Blog Archives for February 2011
Awards — Are those all you agency folks care about?
What a way to end the week! Last Friday night, we attended the Louie Awards (local Addys). And brought home 11 awards: one gold and 10 silvers. In terms of sheer numbers, that’s the single biggest night we’ve ever had at the Louies.
This show, sponsored by the Louisville Advertising Federation, recognizes creative excellence in our localadvertising community. It’s part of a three-tiered system. Work that’s awarded at the local level then advances to the regional level. If it wins at the regional level, it then competes in the national Addy show.
This is all fine and well if you’re an agency. But if you’re a client, a question might cross your mind: “Why should I care?”
Some people believe we admen and adwomen enter award shows simply to satisfy our creative egos. And while I will admit there’s a certain amount of ego gratification involved, that’s not the whole story. An agency that enters the work it creates for its clients is making a statement. It’s saying, “We’re proud of this work. We think it’s some of our best.” Think about that for a moment. If you’re a client, don’t you want an agency that’s doing its best for you?
There’s another reason you should care. Last year, a new study in the UK by Thinkbox and the Institute for Practitioners in Advertising found that most creatively awarded work is 11 times more efficient at delivering business success. Did you get that? Eleven times. 1,100% more effective. You can read a summary of the study at www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/ConWebDoc.2490.
Now back to Friday night. Our “Scrapbook” TV commercial for Kentucky Tourism brought home the gold in the special effects/animation category. It was also awarded a silver in the general regional/national TV category. (You can view it on this page.) “Vintage Kentucky,” a video promoting Kentucky’s winemaking industry for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture won us another silver. A bus shelter poster campaign promoting the free downtown trolleys for the Transit Authority of River City earned us four more silvers. And a newspaper ad campaign for Trilogy Health Services, a network of assisted living and rehabilitation facilities, earned us our final four silvers of the night.
On behalf of New West, let me offer a hearty thank you to our clients who allowed us to do such stellar work last year. And to those of you who aren’t clients yet, maybe you should ask us to create some award-winning work for you, too.
New West, GE put the bliss in BlissDom
Posted by Cary B. Willis on February 1, 2011 · Comment
It was the perfect storm for a home-product rollout. Eight hundred moms gathered together in one place. Moms who have their own blog. Moms who are likely to be intimately familiar with the world of laundry. Moms who are a little stressed, a little wilted, after bouncing from session to session, networking, and wandering dozens of busy displays.
Moms who neede
d a little “me-time.”
So New West decided this would be a good opportunity to reach out to these tech-savvy moms with some old-school human touch.
We teamed up with General Electric to show off some of GE’s new Profile™ Washer & Dryer pairs at the BlissDom conference in Nashville Jan. 27-28. These are beautiful machines, with all the latest technology, including “Overnight Ready” wash cycles that remove so much moisture you won’t even need to transfer to a dryer, plus a SmartDispense™ system that automatically adds just the right amount of detergent or fabric softener.
In other words, more me-time for the launderer.
And what does a busy woman do with a little free time? She goes to the spa! We decided to reach out to conference attendees through a spa atmosphere, complete with skilled professionals to provide neck massages and manicures.
To sweeten the pot even further, GE gave away a gorgeous new GE Profile™ washer and dryer to one of the attendees who dropped by the booth.
Bingo.
“How amazing was that massage? Loved it! Thx to GE, Opryland spa, and #Blissdom,” mommyinsider wrote on her Twitter page.
“I’m in a conference room…make your first stop the @GE suite where you can get a great massage! #blissdom I’ll meet ya’!” tweeted StressFreeBaby.
“Holy cow…I just saw the Bentley of washer dryers. @rationaltunes would die. GE profile (@GE_appliances),” said Twitter-happy looneytunes.
And on and on.
Now that’s what we’d call a clean sweep.
