The American Advertising Federation of DC (AAF-DC) celebrated its annual American Advertising Awards with over 180 attendees on Wednesday, March 6, at the Hamilton Live in Washington, D.C. 

The big winner of the evening was Ogilvy, collecting 17 awards, see photo above. Their campaign for #BlackHairIsProfessional, done for Unilever Dove, gathered Gold and Silver awards, a Special Judge’s Award, as well as Best of Online/Interactive, Best of Element of Advertising and Best of Show.

Other big winners included This January with nine awards, RP3 with eight awards, and ICF Next with seven awards, Avoq with five awards and Yes& with four awards. 

Previous winners BRINK, Cade Martin, Crosby Marketing Communications, Destioation DC, Freddie Mac, Joy Riot, Stratacomm, Yes& and WHITE64 also had winning entries this year.

New entrants Fovndry, Distant Moon, Mnemonic all won Silver. Mwendo came in strong in their first year with a Gold and winning Best of Film, Video and Sound.

Sonya Gavankar returned as host.

“This is the biggest advertising night of the year in D.C. To see the creative community come out to celebrate their work and support their peers is fantastic. We had an amazing group of volunteers and sponsors to really help pull it off.” said AAF DC President and Awards Chair, Gretchen Carswell. 

Carswell also commented, “We’ve tried a few different formats for the show and, as the entries have evolved from being more traditional print-style work to more online and interactive work, I think we’ve found a way to really be able to show off the work in the best way.”

Creative for this year’s Call for Entries and Gala campaign was created by This January. The agency also built an installation at the event that served as a photo booth to match the Gala introduction video they created.

Winners of the 2024 local American Advertising Awards will move onto the District competition with winners then moving to the National level. National winners will be announced at the American Advertising Awards National Gala in Salt Lake City on May 31, 2024.  

Best of list:

Best of Online/Interactive
#BlackHairIsProfessional — Ogilvy

Best of Sales & Marketing:
Mistercaps — This January

Best of Online/Interactive:
#BlackHairIsProfessional — Ogilvy

Best of Elements of Advertising:
#BlackHairIsProfessional — Ogilvy

Best of Film, Video & Sound:
The Promise — Mwendo

Best of Cross Platform:
Short Codes — This January

Best of Public Service:
NCI SBIR Birth of Innovation — ICF Next

Best of Advertising/Media Industry Self Promotion:
Well & Good — RP3

Special Judges Awards go to:
Haley & Bear — RP3
Roda Identity — This January
American Women Quarters Campaign — Yes&
EcoLab Salon Dinner Invitation — Ogilvy\

Click here to see the videos that won awards.

The American Advertising Awards is the industry’s largest and most representative competition, celebrating the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising. 

PHOTO: left: Kristie Pope, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy; right: Dyneisha Gross, Designer, Ogilvy