Well, here we are, knee-deep in ADDY season! It’s the week of the show and we couldn’t be more excited for the big event! For our club and its members, this is truly a culmination of months of effort. Let’s take a quick little hike up memory mountain to recall what it takes to get us here every year.
Planning the American Advertising Awards
Planning the American Advertising Awards begins at the very beginning of our club’s fiscal year at the end of June. It starts with a group of board members who go above and beyond their assigned board of directors duties to help plan the awards.
Next comes the show creative and theme. This year we worked to find a volunteer Agency of Record. I’d like to take this opportunity to give a big-time Ad Scout Salute to Agency 128 who answered our call and nailed their mission.
As summer turned into fall our committee was in the thick of ADDY planning. Our Agency of Record worked in concert with our print sponsor, Continental Press, to get our materials printed. Meanwhile Meta 13 Interactive was working hard building the website and prepping for the official call for entries.
Organized Chaos
If you haven’t caught on just yet, planning for this award show takes the coordination of many, many moving parts. Everything from the décor, provided this year by Signmax, GREAT Theatre, B&J Evergreen, to stamps and envelopes for the invites. Our committee was fortunate enough this year to sign on two sponsors who are helping foot the bill for some of the show’s expenses, another ad scout salute goes out to Carlson Advisors & the Saint Cloud State MBA Program.
Finally we close in on the last six weeks leading up to showtime. There’s a lot going on between marketing campaigns, determining the Silver Medal Award winner, taking in submissions, producing the keynote, designing the awards (thanks Virnig) and organizing final show details.
On the submission due date, just three weeks prior to the show, it’s all hands on deck and our Addy committee goes into overdrive. All entries get loaded up and our club pretty much takes over Auto Parts Headquarters for about two and a half weeks for logging & screening and judging weekends. Wow, we owe those guys!
The Day of the Show
Wooft, I’m getting a little windy over here so let’s wrap it up. Finally show day arrives and everything comes together (seriously, it’s amazing to be a part of)! All the small details tighten up like the most intricate of knots, the work is displayed and believe it or not, it’s finally showtime.
Okay, so Scout’s Honor, this whole thing isn’t as neat as a 500 word blog post. It’s overwhelming and stressful at times, but the point is it’s all worth it on show day. To see the work of so many local agencies and students done right here in Central Minnesota for Central Minnesota businesses is more than enough to make this Ad Scout realize that darnit, we’ve all got a lot to celebrate!
So dig out your sashes, sew on your patches, and get ready to take it all in this weekend. There will be delicious food at a beautiful venue and special fun provided by Bernick’s and Guytano Magno Photography. At ease, scouts. Let’s party!