AWARD WINNING IDEAS NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION WINNING ENTRIES

Transcription

1 AWARD WINNING IDEAS NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION WINNING ENTRIES

2 ADVERTISING EDUCATION

3 Division III: Pittsburgh Advertising Federation Advertising Education Goals: The Education Committee of the Pittsburgh Ad Fed set out to create an annual program that supports both learning and the retention of local college students, participation from agencies and industry professionals, and collaboration with a local non-profit organization. The idea evolved from a conference program to an Apprentice style competition before finally settling on a one-day, in-agency challenge. Several years later, the program has grown into a 2-part competition that culminates with a live pitch by finalist teams. Event Details: The Pitch challenge focuses on advertising and its associated disciplines. Local students have the opportunity to receive hands-on experience by working at a Pittsburgh advertising agency on a real-world project. The planning for the annual Pitch program begins with the Education Committee reaching out to board members and other agency contacts asking for non-profit organization recommendations. All viable non-profits are then sent an RFP and asked to respond. This helps us to find an ideal partner who can benefit from insightful, strategic and creative thinking, and who is also willing to use the work that is created. Ideally, the non-profit would have an organizational mission that is accessible to students, has a succinct, realistic marketing need that can be strategically addressed within the time

4 frame, and is willing and able to collaborate with the Pitch program. In addition to working with the committee to hone the marketing challenge, we ask that they be available to shoot a video with instructions for the assignment and a brief overview of their organization and the challenge ahead. This video is provided to each hosting agency and is launched at the same time throughout all six team locations. This video marks the start of the first day of the Pitch challenge. College level juniors and seniors are invited to participate in the challenge. We reach out to these students mainly via their educators, with some social media support. Registration is capped at 60 students, and is on a first come, first served basis. Students pay a small fee to participate, or in some cases their professors cover the cost. A week out from our fall program, students are contacted via and are assigned to an agency team. We take into consideration the student s major and areas of interest when determining who will go where. We do not create teams by learning institution. At the same time that students are notified of their agency designation, they are told who their non-profit client is. They are not given any specifics about the challenge itself. Participation from our local advertising agencies is crucial to this event. Each agency not only hosts a team, but provides them a meeting space, lunch and most importantly, the expertise of various staff members to assist and guide the students as they work their way through the challenge. The board of directors also plays a huge role in making sure this challenge goes off without a hitch. Two board members are assigned to each team and act as advisors to the

5 students. Their purpose is two-fold. The first is to be the point person for students, keeping the team on track, and on schedule. Their second function is to step in, creatively, as needed. As we know happens in agency life, a pitch / presentation / client project can come out of nowhere and usurp all of your creatives, planners, account exec, etc for the entire day. In the event of this agency emergency, the board members are able to step in and give the creative guidance the team needs to best move forward. Along with the students, the local non-profit, local advertising agencies and our board of directors, we also have the support of many local businesses. Every year, thanks to Dicks Sporting Goods, UPMC, Dollar Bank, Eat N Park and many others, we are able to provide all of the students with a swag bag filled with items donated by these wonderful organizations. The event is truly a collaboration of our incredible advertising community. At the end of the day, the students are required to submit two items electronically. The first deliverable is video pitch to the client. This must be less than 10 minutes, and must be shot either in a single take, or with minimal editing. The quality of the video itself is not to be judged, only the quality of the content and the creativity in the presentation. The second item is the written proposal. This should be more comprehensive than the video, and give concrete details to solve the marketing challenge as presented.

6 Once the files are uploaded, the teams are dismissed from the agency and must wait to hear the verdict. We give the non-profit about a week to review the work and ask them to narrow the field to 2 finalist teams. The teams are given some feedback from the organization and several weeks to tweak their proposal and put together a live pitch presentation. The students have access to their advisors and the agency to acquire feedback, support, etc. The live Pitch is graciously hosted by Point Park University, in downtown Pittsburgh. We invite all decision-making parties from our non-profit partner as well as the agencies, advisers and other students. Each team has 30 minutes to present and is asked to bring a leave-behind. We don t allow the teams to be in the auditorium for each other s presentations. Again, we give the client a week to digest / share the information before asking them to select one winning team. In the end the winning team of students gets a resume review by the HR department of the agency with which they were working, and are invited to and recognized at our local Addy Awards program, not to mention face time with creative directors, copywriters, planners, social media experts, etc. The non-profit partner gets dozens of valuable, creative, insightful, and executable ideas to further their marketing efforts. The agencies and board advisers get to see first hand the new talent soon to be on the market in our city and a chance to secure them for internships and jobs. As our program is now in it s 6 th year, we have seen a remarkable amount of growth from our initial Pitch. More students are interested. Educators are contacting us months in advance to make sure their students know of the deadlines. Agencies enjoy the

