Author Archives: Joseph Mayernik

2012 State of the RAF

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The 2012 state of the RAF. My last address I get to give as president, and I am leaving on a high note. I soon pass the presidential torch to T.C. Pellett. The Marketing guru over at the Monroe County Parks Dept. As a non-agency employee, he brings a unique perspective to the board. One that welcomes the further inclusion of our entire creative community from agency to client and freelancer to student. T.C. has an extensive background serving on boards to help make our community stronger. He is connected. Works with the Seneca Park Zoo, owns a freelance design firm and was honored this past year with the prestigious RBJ 40 under 40 distinction. He gets it. And the RAF is lucky to have him at the helm. For me, turning things over is bitter sweet. I have enjoyed being the RAF president (way more than I thought I would… thanks Kate and Pete for the push) but since I am three years into a two year term, I know it’s time to let a new way of thinking take over to continue the positive momentum. T.C. is the perfect choice, and I thank him for his service to the RAF in advance.

Our year started out strong with our board completely retooling the RAF bylaws and returning the board structure back to its roots. I know, it sounds boring, but for those serving on the board it was a much needed step in order for us to grow. The RAF board is a volunteer working board that needs to have a process in place in order to move forward. T.C.’s influence and experience on past boards has already paid off, since he spearheaded this effort along with Andrea Zuegel, Jeff Zielinski (the Partner’s one) and myself. Our programing also started with solid showing with the Cannes Lions event at the Eastman House. This event brought together broadcast and agency people together for a spirited discussion from our 3 panelists and moderator. Inspiration was overflowing that day, I encourage you not to miss the next one coming this fall. 20 Minutes and a Beer has been a staple program for the RAF and has caught the National eye form our fellow AAF affiliates from across the county. Using the RAF program as a model other groups now hold their own 20 Minutes and a Beer events in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio to name a few. Wait until they hear about how we customized it for the students at RIT with 20 Minutes and a Pizza. The RAF is again lead the way Nationally. And If you want to be one of the speakers for this event or have some ideas on topics please let us know. We are always eager for suggestions. This year also marked the first time the RAF was awarded with a 3rd place AAF Club Achievement award for our programming. The AAF Club Achievement awards recognize the good efforts Clubs like our do over the year. It’s kinda like the Addy’s for the Groups.

Speaking of which, the Addy’s this year were way different. It was a gamble that I am glad the RAF board took in order to bring the show into the digital age. And for the first time in recent memory the Addy’s didn’t lose money. A huge step for the RAF. Some of our Addy winners went on to win Gold and Silver at the District 2 level. And the RAF is also fortunate to have a great showing at the National Addys his year in Austin.

Our National winners are:

From RIT, congrats Hope Tweed for this #addyinspired entry: La Jolla Mobile App Design,

Also from RIT congrats to Jon Brennan for a 2 #addyinspired entries: Know Your Beers and Traveller’s Guide to Boulder

Roberts Communications also is #rafaddyinspired with this entry: Xerox – Jazz Festival Campaign. This entry also was the 2012 people’s choice award at the Addy’s this year. What can I say, the RAF membership has good taste. :)

Partner’s and Napier also has this #rafaddyinspired entry in the National Addy mix: Mondavi Family of Wine Brochure

The National Addy’s are this Tuesday, June 5th in Austin Texas. Good luck to all those nominated and we look forward to toasting your success!

The state of the RAF is good. We’re moving in the right direction with our membership, programming content, professional development, students, and even our Addy clout nationally. Like I said at the top of the post I am leaving on a high note and I leave the RAF in the very capable hands of T.C.

Thanks for sticking with me for three years,

Prez Joe.

The State of the RAF

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Watching the state of the Union Address from President Barack Obama inspired me to give my own State of the RAF speech, and well since there is no avenue (yet) for me to give a citywide address on the state of our industry, I’ll have to write about it in an RAF blog post. As president of the RAF I do not have President Obama’s struggles of party lines, big egos, hidden agendas and spin doctoring, hmm… maybe advertising and politics are more alike than I think.

