Advertising Celebrates Its Own

GRAND RAPIDS — The Ad Club of West Michigan bestowed 38 Gold and 107 Silver ADDY awards Thursday, as 600 club members gathered at the Steelcase Town Hall to celebrate.

Receiving the lifetime achievement award was Ron Davis of Biggs|Gilmore in Kalamazoo.

The event was the highlight of a week of advertising-related events, the first year the local Ad Club has provided expanded offerings. Events included a movie night, a “Creative Crawl” that saw club members hosting open houses, a seminar and a Web-based opportunity for the public to vote on favorite ads.

Steelcase Inc. was the big winner, walking off with a total of 22 awards, 12 Gold and 10 Silver. Grey Matter Group nabbed 12, three Gold and nine Silver; Extra Credit Projects received 11, four Gold and seven Silver; Hanon McKendry won seven, one Gold and six Silver; and Kendall College of Art and Design student Tammy Gath snagged a total of nine awards, two Gold and seven Silver.

Winning Best of Show for 2008 in the professional category was Extra Credit Projects, for Ortberg Hearse Tour. The student winner was Sherri Days of Kendall College of Art and Design, for Detroit Picnic.

Judges’ Choice award-winners were:

Outdoor: Adams Outdoor Advertising, for Macino’s; Interactive: Biggs|Gilmore, for its own Web site; Poster: Extra Credit Projects, for Zondervan’s “Christians United Against AIDS”; Conceptual: Extra Credit Projects, for its own card; Direct Mail: Katon+Wassink, for Steelcase’s “Ready Set Jet”; Corporate: Palazzolo Design, for Partners in Design’s “Classic Kiddy”; Environmental: People Design, for Herman Miller’s ICFF trade show exhibit; Brochure: Steelcase Inc., for its own pictography illustrations; Student: Gath, for Callaway Golf’s annual report; and Student: Gath, for Kendall Advertising Program proposal.

The winners move on to compete in one of 14 Ad Club districts. Winners at that level then go to the American Advertising Federation’s national competition. The national winners will be crowned at the AAF’s conference in June.

Serving as local judges for the student awards were Clayton Boothe, of Boothe Creative Services; Andy Gould, of Biggs|Gilmore; Yang Kim, of People Design; Sheri Monroe, of Reagan Marketing; and Damion Van Slyke, of Steelcase.

Judges for the professional entries were Matt Dimmer, of EURO RSCG in Chicago; Trace Hallowell, of Tactical Magic in Memphis; Mark Rosenthal, of Creative Alliance in Louisville; Marisa Ruiz, of Creative Circle in Chicago; Craig Welsh, of Go Welsh in Lancaster, Pa.; Alan Austin, of Austin Associates in Palm Coast, Fla.; Stan Byers, of Rose/Glenn, Reno, Nev.; Ron Kohudic, of Colman Brohan Davis, Chicago; Kevin Miller, of Signature Advertising, Memphis; and Jeffrey C. Olsen, of Rare Method in Salt Lake City.

A list of the 145 winners may be found at the Ad Club of West Michigan’s Web site at www.adclubwmi.org.