The ADDY Winners Are In

And so are the embarrassing photos. 

On Thursday, March 5th, we all gathered to announce the winners of the 2015 American Advertising Awards Seattle for a night that can only be described as, "Daaaaaaaamn that was fun."

We celebrated Larry Asher's success as he received the AAF Silver Medal Award. After delivering his speech of thanks and praise for his colleagues, he gave everyone at the show a free School of Visual Concepts class, further proving that he's the ever-activist in education in design and advertising. 

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Larry receives his Silver Medal Award

Taking home the Gold, Best In Show was Cole & Weber United for their work on the Columbia Crest campaign titled, "Crowdsourced Cabernet."

Special thanks to our sponsors, ArcMedia Studios, Topo Swope Talent, Print NW, TCG, The Seattle Times, Marketing NW, Commercialize Seattle and Hydrogen. They helped make magical dreams come true. 

 See the full list of winners here:

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The ADDY Winners Have Been Decided

And now we wait. 

Earlier this month, we wrangled some of the biggest names in the ad biz to fly out and judge our hundreds of American Advertising Awards submissions. Over a full weekend, they poured over some of the most amazing work we've seen so far and gave their brutally honest critiques on what the area's brightest had to offer. 

Check out some of our pics from the weekend and join us on March 5 to see who they've deemed the best in advertising in our region. 

Special thanks to our judges: Kat Gordon, Mike Roe, Howie Ronay, Jon Ruby and Emily Starolis.

After Hours: Hacker Agency Recap

We recently teamed up with HackerAgency as they invited us into their "home" for After Hours. The successful event included Agency BINGO to help break the ice for the attendees and asked them to get signatures of people who were the oldest, Ambidextrous, were Sounders season ticket holders and even asked people who were Carolina Panthers fans (that one might have gone blank the whole night) among other ice breakers on their BINGO card.

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“I thought that their Agency BINGO activity, which was designed to facilitate conversation, was super engaging and well developed," said Charlotte Boutz-Connell, VP & Programs Director of AAF Seattle. "What a thoughtful way to welcome guests, by teeing them up for...not just small talk but actually interesting introductions and interactions!”

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The folks over at HackerAgency—a direct marketing agency located in the heart of downtown Seattle—recommends that future hosts should start planning early. “I had an internal committee at Hacker to help me plan, " said Michelle Nolte, Art Director at HackerAgency. "I couldn’t have done it without them. And start planning early!” 

Nolte also hopes that the group met great people and was exposed to what Hacker does. For more information on HackerAgency you can visit their website at hal2l.com.

The next After Hour events will be held on May 14 at Digital Kitchen.

Article by Brooke Saul  |  Photos by Scott Iwata

Art Bash 2014 Recap

Our ninth annual Art Bash was held on November 20 at 415 Westlake in South Lake Union, with artists contributing pieces interpreting the theme “Throwback Thursday.” The money we raised fully funded our Western Washington University diversity scholarship program with a surplus that will allow us to make a greater commitment to the program next year. 

Much appreciation to the agencies and individual artists who contributed their time and talent to making it a gorgeous, clever, compelling show this year. Special thanks to our guest artist Danielle Champagne. Shout out to photographer David Speranza, and DJ Chris Carter, Strategy Director at Y&RG Seattle.

Of course, extra love goes to our sponsors The Seattle Times, TCG, Print NW, Hand Crank Films, Tag Creative, What Now? Exactly!, and Local Craft Tours.

Mark your calendars now for Art Bash 2015 on Thursday, November 12. If you have an idea for the 2015 Art Bash theme, let us know by emailing communications@aafseattle.com.

Mentorship Program Launching Soon

The brand new AAF Education Committee has launched, bringing together young professionals from agencies, corporate jobs and a couple freelancers to help get students into the advertising industry. They have successfully partnered with students at the University of Washington from various disciplines to support their local Ad Club and give it the AAF treatment, offering resources, curriculum, and networking opportunities to sign guest speakers and tours for the club.

Photo by David Speranza 

Down the road in 2015, the committee plans to launch a mentorship program that pairs members of the student Ad Club with talented professionals in AAF Seattle to give them one-on-one expertise, and help them thrive and graduate to the larger club. The committee will also be expanding its efforts into other local universities.

For more information about the mentorship program or to get involved, email Nik at education@aafseattle.com.