7 competition and challenge of coaching up young talent, and also identifying potential future hires. In fact, over 40% of our pitch participants to date have at some point been employed by a participating agency. And the local media has taken notice of the program and covers the program with its annual coverage of the Addy awards. Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Inc. BACKGROUND Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Inc. helps academically capable and motivated girls-in-need to meet their full potential and become women by providing value-centered, family-like residential homes, opportunities and education through college. The program is designed to prevent patterns of abuse, poverty and neglect from continuing in the lives of these girls by focusing on formal education and holistic learning through enrichment programs, service projects and faith-based activities. The first in the nation, Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Inc. was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in The congregation initiated a request to the founder of Boys Hope of St. Louis, to build a home for girls. The congregation wished to maintain its directive to respond to those areas where human dignity was most diminished including the poor and marginalized, youth and women and established the home for girls in Baden. As an affiliate of the now-named Boys Hope Girls Hope International, the Pittsburgh area site continues to be the only site in the country with two homes for girls. The first opened in October 1991; the second home opened in 2001 and moved to its permanent location in Coraopolis in Each home is capable of housing eight scholars, with accommodations, if necessary, for any scholar working on her college degree. Highlights and Accomplishments:

8 1. Regionally, Girls Hope is the only voluntary residential program which intervenes and cares for girls in distress before they are in crisis and serves them in a long-term fashion. 2. One hundred percent of the scholars who stay in the Girls Hope program graduate from high school and are accepted into a college or university. Of those who continue with the program and their higher education studies, 80 percent graduate with a bachelor s degree. 3. Currently, there are thirteen (13) Girls Hope college graduates. Most recently, Brande received her degree with honors in Business Administration Finance from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in May She is now working full-time as a Client Relations Specialist for Vanguard in Philadelphia. 4. Of the 13 college graduates, five went on to receive their Master s degree and one received her Ph.D. in Micro- Biology from the University of Chicago. She is now an assistant scientist for a hospital in New York. STAFF Girl s Hope of Pittsburgh has 14 paid employees, with 2 of them responsible (though not solely dedicated) to marketing efforts. We have 100 active volunteers. We do have an internship program in place but traditionally, the interns have been placed in the program department to directly help our scholars. EVENTS Each year, we hold four Evening of Hope fundraisers throughout the area Downtown (Sienna Mercato), Sewickley (Allegheny Country Club), Fox Chapel (Pittsburgh Field Club) and the South Hills (St. Clair Country Club). Typically, we have attendees who learn more about the Girls Hope mission by way of presentations from the Executive Director and one or two of our current scholars, collegians or alumnae. These events raise money both from ticket sales and a wish board that they have at each event. The wish board has index cards with items and dollar amounts posted on each. Guests are encouraged to donate a wish amount, for example, $75 for books. The other major event held each year is our Women s Tournament. In the past, this event has included golf, tennis, paddle tennis, a luncheon or bridge. This year s event will have bridge and a celebrity chef luncheon, which will draw 250+ attendees. Our strategic approach now centers on moving these donors from the events into a major gifts category, whereby donors contribute $1,000 or more each year in support of the Girls Hope mission. Guests for these fundraisers are invited by recruiting Captains, which are essentially hosts that will give anywhere from 10 to 100 names to the organization. Those folks will receive a personal note from the Captain inviting them to attend one of these events. Captains are board members, friends of board members, etc. Due to this process, their mailing list includes several thousand names. OUTREACH Donor touches throughout the year are sporadic at best. The newsletter, while intended to be a regular occurrence (e- and in print) has been written and sent with the annual report for the past 2 years. The lack of a full time marketing person makes these outreach efforts fall to the wayside. Our Facebook and twitter presence also ends up taking a back seat. The only consistent mailings are invitations to the events and solicitations for donations, which are mainly mailed out in November, December and January.

9 YOUR CHALLENGE Each year, Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Inc. is responsible for raising $1,000,000 to sustain our two residential homes th marks the 25 year since the first home opened. With this pending milestone, we d like you to create an awareness marketing campaign (including a tag line!) that will get our name out, create a buzz in the community and in-turn increase donations to help us provide stable, family-like homes for children between the ages of who are at risk due to poverty, neglect or harmful neighborhood conditions. Our budget for this mission is limited to about $500.

