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

Apparently, advertising talent runs in the family. David is the nephew of Rochester ad & marketing veteran Joe Nardone of Eastman Kodak.

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.

Check out all the 2009 winners here.

— Kate Sonnick

MAD-TINI
3 oz cherry vodka
1/2 oz bourbon
Splash of sour mix
Splash of cranberry juice
Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain sexily into martini glass and garnish with maraschino cherry.

Feel free to comment on the photos and share with others.

(And we’re all about privacy here, so if there are any photos of you you’d like us to take down, drop us an email and we’ll see it gets taken care of.)

— Scott Wolf

But here’s some insight into what we, on the Dundee team, knew. Packaging sells beer. No one is buying beer because of a story on the back of the label. Sure, it gives them something to read while they drink…all by themselves. But the cool new look of the Dundee labels and Craft Pack is what stops people in their tracks in the beverage aisle.

And that is the genius work of Paul Hill and Tim Downs, two of the finest I will ever work with.

So I’ll never admit I said this, but save your reading for the cereal box, be shallow, and just choose a Dundee for its good looks.

No? Well that’s a shame. You missed a great ceremony and an even greater party.

Yes? That’s great, but do you remember any of it past the coat check? I don’t. Well, maybe like 10% of it to be honest. The rest of the time I was downing Dundee and stuffing my face with mashed potatoes and candy cigarettes. One thing I do remember is the awesome intro video / animation created and produced by Dumbwaiter Design. Dumbwaiter was asked by the RAF ADDY committee to come up with a video intro for the awards show that reflected the “Mad Men” theme, and what they came up with was truly exceptional. Here’s the intro in its entirety. Hats off to Dumbwaiter yet again.

—Scott Wolf

It seems there are several misconceptions about what public relations entails, so I thought it made sense to lead with a discussion about the value of our work.

True, public relations often goes unnoticed, but if we’re doing our job correctly, the work of a PR professional should go unnoticed. We are Jacks-of-all-trades, working behind-the-scenes to bring our clients’ news to the attention of their key audiences.

As a matter of fact, the Martino Flynn PR team recently did just that for RAF. In advance of the ADDY Awards tomorrow, we crafted a press release and secured an item in the D&C about the event.

While generating publicity (aka “media relations”) is one facet of public relations, our arsenal of tools allows us to do many things…whether it’s organizing trade shows, ghostwriting byline articles, or even establishing a crisis contingency plan.

Ultimately, PR can be a credible, cost-effective complement to the communications mix—helping a company to foster relationships with its constituents, and position how it is perceived now and in the future.

Tickets purchased after February 9th will increase to $65 for members and $75 for non members. Student tickets will remain $25.

Visit http://www.rafconnect.com/Events/ADDYs/tickets to order.

— RAF Connect