Advertising Day on the Hill
Former US Congressmen Martin Frost (D-TX) and Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) speak to attendees Wednesday.
Our Director of Government Affairs, George Riddell, reports after his recent trip to Washington DC for the American Advertising Federation's "Advocacy In Action: Advertising Day on the Hill":
"Imagine if every one of your agency’s clients were suddenly forced to pay taxes on all advertising expenses which, for the past 100 years, have been fully deductible under approved US tax policies. Do you think that might affect the decisions those clients make about advertising? Like budgets? Might those decisions affect your agency’s business? Maybe your livelihood? The answers to all these questions are likely to be yes. There is one proposal under consideration in Washington DC that could have devastating effects on the advertising industry and the general US economy as well."
This is serious stuff, people. Read the rest of George's report on our Government Affairs News Blog.
Women Work Wonders for AAF Seattle
On International Women's Day 2014 we want to recognize and thank all the women who have come together to make us what we are in this past year.
We've enjoyed so many great women panelists, including our 3% Conference–inspired Women in Creativity, an all-women panel on Cause Marketing, and, finally, women on our Chalk Talk Super Bowl Ad Replay panel (even more women than men!).
We've had so many women attend events, join as members, and support our cause.
And we've had women in charge, from our board, including our president, Renee Peterson, to committee members, to volunteers, all helping shape our identity and making things happen where it matters.
We aspire to recognize creativity and ideas inclusively and to be a truly balanced organization. Thanks to every one of you who has contributed so much!
We Support Signage
We've seen that look. Trust us, you don't want that look.
Our Director of Government Affairs, George Riddell, appeared before the Seattle City Council on February 20th to add our voice to the opposition to proposed legislation that would strongly restrict signage on buildings. Despite vigorous debate and the detrimental effects that businesses would suffer if this were to pass, the council will vote on the bill.
Read George's full report on our Government Affairs News Blog.
ADDY Judging Weekend 2014
Our new ADDY chair, Audrey Berglund, reports on the events of this past weekend:
"Judging for this year’s American Advertising Awards Seattle took place February 7-9 in the Bertha Knight Landis room at Seattle City Hall. Our five judges reviewed a record amount of entries. Naturally, they had many tough decisions to make. Thanks to our judges who came from all over the country to spend the weekend looking at Seattle’s best advertising work!"
Find out more about our judges on our ADDY Judges page.
Chalk Talk: Super Bowl Ad Replay 2014 - The Recap
Chris Cashman, Erin Kelley, Zach Huntting, Alison Tintle, Trish Cox, Matt McCain
AAF Seattle and PSAMA hosted our annual review of Super Bowl ads Thursday, February 6th, at Impact Hub Seattle. This year's expert panel of Erin Kelley (POSSIBLE), Zach Huntting (Crown Social), Alison Tintle (Seattle Wunderman Network), Trish Cox (T-Mobile), and Matt McCain (WongDoody) delivered another evening of crack observations, unique insights and tweetable witticisms, all under the clever direction of our MC, Chris Cashman from KING 5 TV's The 206.
In addition to our ad industry veterans, we always try to feature someone from the brand side of things. This year we were fortunate to have Trish Cox, VP of National Advertising and Brand for T-Mobile, who provided her own perspective on the creation of T-Mobile's three Super Bowl ads.
Redhook Bewery returned as our beer sponsor, loosening up our crowd with Audible, Redhook, and Longhammer on tap.
For a more detailed play-by-play check out our Storify compilation of all the Super Bowl ads along with the top tweets and pics from the evening and during the game.
Find out more about our panel and host on Lanyrd.
See all the pics from the event on Facebook.
If you attended the event, we'd love your feeback in our short survey.
Update on 2014-03-12 20:08
Conor Gentes, Senior Account Executive at Seattle Wunderman Network, wrote a great summary of the event for their blog. Thanks again for lending Alison for our panel!
The 2014 AAF Silver Medal Award Winner Is Brown. John Brown.
Our selection committee has chosen this year's worthy recipient, John Brown. The award will be presented during the American Advertising Awards on March 19th.
Congratulations to John Brown!
Creative 12s: Super Bowl Edition
Just wow.
What a week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII. And we thought the city was nuts for the NFC Championship! Our creatives kept their foot on the gas to such a degree we just had to make a sequel compilation. Great work, Creative 12s!
Check out how our creative community showed its 12th Man spirit on Storify!
Special thanks to thenewBlank for their cool modified Seahawks graphic that serves as the centerpiece of this collage.
We Are 12s: Seattle Creatives Support the Seahawks 2014 Playoff Run
206 is bringin' it!
