Northeast Tennessee’s advertising and marketing professionals donned their best 80s golf attire for the “cADDYs”, with the theme of “Caddyshack” at the 2012 American Advertising Federation’s Awards on Saturday, February 18th. The event was held at the Johnson City Country Club.

Creative Energy, the Tri-Cities largest locally owned, full service advertising agency, needed no mulligan on this night, as the team took home fourteen ADDY® awards for its creative work. “I’m very proud of our team,” said Creative Energy president Tony Treadway. “The work of our employees indicates leadership in both creative and strategic thinking that increases sales and brand awareness for our clients. This year, it was important to note that our awards included work in the growing area of social media as well as traditional advertising.”

The ADDY Awards are the nation’s oldest creative competition, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. Creative Energy won four Gold ADDYs, which will advance to the district competition. Winners of the districts can advance to the national competition.

Creative Energy’s winning entries are as follows:

• Gold ADDY® Southern Dozen Campaign: Johnson City Convention and Visitors Bureau integrated print, online, social media and public relations campaign to promote motorcycle rides in the area.
• Gold ADDY, Universal Fibers Campaign: A trade advertising campaign positioning the company’s senior leadership as leaders in the field of renewable textile resources.
• Gold ADDY, Coca-Cola Under The Lid Rewards Insert : A peel-off magazine ad for Coca-Cola.
• Gold ADDY, Saddle Up Direct Mail: A dimensional direct mailer created for TW Garner’s Texas Pete® hot sauce.
• Silver ADDY, Pal’s Holiday Puzzler Game: A Facebook application-based promotion created for Pal’s Sudden Service.
• Silver ADDY, Pal’s Holiday Puzzler Campaign: An integrated campaign of Outdoor, Radio and Facebook application created for Pal’s Sudden Service.
• Silver ADDY, Pal’s Chillin’ Billboard: Billboard campaign created for Pal’s Sudden Service to promote cool summer drinks.
• Silver ADDY, Chipotle Smoke: Half-page ad created for TW Garner’s Texas Pete® hot sauce.
• Silver ADDY, Chipotle Smoke: Full-page ad created for TW Garner’s Texas Pete® hot sauce.
• Silver ADDY, Sgt. Mahoney Texas Pete® Ad: Full-page ad created for TW Garner’s Texas Pete® hot sauce.
• Silver ADDY, Universal Fibers Healthy Fiber Ad: Fractional page ad created for Universal Fibers, Inc.
• Silver ADDY, Better Nutrition Ad Campaign: A national ad campaign promoting Better Nutrition products from Red Gold.
• Silver ADDY, Secure Backup Direct Mail: A direct mail piece designed for Secure Backup Online Services.
• Silver ADDY, General Shale 2012 Calendar: A photo calendar highlighting brick homes for General Shale.

Creative Energy President Tony Treadway was also given a special award during the event, the American Advertising Federation Silver Medal Award.  Silver Medal recipients are selected by a panel of judges who base the award on several criteria, including the person’s contribution to his or her company, the person’s creative ability and his or her contributions to the advancement of advertising and to the general community.

The Northeast Tennessee Chapter of The American Advertising Federation has recognized Tony Treadway, President of Creative Energy, as the recipient of the Silver Medal Award. The announcement was made during this year’s ADDY® Awards held at the Johnson City Country Club on Saturday, February 18.

Silver Medal recipients are selected by a panel of judges who base the award on several criteria, including the person’s contribution to his or her company, the person’s creative ability and his or her contributions to the advancement of advertising and to the general community.

Treadway began Creative Energy 20 years ago with a small staff, a hand-full of regional clients and a passion for helping those companies grow through strategic planning and smart creative.

Two decades later the agency is the largest locally owned full-service agency in the Tri-Cities, employs nearly two-dozen and has a satellite office in Asheville, North Carolina.

“Tony’s idea to start an advertising and marketing agency in Johnson City was both visionary and courageous. An agency of this type had never been sustained in the Tri-Cities, and it’s obvious the success is due in large part to Tony’s dedication to his vision,” said Sam Barnett, a founding partner of the firm.

Treadway is regarded in the industry as a top strategist and one of the most respected foodservice marketers in the country.  Creative Energy serves top national foodservice brands such as Red Gold®, TW Garner Food Company (Texas Pete®) Bunge Oils and other major food manufacturers. Creative Energy has also been a strategic partner with regional chain Pal’s Sudden Service since 1992.

The firm serves a variety of regional and national accounts in the textile, hardware, building materials, electronics, nuclear power and health care markets.

“The credit for this recognition must go to our employees and to our clients,” said Treadway. “They are greatly responsible for helping to see a vision of a nationally recognized advertising and marketing firm being successful in east Tennessee and western North Carolina.”

Treadway currently serves as president of the Southeastern Food Processors Association and has in the past served on the Johnson City School Board and played an important role in the campaign to build the Johnson City Veterans’ Memorial.