I have lived in Rochester for almost ten years. Within that time I have seen many ad agencies sadly close their doors. Saatchi & Saatchi, Buck & Pulleyn, EMA’s strong Rochester presence, and ICE to name a few. Our industry in Rochester cannot sustain losing one advertising agency every two years. For our creative community to thrive, we as an industry, need to work together to stop the bleeding. One way we can accomplish this is to stop the brain drain. The RAF is dedicated to our creative community by developing programs, fostering mentorship and sponsorships that educate, inspire and celebrate great work. Our program, 20 Minutes & a Beer, is a huge success. It’s a program designed to showcase the talented individuals in our market, while drinking a cold one with peers. I have seen over a dozen of these events thus far. Each attended by at least 30 people, and the crowd is always different. It’s a true testament that we are tailoring the content of these events to appeal to all facets of our industry. We are fighting the brain drain.

Our newest program is the RAF Backstage Pass. It’s a series of events tailored specifically to the broadcast community. Last fall was the first annual Cannes Lion Event, where we brought Rochester industry professionals together to give insights on the winners and how it relates to us in our market.

We are ushering in a new age of the Rochester advertising scene. Many new agencies, design shops, and interactive agencies have started to have success. These small 2 to 5 person shops are the future of our industry. They have been forced to adapt to the ever changing rules of our business. Bygone are the days of traditional media. Guerilla marketing, the internet, social media and phone apps are their wheelhouse. 10 years from now they will emerge to be the next Partners + Napier, Martino Flynn, or Jay Advertising. They will be rewriting the rules of how to grow a clients brand.

Since our market has changed so too has the RAF board. We realigned the members, formed new board seats, and cut the outdated. Our board is now comprised of a nice mix of agencies, freelancers, marketing professionals, and key client contacts. We polled our membership, asked tough questions, and got back honest responses. These responses have already been placed into action. Look for some major revisions in the Addy’s this year.

We cut socials from the RAF calendar. Not because we don’t like to drink (trust me, we like to drink). But we realized that social only events do not ladder back to our core mission of inspiration, education, and celebration of great work. Social only events only served to continue the stigma of the RAF being a closed tight knit advertising fraternity. A stigma that we have spent a lot of time tying to break. And for us to grow we needed to adapt, and listen to our membership. We are fighting the brain drain.

We better aligned ourselves with the national organization of the AAF. There are many benefits RAF members receive from this affiliation. Benefits like savings on FedEx shipments, discounted publication subscriptions and savings of supplies for the office. I urge you to take advantage of these benefits. Let your membership work harder for you. Your membership perk is not only discounted tickets to the Addy’s.

We are in the process of creating a new program for the freelance community. Realizing the past Freelance Expo had it’s place but now the dwindling number of advertising agencies and the birth of the information age has forced us to refresh, renew this staple of the event calendar. Big things are in the works and I am happy to say that by the 2011-2012 RAF season, we’ll have a new program and initiatives directed to the freelance community. Think of it as the Freelance Expo 2.0.

We have renewed our commitment to the students of Upstate, New York. Our expanded partnership with RIT has forced us to look out our organization with a fresh perspective. To put in processes that insure the RAF is working as hard and as efficiently as it can, to realize that accountability is our greatest ally in an organization comprised entirely of volunteers. We created a new program, 20 Minutes and a Pizza. In this program the RAF brings agency and marketing professionals to the campus of RIT, to inspire the students, to educate and mentor. We at the RAF want to ensure that after students graduate they stay here in this area. To grow our industry in Rochester, not shrink it. Their talent and creativity is key to the revitalization our creative community. We need them to help us fight the brain drain.

This is a great city. It’s a place where many blue chip clients call home. In fact, the RAF stays strong due to the generosity of corporations like Xerox. I would love for our city to be viewed as the next Minneapolis, or dare I say Miami. There certainly is enough talent here. Each year at the Addy’s we prove that even though Rochester may not be a big city, we do big things, service big clients and think up big ideas. Our addy winners are successful in the District 2 and national level Addy Awards, and this success is just one of the ways Rochester can become a creative powerhouse. This year the Addy’s turns 20. Our theme is the old time revival. We’re getting back to our roots to celebrate what is really important to our profession. The creative idea.