The Seattle Seahawks are in the midst of what looks to be their best season ever. Seattle's creative professionals from agencies to brands are doing their part to show their team spirit as the city finds itself caught up in playoff fever.
Here's our Storify of Seattle's creative 12s in full-on Beast Mode!
How We Celebrated the 2013 Holiday Season
Crown Social gets animated
Agencies are well known for their ability to party, and the holidays are a great time to let loose after a year of accomplishments and hard work. Still many take the opportunity to reach out to help others in need, or just to wish everyone well.
We created this Storify compilation of social posts that show how our creative community celebrated the 2013 holidays.
December Events: This Is How We Do It
This month we’ve got two events that pretty much reflect how we like to operate: a little bit of smart mixed with a little bit of sassy.
First up, our annual Jingle & Mingle, co-hosted with AIGA Seattle, at Melrose Market Studios on December 11th. We're again featuring our local designer showcase so you can gift creatively while supporting small creative businesses. Of course we've got food, and this year our holiday cocktail is sponsored by Hand Craft Films and poured by sponsor Shake Bartending. Throw in our ugly sweater contest complete with prizes, raffles and holiday photos by David Speranza, and you've got yourself a fun evening that probably tops whatever survived as your corporate holiday party after those budget cuts. That's the sassy part, by the way.
The smart part is our next Speaker Series, co-hosted with PSAMA, December 19th, at Seattle Public Library. TEDx speaker and author David Burkus will talk about "The Myths of Creativity" It's our first morning session, and to sweeten the deal we're giving members in attendance a free copy of the book, while non-members can buy it at a reduced price. Plus pastries and coffee, of course.
We hope to see you out this month!
Update
on 2013-12-15 02:00
Pics from the Jingle & Mingle are now available on Facebook and Flickr. Thanks again to David Speranza!
Update
on 2013-12-21 08:07
Pics from the David Burkus event are now available on Facebook. Thanks to Bianca Jessica!
Goodbye ADDY Awards, Hello American Advertising Awards!
New name, same bragging rights.
Our beloved Seattle ADDY Awards are now the American Advertising Awards Seattle. Not to worry—even though there’s a new name, it’s still the premier advertising competition that recognizes the industry’s top creatives. And the awards are still affectionately called “ADDYs,” so there’s no mistaking what you’ll be taking home.
The powers that be at the National ADDY Committee, including the national ADDY chair, our own hometown bigwig, George Riddell, decided to upgrade the profile of the event, and a name change went along with that. Read more about the name change.
Seattle's own Hydrogen provided this year's campaign, which spawned four posters to be used in print and online:
We've been busy planning since October and we're already looking for sponsors. As usual, we're aiming to hold the event in March. Judges should be announced by January. Our Silver Medal Award winner will be chosen by February. Oh, and call for entries is now - deadline January 10th, 2014!
It's shaping up to be our best awards ever.
More info can be found on our awards page.
Update
on 2013-12-04 03:32
Nominate an Advertising Inspiration
The AAF Silver Medal Award is awarded annually to a member of Seattle’s advertising community—a creator, a mentor, a teacher, a leader—whose career grew bigger than the work. Who’s had an impact on the community which far surpasses their job? Who’s pushed the industry standards and set new bars for excellence? Who’s the type of person we should all aspire to be? That’s who we want.
Simply submit your nomination to addys@aafseattle.com. More details here.
Art Bash 2013: Creativity in Black & White
Art Bash is always a crowdpleaser. Heck, public vote even semi-crowdsourced this year's theme. The people chose Creativity in Black & White to inspire the agencies, and they did not disappoint!
We received over 20 pieces of art, providing entertainment, competition, and photo opps, and raising nearly $2000 for our scholarship fund in the process.
Guests enjoyed Pom Pom signature cocktails from sponsors Hall & Partners, a festive spread from Herban Feast, and beats by DJ Zapan, appearing in virtual form.
We've been trying a new photo-sharing tool called Everlapse, and got just enough submissions to be worth posting the results:
If you have your own pics to share, add them to our event flipbook. See our event album on Facebook and #ArtBashAAF on Tagboard.
After Hours: Seattle Wunderman Network
We do a lot of serious, smarty-pants kind of events. Witness last month's Content Is Your Brand Speaker Series panel discussion. Great stuff for sure.
But AAF Seattle is not all work, nor are we dull boys or girls. Witness last night's After Hours at the Seattle Wunderman Network. Libations. Networking Schmoozing. Bonding. That's all. This spins our wheels.
And has anybody noticed SWN's recent high visibility? Seems like great things going on over there with their Fantastic Action Contraption and all…
Tag yourself in our Facebook album, add your own pics to our Everlapse flipbook, and check #AAFterHours on Tagboard.