Creative Energy was selected, in 2010, as a recipient of the ‘Blue Ribbon Small Business Award’ by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The distinction goes to only 75 small businesses in the U.S. each year by a panel of national business experts.

The American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award Program was established in 1959 to recognize men and women who have made outstanding contributions to advertising and who have been active in furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern. Annually, AAF member clubs bestow this honor upon outstanding members of the local advertising community.

ComScore just reported than nearly 800 million people viewed an average of six hours of video content on YouTube in October 2011. If that is not enough to convince you that online video is where it’s at in 2012, then go back to bed. People frequently overlook the fact that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine site. Among other benefits, posting a video to YouTube will gain you a gazillion times more exposure than to simply rely on viewers to find your video if it is only hosted on your web site. Create your own YouTube channel, post all of your videos there, and be sure to include back-linking with URL’s so folks can navigate to your mother site.

Creative Energy is posting video to YouTube on nearly a daily basis for various clients. We are offering fresh content and new ideas to consumers and B2B targets. One example is Texas Pete TV. These are news magazine-like visits to restaurants across America who swear by this extraordinary hot sauce. The objectives are to position the hot sauce as the choice of smart operators and add a touch of culinary advice to potential foodservice customers.

Frequently we utilize an SLR camera body with a 16 GIG memory card to video the episodes because the equipment travels easy and the hi-def captures are beautiful. This make field production easy and editing a snap. What’s your point of difference that can be told as a story to YouTube viewers?

While it is always harder than it looks, achieving brilliance in a marketing campaign differentiates your brand to not only make a sale today but resonate with consumers for years ahead. There are some tricks to the trade that can increase your chances of scoring “brilliant” on your next effort and here are a couple:

When President Obama accused Republicans of “standing, watching us, sippin’ on a Slurpee” while Democrats did all of the work, 7-Eleven went to work. Developing a “Slurpee Unity Tour” and trucks bearing a logo featuring an elephant and donkey offered free purple-colored Slurpees (the resulting color from mixing red and blue Slurpee mix.

THE TAKE AWAY - Stay plugged in to current events. Have fun this election year but don’t take a side.

AOL’s about.me scored big with a campaign that gave users the chance to have their face on an electronic billboard in New York’s Times Square – and a trip to the Big Apple to see themselves. About.me enables users to aggregate all of their online profiles. A contestant could win by getting the most votes from their friends that would draw those friends to a better advantage of using about.me.

THE TAKE AWAY - Raise the stakes of your contests from a simple cash prize to a reward that could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Perhaps that is why Harley motorcycles are great prizes (because people want them, but often view them as impractical for buying one themselves).

If you utilize Pandora – and love it for music, you’ll love Zite. This application is free, easy to use and aggregates the latest content based on the subjects you specify.

No matter the subject, you can specify it via a menu of common topics or craft your own. The app also enables you to share your findings via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail.

For me, I have specified topics that are of interest to an ad agency executive: advertising, social media, website design, etc. I have also specified topics that relate to my clients and I frequently forward to them information that I believe will be important to them.

While the information provided is much like drinking water from a garden hose (you capture about half of what is provided), I can maintain my focus on trends, new applications, what clients and their competitors are doing, and keep a leg up on what is important to my interests and our agency by checking in with Zite a few times each day. The app can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store. While Zite works on an iPhone, the best user experience is via an iPad. Download Zite and you will be happy that you did.

Predicting the success of a video in the social media environment is hard to do. However, the fact that more than two billion videos are downloaded ever day on YouTube alone makes crafting online videos a priority for your 2012 marketing plans.

Here are three tips that I believe will make the chances your video will be seen a bit higher:

1. Keep it Short & Start Strong -

People in social media have very short attention spans, so create a compelling opening and shoot for videos with a run time of 30-40 seconds. Facts are that the attrition rate for watching an online video after 30 seconds is roughly 82%.

2. Make it Simple & Sharable -

Humans can process no more than three simple messages in a short time frame and make sure that the proposition of the video will capture of your target audience’s interests. Make the video so compelling or entertaining that your target will want to share it with others within their circle of influence. Don’t forget to share the video in LinkedIn groups that you are a member of, Stumble Upon and other social media outlets.

3. A Clear Call To Action -

So what does your target suppose to do when they watch the video? Go to your web site? Call someone? Simply share it with a friend? Be clear in what you want to happen when they like what you have produced.

In 20 years I’ve heard a lot about the value of database marketing. From the high cost of postage for direct mail to the value of the endless e-mail lists that bombard your inbox from list providers, there are plenty of challenges in developing an effective database marketing component to your plan. Yet, with a great list and a compelling message that is relevant to a target, database marketing continues to offer the best return on investment of your marketing dollar.

We have built a new way to reach active buyers in the foodservice niche that is different from all others. While trade magazines offer to sell you a list of their subscribers who may or not be relevant food product buyers, our list includes operators who have proven to be actively engaged in the foodservice business and are proven users of rebate coupons. How did we do it?