10 I. Introduction The Marc USA Pitch Team is proud to present this business proposal to Girls Hope in an effort to execute the challenge of creating an awareness marketing campaign to ultimately raise $1,000,000 for the young women of Girls Hope of Pittsburgh. We wanted to create a campaign that could help these girls that would resonate with everyone in the Pittsburgh community. This campaign reaches families, men, women, and children who care about helping their local daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends move towards a brighter future. This campaign will bring the Pittsburgh community together for one single cause: giving a hand to the young women of Girls Hope. Our campaign is titled Give Her A Hand because she needs the entire community to help her and motivate her to become the woman that she is meant to be. She needs the support and love of a willing hand to help her grow, and to give her the opportunity for a brighter future. Give Her A Hand requires the hands of everyone in the community to come together to donate funds. We believe that a hand is a universal symbol that can bring people of all walks of life together. This will give everyone a voice and a connection to this cause to help one group of young ladies. This will give the patrons the freedom to express each of their individual hopes and goals, and share them with the community and Girls Hope. The dollar amount that we asking as donation from the participants in the campaign is attainable and reasonable for the individual community member (see details in the Social Media section). We are not however, excluding the aid of local businesses and corporations to donate larger funds. Our campaign includes various social media tactics to raise awareness amongst millennials, and print and guerilla marketing to raise awareness amongst those who do not utilize social media. We chose to use social media and guerilla marketing to use our budget efficiently. We believe that the creative efforts exemplified through the social media strategy and the guerilla marketing will raise curiosity in the campaign, to entice people to join the challenge. We also lay out a strategy to promote Give Her A Hand for the various events of Girls Hope as well as an outreach strategy of organizations to target. II. Social Media The launch of Give Her A Hand will be through our social media platforms of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. The initial push would include contacting the aggregated mailing list and asking them to share posts for the social media challenge. In addition, we would ask the recruiting Captains to spread the word within their networks. Our comprehensive social media campaign hopes to increase donors and social followers during the 25 th anniversary year. The execution of our social media plan is accessible for participants to find and share with friends through crowdsourcing. The management of the social media accounts will be executed by the Girls Hope staff and interns. The use of social media will also introduce the leverage insight of social proof. Social proof assumes the actions of others reflect the correct behavior for a given situation. People seeing that the rest of the community is partaking in Give Her A Hand will feel motivated to do the right thing by participating as well. The participants will be challenged to post or snap a picture of himself or himself with their hands as the focus of the picture specifying their personal goal or hope in life (i.e. to become a doctor or, for a healthy future ). Each post will include the hash tag of our campaign s tagline:

11 #GiveHerAHand. We will ask participants for a voluntary five dollar donation per hand ( five for five ). Each post will include the link to drive participants to the Girls Hops website to make a donation. The various social media platforms will be managed through Hootsuite. Using Hootsuite for Facebook and Twitter is a free and effective means to plan out social content for the length of the campaign. For Facebook and Twitter, there should be scheduled posts for three to five days of the week, with specific content for specific days. Mondays would be posts of encouragement from volunteers, donors, and the Girls Hope participants, and then the other days would be intermixed with pictures from the Give Girls A Hand challenge and updates about the organization. Instagram will have to be monitored and updated in real time throughout the campaign, as it is not Hootsuite compatible, but the frequency and length of captions should reflect the content on Facebook and Twitter. Refer to Appendix A and B. III. Guerilla Marketing Guerilla marketing is defined as a grassroots type of advertising. This style of advertising appeals to many because it is inexpensive and effective for the public. The guerilla marketing efforts will support the social media platforms in raising awareness and funds for Giver Her A Hand. This will be the piece of our campaign that utilizes most of our budget. The Girls Hope staff and interns will also manage the guerilla marketing in addition to the social media accounts. We will create posters and flyers to advertise throughout the city to generate an off-line presence. Both posters and flyers will direct the public to explore the hash tag social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat) and the Girls Hope website. Posters would be hung in bus stops throughout the city. We could also ask vendors, partners of the program, and business owners to hang our flyers in their storefronts. Print costs would be the biggest portion of our budget. Since social media is so inexpensive, it would fit within our margin to include print campaigning. We will also engage in chalking around Pittsburgh to raise curiosity in the campaign. Chalking would be placed in high traffic areas such as college campuses and sidewalks near landmarks through the city. The information you find would be #GiveHerAHand and/or the tracing of a hand. This is a low-cost and effective way to campaign, however, this option is seasonal only. Refer to Appendix C, D, and E. IV. Events The Girls Hope events will be an avenue used to further promote the Give Her A Hand campaign to the patrons. The focus of the campaign at the events will be driven towards donations rather than awareness, due to the fact that the attendees of the event are already aware of Girls Hope and its mission. This will be an additional way to celebrate the work of Girls Hope and to bring the community together. The following idea can be incorporated into pre-existing and planned events for Girls Hope such as the Evening of Hope, the 25th Anniversary Gala, and the Women s Tournament. For Evening of Hope, we suggest that the speakers at this event should talk about what their personal experiences they have had with the organization. They should include the ways they have given a helping hand to the girls. A good idea to tie the tag line to give her a hand is to shape the

