |
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Christy Kranik
Vice President, Account Management
Latinworks |
Fun Fact:
I was born on Christmas day and my middle name is Noel. |
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Jason Lucio
Senior Accountant
nFusion Group, LLC |
Fun Fact:
Right after college, I was a radio DJ for four years. I decided I didn't like the hours, so I became an accountant instead. It's a natural leap, right? |
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Susan Lazarus
Executice Producer
Action Figure |
Fun Fact:
One paradox is I hate to fly but I love to travel, that's pretty common though. Is this interesting? I moved to California to learn production hands on. When I left Austin I told myself I'd be back in 5 years. I worked in LA and San Francisco and my boyfriend (now husband) took a job offer that moved us back here. That was exactly 5 years later. |
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