Recognition Follows Brains and Talent

Agencies love awards. Love getting them, love having them lined up in the office lobby. Love the recognition and validation of great work. Love the events (except maybe the rubber chicken and cold peas part) where we receive them and the opportunity to see other examples of top performances up close, all in one room.

As a former Sabre Awards judge you know what to look for in the “instantly recognizable” creative arena as well as the all-important demonstrable and measureable “outcomes.” What stands out from the entire process of both developing and executing the work in question (as well as serving up the entry, too) is how you got there in the first place.

At the recent Golden Trumpet Awards event, a mainstay among trade associations for PR firms in Chicago, our agency walked out with two Silver Trumpet trophies – one for Thermos brand and the hugely successful launch of their Foogo™ thermal sippy cup line. Plus the web design category for a lifestyle site we created on behalf of Cocktails by Jenn, a unique and targeted line of pre-mixed martinis aimed at the Sex And The City urban female consumer.

What carried the day isn’t the body of work but the people who conceived, developed and directed the entire effort. It’s really about them, their talent, brains and willingness to fight for great ideas that make you stretch a bit. What’s award-worthy are the professionals themselves who naturally carry the perseverance needed to nurture an idea from the inevitably tough gauntlet of client review and approval — through the equally compelling task of actually bringing the project to life.

So the spotlight and applause belongs to the highly respected and inestimably talented crew that worked slavishly to breathe life into these winners and then delivered the proverbial results bacon. Many players involved: for Thermos, Betsi Schumacher, Mary Clare Middleton, Kerri Erb, Jill Delaney, Aline Wessel, Lauren Svoboda, Ashley Cameron, Jessica Hoffmann and Krista Cortese.

For Cocktails by Jenn, along with support from our client services chief Alyssa Burns, ironically it is the same cast of characters. What’s going on here? Great teamwork combined with great clients and great products, an unbeatable combination. The work does not stand on it’s own — the people do.
Betsi Schumacher for Thermos Mary Clare Middleton and Ashley Cameron for Cocktails by Jenn

You can get a bit more of a look at the elements of these two campaigns by logging on to the URLs below to
watch a short video on each:

Thermos: http://www.wtcast.net/foogo

CBJ: http://www.wtcast.net/jenn