12 index cards of the Wish Board into hands. This will essentially remind people of our social media hash-tag and tagline. Next, we feel that the 25th year anniversary gala is an important event to create awareness of the mission of Girl s Hope. The first suggestion is to invite alumni who have succeeded to come and talk about how Girl s Hope has helped them achieve their hopes and dreams. We also suggest the girls talk about how the community and organization have given her a hand. Another idea to solidify the idea of giving her a hand into patrons minds is to have finger food, photo booths where whiteboards with hands attached can serve as props. On the whiteboard patrons can write their own aspirations and hopes for the girls in need. Furthermore, we feel that a red carpet can be edited to have handprints leading from the car to the event. To add more hype, we can take a photo for the world record for most hands in a photo, and have someone take a crowd selfie similar to what Ellen DeGeneres did at the Oscars. The most important feature of this event is the participation of celebrities. We suggest inviting celebrity magician Lee Terbosic and actor Joe Manganiello. Both gentlemen are from the Pittsburgh area. Lee Terbosic s magic performances should be amazing. He has performed for Former President George W. Bush at the White House. Joe Manganiello is a known donor of Children s Hospital in Pittsburgh. He loves kids and we feel that he can provide a sizable donation to the organization, perhaps creating a bandwagon for other patrons to donate as well. Lastly, the Women s Tournament is a great way for elderly people to enjoy themselves and also donate to help out the next generation. We suggest telling the patrons that by making a major gift contribution of $1,000 or more, they have the chance to win a dinner at their residential home prepared by the celebrity chef. The tie-in to our tag line is to tell the attendees of this event that if they become a big time donor, they will have a chance to be given a hand by the celebrity chef cooking a dinner at their resident. V. Outreach Our campaign also includes outreach to local organizations in the greater Pittsburgh area. Outreach efforts would emphasize and promote the importance of the community in Give Her A Hand. The primary focus would be groups with a strong interest and involvement with the local community. This would include companies such as UPMC, PNC, and other local businesses. In addition, local female professional development and empowerment organizations such as Strong Women Strong Girls and Pittsburgh Professional Women could be contacted. Pitching to these organizations would focus on developing and giving back to the community, whether in terms of monetary support or increasing general awareness. An additional option would be career opportunities, such as job shadowing or professional development workshops. Sponsoring Girls Hope would generate positive PR and goodwill for these organizations. We would ask them to share our message by posting social media content as part of the Give Her A Hand campaign with the hope on one hand and the company logo on the other. Another potential avenue for outreach would be local sports teams and celebrities. We would reach out to them to take part in the social media campaign by pushing the idea of raising awareness for a great cause at no cost to themselves. VI. Conclusion In all, the strategies for social media, guerilla marketing, events, and outreach will achieve the ultimate goal of raising awareness and $1,000,000 in donations for Girls Hope through the Give Her A Hand campaign. We strongly believe that this will bring the Pittsburgh community together to give a hand to aid in the futures of the young women of Girls Hope.

13 Appendix A

14 Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E

15 Contact: Darice Nagy, Green Dot Public Relations Phone: The Pittsburgh Ad Fed Announces The Pitch: 2015 Agency Lineup & Nonprofit Partnership Intensive Advertising Competition for Students to Benefit Girls Hope of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA, September 29, 2015 The Pittsburgh Advertising Federation (PAF) is proud to announce its annual student advertising challenge, The Pitch, and its 2015 nonprofit partner, Girls Hope of Pittsburgh. The 2-phase competition that starts on October 9, 2015, aims to give students in advertising-related disciplines the opportunity to receive hands-on experience by working at a Pittsburgh advertising agency on real-world project to benefit a local nonprofit. The Education Committee of the Pittsburgh Ad Fed created this program in 2010 to bridge the gap between college learning and real work experience, said Rebecca Senneway, Vice President of Big Science, and Education Chair of the Pittsburgh Advertising Federation. We are proud to have developed a competition that in turn provides assistance for a deserving local nonprofit, and couldn t be more excited to be directing our efforts this year to Girls Hope of Pittsburgh. Girls Hope of Pittsburgh serves Western Pennsylvania and provides a well-balanced, nurturing home and quality education through college for academically capable girls who are at risk due to poverty, neglect or harmful neighborhood conditions. Founded in 1990, the Pittsburgh chapter is the first Girls Hope established in the U.S. and serves as a model for developing other Girls Hope programs across the nation. "We are thrilled to have been chosen as the nonprofit client of 'The Pitch' project to further develop and expand our marketing and public relations efforts at Girls Hope," said Tom Wiese, Executive Director of Girls Hope of Pittsburgh. We know that the young minds participating in this competition will bring a fresh outlook and creative concepts to the table, and are eager to review their hard work. The Pitch participants include registered university-level junior and senior students interested in the field of advertising and its related disciplines, who will be broken into teams that spend the day at one of six prestigious participating agencies. During phase 1 of the competition, students will gain exposure to the field and professional experience responding to a challenge presented by their nonprofit client. Participating 2015 agencies include: Brunner, Chemistry, Garrison Hughes, Gatesman+Dave, Marc USA and Red House. An important part of the Ad Fed s mission is to help prepare students to enter the marketplace and to do our part in preparing the next generation of leaders in the field of advertising, said Ted Walzl, Pittsburgh

