They are among the 2009 National Gold ADDY® Award winners. Organized by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the ADDY® Awards recognize creativity in all forms of advertising, from media of all types.
So how does a company’s creative blood, sweat and tears get selected for the national spotlight like these campaigns? It all starts in your backyard.
The ADDY Process
AAF is organized by three geographic regions (Western, Central and Eastern), then further broken down into districts. Within districts there are local ad clubs. For example, our local ad club, AAF Duluth-Superior, is located in the 8th district in the Central Region.
The ADDY process begins at the ad club level with a Call for Entries event. At this event, agencies, companies and freelance designers submit their work. Last year over 60,000 entries were submitted among the 200 ad clubs across the nation.
Work is reviewed by a three-member panel of commissioned national judges. This year, AAF Duluth-Superior ADDY submissions were judged by:
- Nate Custard, Thought District, Lincoln, NE
- Amy Jarrard, Publicis in the West, Seattle, WA
- Dan O’Saben, Hughes, St. Louis, MO
A few weeks later, the work is celebrated at the local ad club’s ADDY Awards ceremony. It’s a fun event with a little pomp and circumstance.
The following ADDY Awards are presented to winners (in order of prominence):
- Best of Show
- Judge’s Special Recognition
- Judge’s Row
- Gold ADDY
- Silver ADDY
This year WestmorelandFlint had a great showing, with 14 total awards, including Best of Show.
Movin’ On Up
All Gold ADDY submissions are automatically forwarded to the district level of the competition (Silver ADDY award winners have the option to forward their entries with an additional fee). Gold ADDY Winners from the district competition are then forwarded to the national ADDY Competition.
The ADDY Awards: Kind of a Big Deal?
While the ADDY Awards are a great honor and truly celebrate the creative spirit of advertising, it’s not the only way of measuring success. For us at WestmorelandFlint, the ultimate success is the results our clients get by way of our creativity.
- Did they meet their business objectives and revenue goals?
- Did they increase their market share?
- Did they create a buzz in the community?
Through this lens, it’s common for the most successful work to not make the ADDY list, but that’s okay. Because when it comes down to it, a pretty ad doesn’t matter if it doesn’t produce results.