And finally, I urge you to get involved. Help us help the creative community. If you’ve ever wanted to take an expanded role, or maybe even serve as RAF board member, please let us know. Rochester needs bright and eager marketing and advertising professionals to lead the RAF for the next 20 years. The state of the RAF is good, but the involvement of others will make it great. President Obama talked about the past vs the future. He spoke of not fighting over what has been, but look to what we all can do moving forward. I’d say we could do the same.

Thanks and let’s party hard at the Addy’s on March 24th, but the only way to salvation is through submission. Enter you work today, the final call for entries due February 11th. And, like our President after his speech… If you want my autograph… I can oblige.

Prez Joe

World Cup Soccer and a Flag Geek.

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I have been called a flag geek once or twice in my day. I was drawn to the design and bright colors as a child while looking through encyclopedias that can be found in the “wood floor room” back home. Some are simple. Some complex. But they all have meaning. The colors used, the shapes, the wording all represent what a country stands for. What’s not to love about that? If you think about in terms of a company, the flag is the corporate logo for a nation, and the best logos encapsulate that company and serve as the first impression to the world. Our own Stars and Stripes has meaning too. 50 Stars, 50 States. 13 Stripes, 13 original colonies. Popular history states the red of the flag represents valor, white stands for liberty or purity and blue represents justice, loyalty and perseverance. Pretty cool brand qualities if you ask me.

Historians will tell you the Union Jack is the nickname for the
flag representing the nation of Great Britain.

Wikipedia will tell you this flag of Great Britain consists of three superimposed crosses. The Cross of St. Andrew, The Cross of St George, and The Cross of St. Patrick. Each one of these crosses representing a country within The United Kingdom of Great Britain. Scotland, England and Ireland respectively.

So why does this matter? Well, in international soccer, Scotland, England and Ireland play as separate teams, and not as the UK. England was the only fortunate team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The flag representing the country of England is the Cross of St. George, and not the Union Jack. This has to be one of the best cases of branding for a country ever. What other country on Earth has: 1. An iconic flag. 2. An iconic flag can be split apart to represent the very nations the main flag stands for? Sure, after Partition, Ireland broke off from from the UK and currently uses the Green, White, Orange triad as the country’s flag, but prior to the 1920′s Ireland used the Cross of St. Patrick, and they still use the cross in their coat of arms.

Can any other nation do that? Then again, can any other brand do that?

(Originally posted on my personal blog at www.josephmayernik.com)

Membership that keeps on giving.

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Ad Freaks of Rochester, over the past few years it has been a perk of membership to auto-forward all of our Addy winners to the District 2 show in NYC compliments of the RAF. The District 2 show is held in NYC and features work from Manhattan to Buffalo. The ROC represented with 5 total awards. Two golds and three silver.

Congrats to the District 2 Winners:


Gold: Myers Creative Imaging, Website

Gold: Jay Advertising, RPO Brand Illustrations

Silver: Partners+Napier, Kodak Film, No Compermise

Silver: Walter Colley Images, HealthNow Brand Photography

Silver: RIT STUDENT A.K. Nicole Murtagh, Short Film

With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY® Awards are the world’s largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY® Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association conducts the ADDY® Awards through its 200 member advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry.

Prez Joe

Freelance Expo This Thursday

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RAF Freelance Expo on Thursday, April 22, and the Memorial Art Gallery from 5:30-7:30pm. RSVP to attend.

If you are a freelancer there is still time to exhibit at the event and showcase your work. RSVP to exhibit.

Marketing directors and agency peeps. Do you use freelancers now? Do you feel you may have the need to hire a creative freelance employee? Even if you not have an immediate creative need. I encourage you to come to the Freelance Expo. Our goal is to bring freelancers and decision makers in the marketing profession together. To make a contact. Network. So that when there is creative need, you have someone to contact.