16 Ad Federation President. This program allows students to gain invaluable insight into the advertising world and its work, while gaining access to a top Pittsburgh agency and its ad professionals. The main day-long challenge will take place on Friday, October 9, After the first phase, the competition field will be narrowed to two teams who will then compete live and present their concepts to Girls Hope of Pittsburgh judges on Friday, October 13, The winning team will be chosen a week later, taking creativity of integrated solutions and effectiveness into mind. The winning team will receive: Public recognition at Pittsburgh Addy awards in March 2016 Resume review by industry professionals, followed by resume distribution to the entire Pittsburgh Advertising Federation s Board of Directors for potential future employment consideration Possible execution of concepts by the client. Best of all - Bragging rights! Student registration is currently closed for the 2015 competition. For more information, please contact Rebecca Senneway at rebecca@big-science.com. About Pittsburgh Advertising Federation The Pittsburgh Advertising Federation is a long-standing member of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), a national organization of 50,000 professionals in 220 professional advertising clubs, 220 college chapters and 110 corporations. Since its founding in 1923, the Pittsburgh Advertising Federation has developed into an extraordinarily diverse and active club with active representation from virtually every major local agency, advertiser, media and production entity in the greater Pittsburgh area. For information on upcoming events or becoming a member, visit ###

17 A BIG thank you goes out to the following agencies, volunteers, and corporations for donating their space, people, time and swag, without them this awesome day would not be possible! OUR NON-PROFIT PARTNER Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, Inc. AGENCY TEAMS Brunner Chemistry Garrison Hughes Gatesman+Dave Marc USA Red House ADVISORS Taylor Abbett, Tailored Marketing, Inc Jack Bailey, Soundtrack Design, Production & Instruction Ryan Deer, Brunner Evie DeSarno, Executive Director, Pittsburgh Ad Fed Kathy Dziubek, Animal Lynn Epstein, Freelance Writer Meade Johnson, Limited Chaos, Inc. Jason Mileto, Brunner Kelsey Miller, Brunner Craig Otto, Dymun+Co Shareen Jordan, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Nathan Route, Business Development Rebecca Senneway, Big Science Music Sadie Stresky, 321 Blink DONATIONS OF TIME, ENERGY AND SWAG BBDO Big Science Music Brunner Campos Inc. Dollar Bank Eat N Park Pitt Alumni Assoc. RR Donnelly Tailored Marketing UPMC Health Plan

18 NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION Purpose: One of AAF s major objectives is to recognize excellence and encourage high standards among industry professionals. The Club Achievement Competition is designed to recognize outstanding accomplishments of AAF-affiliated advertising clubs and to showcase the programs and projects that these clubs undertake each year. Structure: The AAF National Club Achievement Competition recognizes achievement in eight categories: advertising education, club operations, communications, diversity and multicultural initiatives, government relations, membership, programs and public service. These categories were chosen to reflect the areas of operation of local ad clubs. Advertising clubs are segmented into five membership size divisions as follows: Division I 500+ members Division II members Division III members Division IV up to 99 members Division V Ad 2 Clubs Clubs compete within their membership size divisions. These divisions provide for a more equitable competition and thus for an opportunity for any size club to win. Ad 2 clubs compete in a separate division regardless of membership size. Each category is judged by a separate panel of professionals with expertise in that specific field. Each panel of judges reviews and scores each entry in each of the membership size divisions. First-, second-and third-place awards are given in each division for each category, at the discretion of the judges. A club and president of the year award are designated in each division to the club with the highest total points. Awards are announced and presented annually in conjunction with ADMERICA, AAF s National Conference. Benefits of Entering: Gaining district and national recognition is but one of the many benefits of entering the Club Achievement Competition. Entering the Club Achievement Competition is an excellent way to document your club s activity in any given year. This can prove to be a useful tool for self-evaluation and goal setting for the coming year. Entering consistently provides a historical record of the progress your club is making. ELIGIBILITY All clubs and federations affiliated with the American Advertising Federation and in good standing may compete within their membership size division in any or all of the eight categories. Club or federation projects implemented from February 28, 2015 to February 28, 2016 qualify for the 2016 competition. PREPARING TO ENTER The Club Achievement Chair: The AAF recommends that

