Much has been written on this subject. There is no doubt that, at worst, the advertising award show is insular, self-serving and wildly in need of change. I’m not sure, however, that it’s the exclusive domain of dyed-in-the-wool boomer Mad Men and their beloved thirty-second TV spot as some would have it, but I do enjoy listening to these kinds of acid review.

I do think the award show still matters. It is a useful tool to determine the competitive bar, for recruiting the best and brightest, and it actually does matter to some clients (perhaps the ones you’d like to have…). It’s also a great way to promote community and celebrate our industry. While it makes sense for us to turn up our 2010 noses at the self-indulgent, champagne-soaked excess on the Cote D’Azur (although I’m bummed I never got to go), I do think there’s room for a celebration of the best in our industry. It just needs to change.

I absolutely don’t believe, as some have argued, that what we need is a fragmented, multi-category candy-sharing event, where everyone gets a pat on the back. There is simply no need for a newspaper category vs. email vs. public service vs. banner ad and so on. And there’s no reason why a truly captivating and effective email should not be judged alongside truly captivating and effective TV (for example). Along the same lines, I recently heard, to my abject dismay, some cohorts refer to ”performance” work as separate to ”creative” work. They’re all the same, for ****’s sake! We do this to sell stuff. The fundamentals of the job involve using creativity to perform.

So we’re all in the same game and if we do an award show at all, I think it has to be about celebrating the groundbreaking and the impactful. Did the work change the game? Did it exceed its goals by an extraordinary margin?

Competition is not democratic. Not everybody wins. You source the best judges and, in theory, the best work gets its just deserts. For the most part that actually happens (seriously, you can’t deny Wieden & Kennedy’s Old Spice work.) And not just because one idea had a bigger budget than another or because the judges value creativity for creativity’s sake.

This year, the Portland Advertising Federation’s Rosey Award Show will attempt to throw out the old bathwater without losing the baby. It won’t be perfect. But it will be different, inclusive and relevant. And next years’ will need to be different again. Ditto the year after. If we’ve learned one thing from these times, it’s that there are no formulae and we need to be constantly examining and re-examining our work, its effectiveness and, by extension, how we celebrate it at its best.

We’ll see you on December 2nd at Portland’s premier celebration of creativity: the all-new, all-happening Rosey Award Show.

Rebecca M Armstrong
Managing Partner, NORTH
Board Member, Portland Advertising Federation

* With apologies to our more sensitive British readers.

This originally appeared as an email letter circulated to PAF members and others associated with the Portand Creative Community.

Many of you have questioned why the PAF chose to disparage other cities in this year’s Rosey call to entries. The answer is that while some of us fervently believe that Portland is a creative hot spot, it is more in the nature of our creative culture to be humble and soft spoken about our talents.

So what if we suddenly awakened in this current competitive environment and showed a little more chutzpah and brio? What if we started bragging and ultimately, what if we started out and out trash talking like they do on the basketball court? That was the premise the PAF started with for the Rosey Awards; let’s let those other cities know who the heck we are.

And it worked, the campaign is being noticed by you, in Adweek and in other cities. Ironically, the execution seems to have bruised the sensibilities of a few of us in the community who would rather remain modest.

Personally I enjoyed the fun of the concept and know that at the end of the day, it isn’t the trash talking that matters, it’s that you win the game or in this case, a Rosey. So enter the Rosey Awards and show us what you got. The trash talking is optional.

Jerry Ketel
President
Portland Advertising Federation

Alcoa presents (sorry, that’s the beginning of a TV commercial of “The Catch” in the 1982 NFL NFC Championship flashback when Dwight Clark levitated to grab a perfect pass from Joe Montana to lift the 49ers over the Cowboys). But, I digress. My mind faded to the dramatic music to Monday Night Football, but it’s now back on the prize - bragging rights to the Third Annual PAF Battle of the Bands at Someday Lounge in Old Town / Chinatown, Portland, Oregon where the creatives show their true colors after dark.  If you want to take a look at videos from prior year’s Battle of the Band, now is your time to really soak in some entertaining video for 2008.  It’s going to be almost impossible for eROI to win it for yet a third year in a row, but we’re going to bring our “A” Game.  Check it (this is PAF’s main event email and all the info is below):

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

DATE:
Wednesday June 17, 2009

TIME:
6:00 pm

PLACE:
Someday Lounge
224 NW 5th Avenue
Portland, OR

COST:
$300 per band

Register your Band!
Contact Mike Terry at mterry@magnetoworks.com

(more…)

@jerryketel can you weigh in on the whopper virgins campaign? http://www.whoppervirgins.com/

Dear @Ibautist,

The Whopper Virgins campaign is pure artful propaganda. The filmmaking—as seen on the microsite—is as good as any of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. It was nicely photographed, the choice of music propelled the story, the subjects were treated with warmth and dignity. The story itself had an element of suspense to it and it rewarded the viewer by being both surprising and intelligent. It made me think. And that is where the piece failed. Because it made me think how manipulative the pseudo-documentary was. It made me think how unscientific the survey was and how the tasters were being polite hosts when asked how they liked the Whopper being grilled in their homeland before their eyes. Of course they said it was good! But most of all it made me think of how the documentary has been used recently as propaganda, thanks to the likes of Michael Moore and Errol Morris. And now, the documentary, a category unto itself in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being used to shill an industrial American hamburger. How far the art form has fallen.

It is really good propaganda. It just made me think too much.

Jerry Ketel

Do you support changing this to say University of Oregon?