Our firm redeems thousands of rebate coupons from foodservice operators each year. Typically, the coupons are distributed via trade print publications. Operators, ranging from major universities to regional chains, mom and pop pizza restaurants and K-12 foodservice directors have taken the time to complete their redemption form and mail them in to receive their rebate. The information from their redemptions has provided our firm with a resource of up to 17,000 active, working and engaged targets who are proven users of special offers, such as rebates on products they have purchased.

We have the ability to segment our database for clients who wish to target a specific segment within foodservice. From colleges and universities, to K-12 or independent operators, we can provide a ready and willing high-value target list that enhances ROI. Our list from our redemption service also enables you to target operators who use a specific distributor. Want to target only the operators who rely on US Foods or Sysco? We can do it.

We also can provide targets, categorized by segment and job title, among regional and national chains.

In addition to lists, Creative Energy offers turn-key e-marketing services including content management, online video and creative build out of HTML-based messaging that is high impact, compelling and valuable to foodservice targets. If you desire, we can also utilize our list for direct mail.

There is now a better way to approach database marketing that is affordable and filled with opportunities. Interested? Give us a shout.

If you are looking for fresh ways to convey a marketing message, try some old fashioned animation. We’re blessed with a great illustrator in Dale Atkinson who has brought a whole new option to our creative toolbox.

The latest example is a project for our client Red Gold. This family owned and operated Indiana company is one of the largest tomato processors in the country and is the leading supplier of tomato products to the K-12 school segment. With all of the government interest in retooling school lunch menus, Red Gold developed a new line of better for you products for schools. Pizza sauce, marinara sauce and salsa have been enriched with essential vitamins. Sodium has been reduced in the items and corn syrup replaced by natural sugar. The company is the first to develop an all natural ketchup product that is made with natural sugar and is low sodium.

The “big news” of the product innovation and the market segment that focuses on kids made the use of a super hero character a natural. Dale and Alice of our creative team developed Better Nutrition Man to carry the product launch for a line now trademarked as “Better Nutrition Made Simple” products.

The integrated campaign includes print ads, a special launch party at the national school foodservice show attended by big school systems, a sampling program and videos – one of which is this animated commercial. The spot is airing via foodservice media web sites, e-blasts and through web banner links embedded in e-newsletters to school foodservice directors. We are also are tying the commercial to Red Gold’s K-12 microsite with a viral “send to a friend” component.

If you have big news to share and want to break from the clutter of typical ads or commercials, you might want to give animation a try.

Kristen Lawson has vast experience in reaching consumers and businesses online

(Johnson City, Tennessee) – A top online media strategist has joined Creative Energy as the full-service advertising agency’s Digital Media Manager. Kristen Lawson joined the firm after serving in similar positions for Warner Music Group, Sephora, and Lowe’s Home Improvement.

“The industry relies on online media that is driven by technology which is constantly evolving. Kristen’s experience in working with major consumer brands to develop winning online strategies will provide immense value to our clients,” explained Creative Energy’s President, Tony Treadway.

Lawson interned at the firm in 2005 while attending East Tennessee State University. Upon graduation, the Erwin native joined Lowe’s Home Improvement of Mooresville, NC, as a member of the company’s packaging department. She later was employed by Sephora, Warner Music Group and Guess clothing where she engaged in developing and executing online media campaigns, including social media, online advertising, content development, E-commerce management and event marketing.

Lawson most recently served as Email Marketing Manager for a collection of Kellwood fashion labels in Los Angeles.

I picked up on the new approach in content marketing via Joe Pulizzi’s blog about Jonathan Mildenhall’s Content 2020 marketing mission for Coca-Cola. Mildenhall is Coca-Cola’s VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence. To drill down on this topic you need to invest at least 20 minutes, but it is worth your time. In particular, watch two videos embedded in Palizzi’s blog from Coca-Cola.

The essence of the initiative is for Coca-Cola to make a commitment to make the world a better place while driving Coca-Cola’s business objectives via a fresh approach to content marketing. Mildenhall’s point is that his company can no longer count on being 30-second-TV-centric. Instead, Coca-Cola will move from creative excellence to content excellence. Content that is the world’s most compelling content that drives discussion, exploration and innovation. The resulting content will give the company “a disproportionate share of popular culture,” Mildenhall explains.

The move is proof that advertisers must reinvent their marketing from the Old World approach of telling target audiences that they should purchase their products or services to New World discussion driven by electronic communities. While other companies are giving lip service to content marketing, Coca-Cola’s bold marketing strategy will require a culture change inside this giant brand and will require some partners who can assist in getting this process started who understand the dynamic.

Mildenhall adds, “All advertisers need a lot more content so that they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant, because of the 24/7 connectivity. If you’re going to be successful around the world, you have to have fat and fertile ideas at the core.”