19 each club appoint a Club Achievement Chair. The immediate past president is an excellent choice for this position. The Club Achievement Chair should be the official liaison to AAF headquarters. It is this person s responsibility to familiarize the appropriate committees within the club, with the competition categories and the documentation necessary for entry. It is recommended that all Club Achievement entries be assembled at the same time so that materials can be shared and/or redistributed to different committees for entries in other categories. It is therefore best that the Club Achievement Chair coordinate this activity. Competition Rules and Guidelines: In the fall, guidelines and category summary sheets are sent to the presidents, executive directors and club achievement chairs of all local ad clubs, to use as a model to start preparing entries for competition. The individual responsible for your Club Achievement Competition entries should make sure that he or she obtains a copy of the current rules, categories and guidelines for the competition from AAF headquarters. The competition may change from year to year, which makes a current set of competition guidelines important. This information should then be passed on to the appropriate chairs whose committees correspond to the Club Achievement categories. Included with the guidelines are category summary sheets, which preface each entry and contain points and topics to be covered in the narrative. Each chair should be familiar with the summary sheet for his or her corresponding category. NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES ENTRY CONTENT Entries are divided into two sections: narrative and collateral. The narrative section is used to describe the activities or projects pertinent to the category, and the collateral section contains printed material in support of the narrative. All collateral material must have been produced since February 28, NARRATIVE: The narrative is used to describe your club s activity in each area outlined on the category description sheet. Judges evaluate objectives versus results. It is therefore advisable to document the planning meetings where goals were outlined and a plan of action was drawn up and to outline how these goals and objectives were met. Statistics are an excellent way to provide a concrete measure of performance and a record of the club s progress and growth. For example, in the membership category, a statement of growth in membership should include the number of new members who joined in the past year, the type of attendance at your programs and the number of members versus guests. Also, consider the following questions: Are the same members coming back each time or is attendance different at each event? Are new members getting involved? Do past officers stay involved? How do your current members compare to last year s? What is the difference in the growth and profitability of the club? What is your total count for participation in all events, compared with that of the previous year? The narrative section cannot exceed eight double-spaced, typed sheets of paper (one side) or four double-spaced, typed sheets of paper (two sides). Collateral: The collateral portion of the entry contains material that directly supports the points in the narrative.

20 Please keep in mind that judges look for the degree to which the collateral material documents the narrative of the project or activities. Collateral pieces may include, but are not limited to, press releases, flyers, newsletters, testimonial letters, thank-you letters from public service projects, new member pieces, etc. All collateral material, in all categories, must have been produced. It is a good idea to keep at least five extra copies of all publications, news releases, meting notices, etc., for use when compiling books. The membership and program chairs should also track attendance figures to monitor progress. The narrative may be at the beginning of the book (all together) or integrated within the collateral section. If you decide to keep the two elements separate, label the collateral as exhibits and refer to them in the narrative. Integrating narrative has the advantage of providing a better flow of information. But keep in mind that the competition rules limit the number of sheets of paper to four two-sided or eight one-sided. Also note that the same narrative and collateral can be used in several different categories. For instance, the advertising education projects that your club undertakes are often eligible in the programs category as well. Your club newsletter should definitely be included in the communications category, but it may also be collateral materials for the membership category. There is a different panel of judges for each category, so judges will not review the same material twice. COMPILING ENTRIES When to Start: Ideally, preparations for the Club Achievement Competition should begin as soon as the previous year s entries have been sent. It is therefore advisable that the old committee chairs continue collecting material for next year s competition until the new chairs are elected, in office, and ready to take over this responsibility. Timeline: Once the current year s deadline has been announced, you should plan three months out to begin writing the narrative. If you adhere to this timetable, there is sufficient time to collect any extra material needed to support the narrative. Once the committee chairs have gathered the material for each entry, it is advisable that the final compiling be done jointly. Although it is not necessary for books from the same club to be uniform, it may be helpful to have this sort of workshop atmosphere for the sharing of information and collateral material. Once each book is assembled, ask another committee member to look it over. Make sure that all of the competition guidelines have been met. ENTRY FORMAT Entries must be submitted in a PLAIN three-ring binder provided by the local club or federation. Affix a completed official Club Achievement entry form to the outside cover of each binder. This is all that should be on the outside of the binder; no artwork, colored paper or other material may appear on the cover, spine or back of the binder. NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES To ensure equitable judging of all entries, the outside measurements of the binder may be no larger than 11 x 12 or exceed 1.5 in width at the spine. In addition, when full, the

