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.