Speaker Series: Content Is Your Brand
Digital Kitchen CEO Bill Fritsch addresses the panel
Last night we assembled a panel of local content experts at Makerhaus in Fremont for a discussion about a topic that's on the tips of everyone's tongues and fingers: content. Digital Kitchen CEO Bill Fritsch served as moderator, with Kelby Johnson of Seattle Wunderman Network, Brian Saftler of Internet Explorer, Andrew Grinaker of POSSIBLE, and Lisa Phelps Dawes of Loop providing the wisdom, keeping a full house of attendees engaged and enthused. We're not kidding—the conversation probably could have gone on all night.
We hope to post a Storify entry going into a little more detail about the content of the event. Until then, check out some of the pics from the event on Facebook. Panelist bios on Lanyrd. #AAFContent social stream on Tagboard.
Thanks to sponsors Sparkle Donkey tequila, Postmates, MakerHaus, Local Craft Tours, and Print NW.
Our Creative Town
Even though we're enmeshed in the professional goings-on in this fine town, we're still quite aware of how creative and interesting and special it truly is. We're surrounded by innovators and creators who work every day to make something worthy and notable that creates real value. Or at least they make stuff people will buy.
At AAF Seattle, we work to connect these people and to give them a voice. If we could sing a song about it we would. And we're not the only ones who care.
Inspired by the same community, We Make Seattle and Commercialize Seattle each seek to trumpet and promote our city's creative offerings. We Make Seattle just finished raising funds through Kickstarter to produce a film about Seattle's vibrant creative and start-up scene. And Commericalize Seattle, a joint effort between the City of Seattle's Office of Film + Music and Washington Filmworks, will let the rest of the country in on what a great place Seattle is to produce film and advertising work, all with our trademark quirky humor, with assists from local agencies Creature and World Famous.
We donated to We Make Seattle's Kickstarter, and we'll be at Spitfire to support Mayor McGinn's launch of Commercialize Seattle with an AAF Posse. This kind of thing is exactly what we're all about. We couldn't be more proud to be part of such great efforts to promote such great people.
Update
on 2013-08-29 21:09
Huge turnout for tonight's launch party. Mayor Mike McGinn kicked things off, followed by Amy Lillard from Washington Filmworks, then Jim Haven and Steve Cullen from Creature described the challenge and the executions, with Steve Madden from World Famous closing.
So how do you get involved? Register to be included in the reel, resource guide, and production incentive program. For more information check out the recap at Washington Filmworks or contact info@commercializeseattle.com.
Update on 2013-11-19 01:16
Wow, the effort continues: Who could ask for better visibility than a writeup in the New York Times about Commercialize Seattle!
Posse Up!
Over the course of the year we throw a lot of events, from Speaker Series to After Hours to the ADDY Awards and so on, but it turns out we also love going to events, and this little creative boom town is just full of meetups, parties and panels for every interest, broad and narrow.
We decided it would be fun to coordinate small groups from our own consituency to attend some of these great events held by other local organizations. Kind of a way to get people exposed to cool things, support our friends, and represent AAF Seattle while we're sharing some drinks and participating. And thus the AAF Posse was born.
We started with a small group attending the SeaTech Connect agency crawl on Capitol Hill in July. We've done more than a few outings since then, including the TechCrunch party, an AIGA event at Deloitte Digital, and another agency crawl in Pioneer Square. Attendance is fluid with people coming and going over the course of the evening and we always seem to pick up a few curious onlookers while we're at it.
We coordinate in advance through our LinkedIn group, then during the event through mobile updates via Foursquare, which we share to Twitter, as well as posts on Instagram that also broadcast to our social platforms, all using the #AAFPosse hashtag.
A huge part of what AAF Seattle is all about is connecting our community with creative opportunities, and AAF Posse has been a great way to bring that ideal to life.
Join our LinkedIn group to be part of the action!
Kicking Off the Year Right
Our board year is from July through June. Who knows why for sure but we think it may have had something to do with tricking miners back when the club was founded in 1909, and it's been that way ever since. So yeah, we're a little quirky, but that's part of our charm.
So what better way to start our new year than with a free party on July 25th for 165 of our closest friends to serve as a meet and greet for the board members, committee members and volunteers, all sponsored by corporate members and social advertising wunderkinds Admosis Media?
Another sold-out event had partygoers mingling at Makers Space in Belltown and enjoying savory Bloody Marys from sponsors Bakon Vodka and Local Craft Tours. Callie's Coffee kept others alert and even graciously donated a gift basket for a drawing. We also got a little nuts and sold memberships at unheard-of discounts.
We always love seeing all the new faces and old friends. Thanks for coming out!
You can see all the pics from the event on Flickr or Facebook.