21 width of the binder on any side may be no more than 1.5. Please note: Many manufacturers of three-ring binders refer to the size of the binder by its ring size. Therefore, the outside measurements of binders with ring sizes of 1.5 may in fact measure 2 and exceed the maximum width requirements. The AAF recommends that your club confirm the outside measurements of entry binders prior to purchasing them. Binders exceeding 1.5 will be disqualified. Submit only one binder for each category. A total of three (3) minutes of audio or visual material is allowed as collateral in the Public Service category ONLY. CDs/DVDs of narrative and collateral will no longer be required. First place winners in all categories will be contacted after judging and asked to submit the winning entries in a digital format. JUDGING The AAF secures a separate panel of judges for each category of the competition. Each panel is composed of individuals who have professional expertise in the category that they are judging. Each judge reviews and scores all entries using the following criteria and point values. Total points equal 100. A) Outline and relevance of goals, 10 points B) Methods used to achieve goal(s), 25 points C) Results of methodology, 30 points D) Degree to which the collateral material documents the narrative description of the project or activities, 35 points COMPETITION DIVISIONS For the purpose of an equitable competition, clubs compete by membership size (except for Ad 2 clubs) in the following divisions: Division I 500+ members Division II members Division III members Division IV up to 99 members Division V Ad 2 Clubs AAF AWARDS First-, second- and third-place awards will be designated in each division within each category at the discretion of the judges. A Club and President of the Year Award is given to the club in each division whose accomplishments based on the first-, second- and third-place awards it receives are outstanding. Each first-place award receives 30 points. Each second-place award receives 20 points. Each third-place award receives 10 points. Ties will be broken at the discretion of the judges. SPECIAL AWARDS The Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Education Award Sponsored by Saatchi & Saatchi. Grants will be given to all first-, second- and third-place winners and to the one overall winner in the Advertising Education category. The G.D. Crain Jr. Memorial Award for Public Service Sponsored by the Crain Foundation. Grants will be given to all first-place winners in the Public Service category. The Sid Bernstein Communications Award Sponsored by Crain Communications. Grants are given to all first-place winners in the Communications category. Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives Sponsored by Crain Communications. Grants are given to all firstplace winners in the Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives category. All awards will be announced and presented at a special awards ceremony in conjunction with ADMERICA, AAF s National Conference, June 4 7, 2016 in Anaheim, CA.

22 CATEGORIES OF ENTRY Advertising Education Essentially, there are three areas of concentration in advertising education. These are programs for the profession, students and the general public. These programs improve the skills, professionalism and standards of current and future advertising practitioners through education as well as provide an understanding of, and confidence in, advertising and its contributions to the community and the economy. Club Operations The policies, procedures and leadership development that contribute to the operations of a club or federation. NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES Communications Collateral materials and/or websites produced and distributed exclusively for the club or federation. Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives Projects and programs designed to elevate the practice and presence of multiculturalism in the club or federation through professional development, promotion and inclusion. Government Relations Projects and programs designed to build effective relations with local, state and national governments. Relationships are developed through the club or federation s work to initiate favorable legislation, contribute to the defeat of adverse legislation, educate lawmakers and promote industry self-regulation. Membership Development Membership development is defined as activities designed to enhance local advertising club or federation membership recruitment, retention and involvement. Programs Quality programming that fosters actively interested membership, well-attended meetings and membership growth. Public Service Projects that effectively use advertising techniques to support local, regional and/or national programs on behalf of public interests and/or for community betterment. The category description sheets below have further entry details for each category. ENTRY FEES $95 for the first entry, $40 for each additional entry. Make checks payable to the American Advertising Federation. Entry fees must accompany entries. Send entries to: American Advertising Federation Club Achievement Competition 1101 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC ENTRY DEADLINE All entries must be received by the AAF, no later than 5 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, March 15, Entries become the property of the AAF unless the appropriate space on the entry form is checked for return. Entries will only be returned if a FedEx account number is provided by the entrant. If requested AND an account number is provided, entries will be returned to the contact as listed on the entry form via FedEx. Club Achievement Books will be returned no later than September 15, Please provide a street address,

