Follow up: ADDYs celebrate Cincinnati advertising icons and newcomers

Local and national advertisers convened at Memorial Hall Feb. 27 to celebrate Cincinnati's 2014-15 American Advertising Awards (ADDYs), with some familiar brands (and familiar advertising firms) among the winners as well as recognition of lesser-known artists and innovators for their work in the field. Organizers had made several upgrades and changes heading into this year's program, and the overall results were favorable.
 
National digital marketing firm Possible took home the Best in Show award with their Downy + Febreze commercial in which actors revel in the extra hour afforded by Daylight Savings Time snuggled in their great-smelling sheets. Possible has won multiple ADDYs in the past, and this year they also took home the competition's first People's Choice Award — attendees voted on their smartphones for another Downy television ad.
 
One of the event's Cinderella stories involved Sunrise Advertising, which took home a whopping seven awards for their "origami" campaign for AAA and another for their Cincinnati USA ad. Sunrise Advertising, whose Creative Director Todd Jessee is a former ADDY chair, hadn't entered the competition before.
 
"I think (Todd) talked the boss into letting him enter this year," says Judy Thompson, Executive Director of AAF Cincinnati (a.k.a. the boss).
 
Another first-time entrant was Forza Marketing and Public Relations, which scored the gold for non-traditional advertising with a port-a-potty ad for The Urology Group.
 
Another favorite of the judges was Northlich, the downtown strategic communications firm that was recognized numerous times for campaigns surrounding Givethemten.org (part of the Joanie Bernard Foundation), a no-kill cat movement that encourages more no-kill shelters and mandated spaying and neutering of pets. Northlich picked up recognition for several elements of the public service campaign, including best sound element (a jingle, essentially) and best collateral (a pack of two orange gumballs that remind you to spay and neuter your pet).
 
"The Northlich Creative Director, Jason Schmall, was taking a lot of bows on ADDY show night," Thompson says.
 
Finally, the show featured an impressive number of entries from students this year. This is the first time the ADDYs have received entries from Northern Kentucky University students, and one of them, Kyle Eli Ebersole, won Best in Show for his poster campaign.
 
You can view all of the winners in the 2015 ADDY showbook. Winners now proceed to regional and national competitions.