Advertising

AAF DC celebrates “creativity and innovation” at 2023 American Advertising Awards

Capitol CommunicatorMarch 13, 20233 min read

AAF DC held its 2023 American Advertising Awards on March 9 at The Hamilton in D.C. It was described as “a celebration of creativity and innovation within the DC advertising community.” The event featured cocktails, networking and the awards ceremony.

AAF DC provided the following information related to the awards.

Entries:

They had 250 entries (a 15% increase over last year and the first time in over 8 years numbers went up and not down)
Those came from 39 entrants
Most popular entry category was Cross Platform-Integrated Marketing
They only had ONE print ad entry! And it didn’t win anything.
There were 12 broadcast tv entries and 4 radio entries. Definitely seeing a big shift toward all things online marketing or integrated.
Maybe people are saving awards budgets and just throwing everything into one entry instead of entering a piece in each of tv, radio, outdoor etc
Considering D.C. is often referred to as a political town, they had no entries in any of the political categories, even in a mid-term election year. AAF had added political specific categories a few years back.

Gala:

They had 175 attendees to the Gala (also about a 15% increase in attendance over last year)
Host was Dr. Sheila Brooks from SRB Communications
Sponsors were:
- Platinum: GreeneGroup and Yes&
- Gold: Artemis Ward
- Silver: iHeart Media
- Bar: Basis Technologies
- Welcome Sponsor: Undertone
- In-Kind: International Spy Museum, January Third, Capitol Communicator, CSI Printing, Peraton
January Third set up old analog TVs where people could see themselves on multiple screen and adjust the frequencies and just make a cool fun video.

Awards:

They gave out 53 awards — 14 gold and 39 silver
They gave out 6 Best Of’s and 3 Special Judges Awards

Misc:

The campaign creative for call for entries and the gala was done by January Third. They created over 100 individual pieces for the campaign

Winners: For the Complete List of Winners, Click Here

Best of Show:

Entrant: Cade Martin
Title: International Spy Museum
Client: International Spy Museum
Category: Elements of Advertising > Still Photography > Black & White/Color/ Digitally Enhanced—Campaign

Best of Film/Video/Sound:

Best of Public Service:

Entrant: Duke & Duck
Title: Meet Your COVID Vaccine
Client: Virginia Department of Health
  Category: Public Service > Online/Interactive

  Best of Online:

  Entrant: Northrop Grumman
Title: Overheard at Northrup Grumman
Client: Northrop Grumman
Category: Online/Interactive > Social Media Campaign

Best of Cross Platform:

Entrant: January Third
Title: Don’t Visit, Live It
Client: International Spy Museum
Category: Cross Platform > Integrated Campaigns > Consumer Campaign-Local

Best of Elements of Advertising:

Entrant: Van Metre
Title: A Home For Life
Client: Van Metre
Category: Elements of Advertising > Film & Video > Animation, Special Effects, Motion Graphics, or CGI

Special Judges Award 1:

  Entrant: HZ
Title: Here For What Matters
Client: Dollar General
  Category: Cross Platform > Integrated Advertising Campaigns > Consumer Campaign-Regional/National

  Special Judges Award 2:

Entrant: Duke & Duck
Title: Nestle Global Families
Client: Nestle Global
Category: Online/Interactive > Social Media Campaign

Special Judges Award 3:

Entrant: HZ
Title: The Kawasaki Experience
Client: Kawasaki Motors
Category: Online/Interactive > Websites > Microsites

PHOTO:

Top left: The American Advertising Awards at The Hamilton Live

Top right: Team Subject Matter

Bottom left: Gretchen Carswell (Awards Co-Chair) and AAF DC Board Members Louise Salas, Imani Greene and Judy Markoe

Bottom center: Team January Third

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