First of all, I am not against the University of Oregon. It is a fine school and it is likely that my son will be going there next fall. But changing the old White Stag sign to say University of Oregon is crass, over-the-top advertising that kicks the rest of the University system right in the zipper. PSU is a few blocks away for criminey sakes! Why are we advertising a school that already has more than enough Nike money, exposure and clout with one of our most visible and well-liked signs? It’s pretty obvious that the grandfathered sign was part of the appeal to refurbishing the old White Stag building. I was all for the sign on the Burnside Bridge when it said “Made in Oregon” (even though it advertised the Made in Oregon stores) because it seemed like a boost to all products made in Oregon. Now the red nosed reindeer leaping over the outline of the state—one of the biggest signs in the city—will be advertising a school in a way that obscures the other fine schools in our state. And that ain’t right.

Besides that, graphically the proposed design just doesn’t work. But that’s another story.

Jerry Ketel

Congrats to PAF Member company Koopman Ostbo on great new client news.KOOPMAN OSTBO EXPAND ITS ROSTER OF FOOD AND BEVERAGE CLIENTSBoyd Coffee Company and Glutenfreeda Foods, Inc. have selected local integrated marketing communications agency Koopman Ostbo (KO) to support their public relations programs. With the addition of these two clients, KO continues to expand its food and beverage industries portfolio.

Boyd Coffee Company, headquartered in Portland, Ore. is a provider of specialty coffees, espresso, rare estate coffees and teas, and related equipment for restaurants and other foodservice operations nationwide and abroad. The 108-year-old company is a privately-held company managed by the third and fourth generations of the Boyd family. Boyds offers more than 650 coffee and food items, and counts renowned establishments such as Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Metropolitan Grill and the Old Spaghetti Factory among its clientele.

Boyd Coffee Company sought KO’s expertise and strategic counsel to develop a public relations program and raise awareness of the company, its products and services. KO is also working with Boyd on tradeshow support and launching new products.

Glutenfreeda Foods, Inc., based out of Burlington, Wash., is a unique wheat/gluten-free food manufacturer producing gourmet gluten-free products. They initially launched a popular line of pre-formed frozen gluten-free cookies. The mother and daughter owned company also created the first online gluten-free cooking magazine in 1999, called Glutenfreeda.com. This Web site has more than 20,000 subscribers who are mostly gluten-intolerant customers, and offers a wealth of new and archived information featuring more than 5,000 gluten-free/wheat-free recipes.

This gluten-free food company, which recently achieved national distribution, tapped KO to create a public relations program to build awareness of their line of gluten-free cookies and resource website, as well as support launching future products.

“Our expertise in the food and beverage industries has allowed us to continue to make an impression on the media landscape for both clients and at the same time help them grow their business,” said Ken Koopman, Principal of Koopman Ostbo. “Boyds and Glutenfreeda are a great addition to our roster and we look forward to continuing our proven track record in our PR efforts.”

 The StudioBard crew started September rolling with the launch of a full-length feature film project, Magic Man. The movie, co-written and directed by long-time StudioBard client Stuart Cooper, is being produced in Los Angeles and edited by Bill Butler (Jaws, Grease).  Michael Bard will be the sound supervisor on Magic Man and will oversee the entire audio post-production - including a 5.1 surround mix at StudioBard. Party like a Rock Star! @Large Films dropped in to record and mix a set of web videos promoting Stage Kit - a new accessory for the Wii game, Rock Band. The project marked another successful venture in the collaboration between @Large Films and StudioBard for Nintendo’s Wii gaming system. August was a busy month for radio with projects from the Hallock Agency, Gard Communications and Wieden + Kennedy.  Engineer Brad Spradlin was out in the field recording interviews for ID Branding and Tri-Met’s educational program, “RideWise.”  Michael Bard was at the console composing an original score for Cappelli-Miles [spring] and Peace Health. Vocal diva Julianne Johnson (star of the recent stage production of Dream Girls) fronted a gospel group in the studio, adding her own brand of soul to the custom soundtrack on those TV spots. AudioLandscapes, the multi-media branch of StudioBard, has been named a finalist in the 2008 NAI Media Competition for their audio program, “Eastern Sierra Roadside Heritage/Hwy 395: Paiutes, Prospectors and Pioneers.” AudioLandscapes is also excited to announce the launch of their newly revamped website! With client-friendly updates and a fresh, new look - plus space to blog about new projects and ideas - the website is a powerful tool to connect clients and producers.  See for yourself at www.audiolandscapes.com!

OREGON’S LARGEST INTEGRATED MARKETING AGENCY EXPANDS  NATIONAL REACH, OPENS SECOND OFFICECMD, an integrated agency that has grown into a regional powerhouse by offering a deep bench of marketing solutions, is opening an office in the Charlotte, N.C. area. The agency has hired Joe Marion as a regional account supervisor to head up the new, second location. The agency is expanding to be able to better serve a number of its clients, including JELD-WEN, ATI and Western Star (a subsidiary of Freightliner) - companies that all have a large presence on the East Coast. CMD also handles major marketing projects for companies including Intel, HP and Cisco, and views the expansion as ultimately benefiting all of its clients. ”We live in an age of being able to operate remotely, yet the fact remains that there are key regional differences that need to be taken into account when it comes to providing strategic marketing solutions. Having offices on both coasts allows us to be responsive to that fact,” said Phil Reilly, president of CMD. In the past 30 years, CMD has continually evolved to stay ahead of marketing trends and deliver solutions that businesses require, including advertising, design, Web, PR, film and video, traditional and social media services. According to Reilly, the ability to transform based on clients’ needs has helped CMD expand while other agencies have been forced to cut back. ”There are so many ways to communicate now. The fact is that clients need agencies that can deliver in all of those different channels and generate demand,” said Reilly. “The outdated model of having separate advertising, PR and online only agencies is quickly going by the wayside. That’s been to our advantage and it’s allowing us to expand.”