Arlington, VA, played host to the “Make It New” themed, 2009 AAF National Conference & ADDY Awards this past June 4-6. It rained pretty much the entire time. Not that Tobin, myself, and the hundreds of other advertising and marketing junkies would have known — we were deep inside the Marriott’s buzzing salons, ballrooms, and conference rooms soaking up every word that the hired guns had to say. 3 energetic days packed full of break-out sessions, seminars, forums, workshops, and roundtables that the AAF put together for club members and representatives from each District throughout the country. Yes, the entire country! It’s no surprise that “Value and Relevance” in a beaten down economy was the hot topic. As much of a cliché as both this old buzz words have been, are they really being implemented in advertising and marketing? Really think about it. Are you giving your customer VALUE. Are you giving them more for less? Yes I did (finger snap, finger snap)….MORE for LESS. And relevance—is what you’re offering your clients and consumers relevant to them, not to you. Just sit and think for a minute, rethink your business strategy—Make It NEW, in this hopefully healing economy. All easier said then done right? Just look at what the industry giants are doing and how they have changed their approach to their target consumer.
In the forum, “Make It Relevant: Trends in Difficult Times” key panelists discussed connecting with our audiences on an emotional level, to return to simplicity, and to look attainable. This will resonate with consumers. In a time when advertising budgets have been slashed, the “Make It Funky: Alternative Branding Marketing” forum panelists drove home the importance of embracing innovative media platforms in order to reach consumers. Consumers “consume” media, not just a product. And “how do you keep your brand relevant:?” was answered with, “reinvent yourself or disappear!” One other subject from this forum, no doubt thrilled several attendees, “TV and print is NOT dead! If you going to use this vehicle for advertising, you just have to do it right—be innovative.
Another forum, “Alternative Brand Marketing” was lead by brand consultant and personal favorite of mine, Brian Martin of Brand Fast Trackers. His innovative podcast brings some of the top marketers in for a one-on-one interview with the challenges and problems they face as marketers. I found this to be an exciting way to learn about brands much bigger than those locally, and see that they struggle with some very similar and sometimes very different issues. But in either case, the excellent forum can be downloaded from the Brand Fast Trackers site.
You’ll be happy to hear that I walked away from the ADDY workshop, feeling a little disappointed. Why, you ask? Well, it seems that over the years the GFAF ADDY chairs and committee members have thought of practically everything to host an ADDY awards in a tough economy. I was hoping to hear some profound new tidbit that we hadn’t thought of for this upcoming ADDY year. It was interesting to see how many other club leaders were struck and awed by the ideas in this workshop.
So with that, we applaud all the past GFAF ADDY chairs and committee members of for being the innovators in ADDY budgeting and creative resourcing!
Speaking of ADDYs, do any of you ever wonder where all your golds and silvers go? After the fabulous party here in Frederick, the entries are shipped to NYC, for the Regional competition. We, the GFAF, are in the District Two region (The country is made up of different districts). There we compete against Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington DC, Baltimore, Syracuse, Rochester, Lehigh Valley, and Albany. The golds from Regional then move onto the National competition where the work is displayed at the National ADDY awards, and the winners are announced at the gala dinner, on the last night of the conference. This year’s National ADDY Awards was an exciting show, with District Two winning a total of 25 National Silver ADDYs and 18 National Gold ADDYs. The coveted Best of Show also went to District Two; Publicis In the West took home the award for its Washington Lottery commercial titled “Birds”. For a complete list of 2009 ADDY Winners, visitwww.aaf.org/default.asp?id=1001
I have to say, one of my favorite parts of the conference was the roundtables. Between Tobin and I, we have a nice long list of speaker possibilities and club management ideas. Lots to share with the new board at this year’s board retreat. Stay tuned for an exciting GFAF year!
These tidbits were just a tip of the iceberg, as much as we would love to share everything we soaked up, there isn’t enough room in this newsletter. It’s a shame really, because each and everyone one of you would greatly benefit from these fantastic National Conferences. I’ll let you in on a little secret, that’s not so secret—next year’s AAF National Conference will be held in Orlando Florida. As a member of the GFAF, you can attend! Stayed tuned in early 2010 for details. If you have any questions about these conferences or ideas you may have for our upcoming year, please feel free to contact either one of us, we’d be happy to hear from you.
Lisa Gorham, GFAF Treasurer and Public Service Chairlisa@jeanpetersondesign.com
Tobin Lehman, GFAF Vice Presidentcontact@tobinlehman.com
District Two http://www.aafdistrict2.org/index.html
AAF http://www.aaf.org/
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