Admission is free. The food is complimentary. So come on over to the MAG, and who knows, you next big idea could come from a freelancer exhibiting at the event. The Freelance Expo. on Thursday, April 22, and the Memorial Art Gallery from 5:30-7:30pm.

Prez Joe

The Strategy of Basketball

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I loved to play basketball when I was younger. Though I wasn’t very good at it. My size and skill earned me the nickname “handicap” but I still enjoyed to play. Some of my fondest memories growing up centered around playing pick up basketball at the Genova house—games like 2 on 2, elimination, and 21 were summer vacation standbys when the sun was out, the days were long and the cicadas were loud.

But I have come to realize I do not like the game of basketball very much anymore. At 6’4″ tall I am sure I would be a rebound threat, but now I find the game boring. My life in advertising constantly has me thinking about how strategy can help the brand of my clients. How creative that represents the products or services of brands can alter perceptions. Or at least that’s the intent. For me, basketball is flawed in it’s strategy. Now, I am not taking about the game itself. Certainly, there is plenty of strategy that is executed throughout the course of a game. The coach draws up the plays, the point guard executes, picks are set, shots are made and the defense adjusts. What I am talking about is the fundamental strategy of the game.

Scoring is expected, and a guarantee.

For instance, the other major sports of baseball, football, hockey and soccer all follow a different strategy. You are not expected to score. Yes, by nature of sport, I guess you could say I do expect them to score, but it’s certainly not a guarantee. So maybe it’s more about the guarantee than the expectation. One spring evening while living in Atlanta, I saw John Smotlz of the Atlanta Braves masterfully pitch around hitters in a scoreless tie. The Braves finally won that game 1-0 in the late innings. And when the Braves finally scored the crowd erupted in celebration that shook the foundation of Turner Field.

That’s excitement.

In football I’d much rather see a high scoring game, but I live in upstate NY and this is Buffalo Bills country, where scoring is certainly not a guarantee. But when the Bills do score, the freezing fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium Stadium rise to their feet and cheer as one. Playoff hockey or World Cup soccer fans understand this. When the athletes score, there’s a massive celebration. The fans jump, raise their hands, hug. The athletes jump, raise their hands, hug. Again, because while they are expected to score it’s certainly not a guarantee.

Basketball’s one exception is March Madness. College Basketball, with some minor exceptions in rule differences, is essentially the same as the NBA. However, the NCAA tournament is structured win or go home. There is tension in every game. Cinderella’s are born and rivalries renewed. Every possession could mean the difference of advancing to the next round or boarding a plane back home…. just ask Northern Iowa. And winning the tournament is no guarantee either… just ask top seed Kansas. After the NCAA crowns it’s National Champion, April comes and it’s back to boring ‘ol NBA basketball.

I used to play basketball when I was younger. And looking back on it now, I know why…making baskets for me was never a guarantee.

(Originally posted on my personal blog at www.josephmayernik.com)

Addy Links

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Well another addy show is in the books. Congratulations to all the winners.
For all those who may have missed it check out the nice article from the Democrat & Chronicle.
Here is also a link to Ad Hub where all the work can be viewed online.

I want to send one final thanks to all the companies that helped make this show great. Martino Flynn, Myers Creative Imaging for the show creative, our premier sponsor Xerox, and additional show sponsor TRAFFIQ, Post Central for the broadcast loops, Dumbwaiter Design for the interactive loops, and Cheshire AV for one killer of a production.

So members what worked, what did not. I am interested in hearing what you thought of the night so we can continue the momentum or retool for next year. I hope you all enjoyed the night and I trust you all Got Your Freak On!

Prez Joe

Happy Birthday Ad Council

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The RAF is always looking for ways to strengthen the creative community through events and programs that educate and inspire great work.  The Ad Council of Rochester works on behalf of the non-profits to bring them advertising, marketing, planning and communications know-how.