Your 2014 Board of Directors
At the end of every board year we reflect on our successes and thank those responsible. We aspire to reach our community and to advance the club farther than it's ever been, and it takes a lot of work by a dedicated crew.
As much fun as we have doing what we do, some board members eventually move on, so we shake their hands for a job well done, smack them on the rear, send them on their way and welcome their oh-so-innocent replacements (muah ha haaaa).
Because of our growth in membership and responsibilities, we're expanding to include roles we haven't had in recent years indicated below in bold, and new board members, indicated below with an asterisk.
Please welcome your 2014 Board of Directors!
Renee Peterson - President
Martin McGee - Treasurer, Vice President
Ashley Ernst* - Secretary
Julia Allen - Membership Director
George Riddell - Public Service Director
Charlotte Boutz* - Programs Director
Luis Antezana - Director of Communications
Kirsten Martin* - Sponsorship Director
Audrey Berglund* - ADDY Awards Director
Ha Na Park* - Diversity & Multiculturalism Director
Eli Martin* - Ad2 Director
And finally, we'd like to thank the following exiting directors for their service:
Heather Simmonsen - Membership Director
Greg Tranum - Sponsorship Director
Victoria Ostrovskaya - Programs Co-Director
Meghan Ragsdale - Programs Co-Director
We'd sign your yearbooks if we had them!
Our board members are all awesomely skilled but even they can't do their jobs alone. If you'd like to be part of a committee or volunteer at an event, please contact info@aafseattle.com. It's a great way to get your foot in the door of a really cool club.
Seattle Represents at ADmerica 2013
The American Advertising Federation's national conference, also known as ADmerica!, was held June 5-8 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. AAF Seattle board members Renee Peterson, George Riddell, Martin McGee, Luis Antezana, and Audrey Berglund represented our club, which won a Club Achievement Award for winning the Division III ADDY Challenge. Our own George Riddell impressed while performing his duties as National ADDY Chair. And Eric Weaver of Spring Creek Group led a panel of experts in the social media panel. All in all a tremendous few days of learning and interacting with our AAF brethren from District 11, Western Region, and around the nation.
The National ADDY Awards were held June 8th, with Keith Rivers and Eli Martin of Workhouse Creative, Keith Goldberg of Rally, and GreenRubino in the house to pick up their National ADDY Awards. Creature, Wong, Doody, Crandall, Weiner and Cole & Weber United also won National ADDYs for their work. Full list of winners here.
A few words from George Riddell, Secretary and National ADDY Chair, about his experience:
ADmerica was especially gratifying for me this year because of the large AAF Seattle contingent that attended the conference. Having such strong Ad Club representation meant that more club leaders are gaining the benefit of networking with clubs from other markets, and participating in professional development programs offered by the AAF. The group also spent time together looking ahead to the coming year for AAF Seattle. The experience should provide great momentum for an exciting year of Ad Club activities in Seattle.
Martin McGee, Treasurer and Vice-President:
One of the sessions I attended at the AAF National Conference focused on one of the key benefits AAF provides to our members and the advertising industry in general -- Government Affairs. AAF champions causes at the local, state and federal level that impact advertising including the critical issue of allowing advertising services to remain tax deductible as a business expense. Various clubs around the country presented ideas they implemented to work with elected officials both during their campaign and while in office. AAF Seattle will be exploring ways to apply some of these ideas to our region in the future.
From Luis Antezana, Director of Communications:
This being my first AAF national conference, I was impressed by the breadth of the community of creative professionals that care so much about the health of our industry and work to ensure its viability and high standards. This organization works more in the background than they probably realize, as I had no idea all that was involved in what they do. As would be expected, along with a lot of work came a decent bit of fun after hours, sealing new and old relationships. I was proud to represent our city and our club, to have our board make a great showing, and to have so many agency people along with us. The members of AAF Seattle should know we stack up well against any other city!
Check out AAF National's ADmerica photo set for more pics from the big event.
Business Up Front: We're On LinkedIn
Facebook has served us well for social posts like photo sharing, but it's not the ideal place for thinky work mode posts. That’s more of a job for LinkedIn. And given its recent enhancements, including a familiar-feeling news feed, as well as a decent, targeted ad system and improved company pages, it’s become more enjoyable to spend time there.
So we'll be utilizing LinkedIn on two fronts. First, through our company page, we'll be sharing notable links related to work and news about local agencies and vendors along with AAF Seattle club news. Second, through the AAF Seattle group, we'll provide a forum to converse about Seattle-specific topics, to continue discussions and networking begun during our events, featuring participation from our speakers and panelists, and for club-related chatter. There may even be gossip.
So follow our company page and join our group, and we'll do our best to make it worth your while.