23 no Post Office boxes. Questions concerning the National Club Achievement Competition should be directed to AAF Club Services at NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES OFFICIAL ENTRY FORM Affix a completed copy of this form to the outside front cover of each entry binder. This form may be duplicated. Name of club or federation: Population of city or metro area served by club (#): Total club members at date of entry (#): Name of club or federation president: Phone: Check Appropriate Division (based on size of membership): Division I 500+ members Division II members Division III members Division IV up to 99 members Division V Ad 2 Clubs Check Appropriate Category: Advertising Education Club Operations Communications Diversity & Multicultural Initiatives Government Relations Membership Development Programs Public Service Do you want your binder returned? YES NO (If yes, please provide your shipping account information) Your FedEx account number: Club Contact (For questions or notifications regarding the entry, as well as where the entry will be returned, if requested.) Name of Club President: Company: Street address (no P.O. Boxes): City/State/Zip: Phone: E- mail: NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CATEGORY OF ENTRY: ADVERTISING EDUCATION Definition: Essentially there are three areas of concentration in advertising education. These are programs for the profession, students, and the general public. These programs improve the skills, professionalism and standards of current and future advertising practitioners through education as well as provide an understanding of, and confidence in, advertising and its contributions to the community and the economy. 1. State your club or federation s advertising education goals in the following areas: a. Advertising education for the profession b. Advertising education for students

24 c. Advertising education for the general public 2. Explain how you achieved these goals by describing your: a. Event details b. Target audience c. Strategy d. Execution/Tactics 3. Describe, in detail, the results of your advertising education program(s). Rules: The narrative section of the binder, expanding on the above, must be limited to eight (8) one-sided, doublespaced, typed sheets of paper or four (4) double-spaced, typed sheets back-to-back. The narrative may be at the beginning of the book (all together) or integrated within the collateral section. The remainder of the binder must be produced collateral or supportive material relevant to the category. All collateral material must have been produced since February 28, NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CATEGORY OF ENTRY: MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Definition: Membership Development is defined as activities designed to enhance the local advertising club or federation membership in three ways: recruitment, retention and involvement. 1. State your club or federation s membership goals as they relate to: a. Recruitment b. Retention c. Involvement 2. How did you achieve these goals including (but not limited to) the following activities: a. Projects/Programs b. Volunteerism c. Member feedback d. Club operations 3. Describe, in detail, the results of your membership activities Rules: The narrative section of the binder, expanding on the above, must be limited to eight (8) one-sided, doublespaced, typed sheets of paper or four (4) double-spaced, typed sheets back-to-back. The narrative may be at the beginning of the book (all together) or integrated within the collateral section. The remainder of the binder must be produced collateral or supportive material relevant to the category. All collateral material must have been produced since February 28, NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CATEGORY OF ENTRY: CLUB OPERATIONS Definition: Club operations are defined as the policies, procedures and leadership development that contribute to the operations of a club or federation. 1. State your club or federation s operations goal(s) as they relate to: a. Long-range planning b. Analysis of member needs c. Leadership organization and development d. Fiscal management (budgeting, dues, non-dues income and fundraising) 2. Describe the methods used for achieving these goals. 3. State/define the results of these executions. Rules: The narrative section of the binder, expanding on the above, must be limited to eight (8) one-sided, doublespaced, typed sheets of paper or four (4) double-spaced, typed sheets back-to-back. The narrative may be at the

25 beginning of the book (all together) or integrated within the collateral section. The remainder of the binder must be produced collateral or supportive material relevant to the category. All collateral material must have been produced since February 28, NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CATEGORY OF ENTRY: COMMUNICATIONS Definition: Collateral materials and/or Web sites produced and distributed exclusively for the club or federation. 1. Describe your club or federation s use of communication materials for any or all of the following areas: a. Regular communication with members b. Event or meeting promotions and announcements c. Communication with nonmembers d. Self-promotion e. Others (e.g., telephone and broadcast scripts, press releases, etc.) 2. For each communication vehicle submitted, provide the following: a. Goals b. Target audience c. Budget recap d. Distribution system e. Results achieved f. Sample Rules: The narrative section of the binder, expanding on the above, must be limited to eight (8) one-sided, doublespaced, typed sheets of paper or four (4) double-spaced, typed sheets back-to-back. The narrative may be at the beginning of the book (all together) or integrated within the collateral section. The remainder of the binder must be produced collateral or supportive material relevant to the category. All collateral material must have been produced since February 28, NATIONAL CLUB ACHIEVEMENT COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES CATEGORY OF ENTRY: DIVERSITY & MULTICULTURAL INITIATIVES Definition: Projects and programs designed to elevate the practice and presence of multiculturalism in the club or federation through professional development, promotion and inclusion. 1. Explain your club or federation s activities/projects as they relate to the above definition in any of the following areas: a. Program speakers b. Education workshops/seminars c. Advertising campaigns d. Representation and participation by diverse individual members in the club or federation through club leadership, club operations and/or volunteerism e. Diversification of the employee base at member businesses and organizations f. Representation and participation by multicultural/cross-cultural agencies, media, or other service providers in the club or federation g. Educational and motivational programs aimed at encouraging multicultural students to pursue careers in advertising h. Programs that promote business relationships between general market member companies and multicultural suppliers, vendors and service providers 2. For each activity/project described, define the club s: a. Goals b. Target audience c. Strategy