That being said, this seems like a no-brainer.
 
The Ad Council of Rochester turns 60 this year. And in honor of this landmark year they are looking for feedback from supporters, volunteers and anyone in the nonprofit or marketing / ad fields – Todd Butler and the Ad Council are trying to better understand what the perceptions are of their organization.
 
The Advertising and Marketing community has been a long time supporter of the Ad Council efforts.  Chances are if you are a creative in this town you have done the work on behalf of the Ad Council for a local non-profit.  Or perhaps you were a marketer on the receiving end of some of the services the Ad Council provides.  Whichever the case, they want to know what the Rochester community thinks about the Ad Council, so they can continue to offer relevant services in this ever changing profession for the next 60 years and beyond. And that’s where you come in.  

The survey takes about 10 minutes and is relatively painless (I have already taken it!). The link is embedded in this blog here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/adcouncilsurvey

On behalf of the Ad Council and the RAF, thank you for your help in advance.  Also please purchase your tickets to the RAF Addy Awards by March 5th. Remember, no tickets will be sold at the door.
 
GYFO!
 
JOE

Get Your Freak On.

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Be judgmental. We insist. That’s what I told the 6 judges from various disciplines that judged the work for the 2010 Addy Awards. And well RAF members, we had a very successful first day here in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. They combed through all the print work and were very impressed. We are poised for another solid showing. But our, and their, job is not done. Sunday is the second day where broadcast, interactive, and campaigns will be judged. Pictures from the day one and two festivities will come on Sunday.

Remember to purchase your tickets by March 5th. No tickets will be sold at the door. No matter how much we like you. GYFO!

JOE

2010 RAF Silver Award Nominations

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The entries are in. The judging set. The Addy night is being planned. But there is still one more very important piece to this year’s Addy Awards show. The Silver Award.

Last year’s Addy Awards show saw one of Rochester’s most energetic and infectious laughs be honored. Under the theme of “Mad Men” we gave the Silver award to Rochester’s own “Mad Woman”, Sharon Napier from Partners + Napier.

We’re pulling out all the stops again in 2010 with another red carpet, black-tie optional event. An event that celebrates the uniqueness we must have to be successful in this business. Celebrating creativity that challenges. Opportunities with vision, or commitment to crafting a small marketing budget to achieve large results. And we’re looking for your nomination for Rochester’s recipient of the 2010 RAF Silver Award to round out the night.

Established by the American Advertising Federation in 1959, the Silver Award recognizes those who’ve made outstanding contributions to advertising and who’ve been active in furthering industry standards, creative excellence, social responsibility, and community service.

Just take a look at our own roster of past winners:
Jack Kraushaar. Jim Gallery. Chris Pulleyn. Bob Conge. Jerry Flynn. Bill Buckett. Ferdinand Jay Smith. Bob Young. Walt Roberts. And last year’s winner Sharon Napier. It’s a who’s who of Rochester advertising and creativity…and we wouldn’t be here without them. Now it’s time to submit your nomination for this year’s award.

The RAF Board, based upon the following criteria, selects the Silver Award recipient:

• Contribution to his/her company: notable success in one of the following areas of work: advertising agency, advertiser, media or advertising service.
• Creative accomplishment: a consistently high level of original thinking in his or her field.
• Contributions to the general advancement of advertising: has worked to increase the stature of the advertising profession.
• Contributions to the community: has been active in civic, humanitarian, religious, or other groups dedicated to human or social welfare.

To nominate someone, please click on the link below. Your email should include the name of your nominee, some background information about him or her, and why you think he or she deserves the award.

The winner will be honored with a special tribute at the Addy Awards Show & Party and his or her family will be VIP guests for the evening’s festivities. It’s truly a night to remember—for both the honoree as well as our creative community at large.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Oh one more thing. Please take advantage of the early bird pricing when purchasing your tickets. Just make sure you buy them before the event. There are no tickets sold at the door (no matter how much we like you).

Cheers,

Joseph Mayernik
2010 RAF President