2007 TD50 retrospective online

The Egotist has posted a retrospective of some of last year's winning work, along with these words:

You’re going to have a very difficult time being considered a credible force in Colorado until you get work into the New Denver Ad Club’s annual Denver 50 show. And you’re never actually going to get in unless you enter. [Ed. - Links added]. The choice is yours.

Good news, slackers: TD50 deadline extended

Three days before the deadline for the 2007 Denver 50, I was a wreck. I had received no work. No phone calls. No emails. Nothing. A few short days later, 33 agencies had dropped off their entries. Phew.

This year, we're in much better shape. In the past two days, I've been contacted by four frantic agencies that need more time to get their entries together.

You want it? You got it. But not much of it.

The new deadline is August 29. All the other rules and specifications still apply. Anyone on the NDAC email list or in the NDAC Facebook group will get emails announcing the extension soon. Bring the noise.

AdPulp looks at the 2007 Denver 50 book

AdPulp writes:

I rarely look at award show books these days, but this one pulled me in. First off, there's no Best of Show, just 50 big ideas, one after the next. And there are no categories, which I appreciate. A big idea is a big idea. Who cares what media it's expressed in?

Read the rest here.

TD50 column at AdWeek

A couple months ago Steve Conroy asked me to pen an op-ed about the Denver 50 that he could pitch to AdWeek. I did. Time passed. I forgot about the whole thing. Then last Thursday, I got a call from Libby Estell informing me that AdWeek was going to run my piece online:

But while agencies try to move forward, awards shows seem stuck. Particularly at the local level, they tend to reward executions and vendors, instead of breakthrough ideas.

When we launched the new Denver Ad Club in 2006, we decided that we could make a powerful statement by reinventing the awards show.

The rest is at AdWeek.com.

UPDATE: Pure, Andy and the Egotist give link love. (Thanks, guys.) And I just heard Amatucci's cover photos for the 2007 show book won a Gold National ADDY.

Scott Goodson and Gareth Kay to judge 2008 Denver 50

A few days after the 2007 Denver 50, I got a call from Kevin Roddy's assistant. She wanted to confirm that I was still on for drinks with Kevin that night.

In Manhattan.

The clicking sound she heard was me jumping to my laptop to see if it was possible to get an immediate flight from Denver to LaGuardia. It wasn't, and I reluctantly informed her that she'd gotten me confused with someone else.

Ninety-eight percent of the people in America don't understand why that story is funny. For the two percent that do, I have news.

Scott Goodson and Gareth Kay have given an early thumbs-up to the idea of judging the 2008 Denver 50.

Scott Goodson is the founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog. He's only judging The Denver 50 and D&AD this year. His blog is scott goodson's writings. He was profiled in USA Today. And here's a link to all of Agency Spy's articles about StrawberryFrog.

Gareth Kay is the head of planning at Modernista!. His blog is brand new. He's joined the Denver 50 Facebook group. And here's a link to all of Agency Spy's articles about Modernista!.

We're chasing two more judges whose names will make ad geeks get all wobbly.

The 2008 deadline will be in August, so we're still a good six months out. But it looks like the Denver 50 will again have a judging panel that'd make the One Club jealous.

iRovr getting traction

The iPhone-based social networking application iRovr earned a spot in the 2007 Denver 50. Now it's inching towards the tipping point nationally. Love seeing a Denver agency thinking like this.

NDAC and ADCD updates, please!

• Please buy a copy of The 50. Because I have about 300 of them sitting in my office. And they're just 10 bucks.

• Please join The Denver 50, which is the NDAC's semi-official Facebook group.

• Please join the ADCD to welcome the One Club to town.

Denver 50 books, photos and film are online

Didn't make it to the Denver 50? Buy the book for just $10. See the photos on NewDenverAdClub.com. Join the creative pod's Facebook group to discuss future activities. And check out some extremely bad video of us setting up the work and enjoying the show.

Me and Lisa Simpson and the NDAC

Yesterday morning, someone asked me how much recognition I wanted during the Denver 50 show. And I remembered a scene from "The Summer of 4 ft. 2." Lisa Simpson is attempting to hand out yearbooks when Nelson explains how the world works:

Nelson: Who died and made you boss?

Lisa: Mr. Estes, the publications advisor. I edited the whole thing.

Nelson: If you hadn't done it, some other loser would have. So quit milking it!

Quit milking it. Good advice. I will, in a minute.

There are three things I wish everyone knew about The Denver 50:

1. It wasn't a big moneymaker. At least, not compared to what the ADDYs would've been. We got 170 entries, which included more than 600 executions. Under an ADDY format, each of those executions could have been entered again individually. We left money on the table so we explore a media-neutral format that more accurately reflected the realities agencies face today.

2. It was a huge risk (as ad club risks go). It took courage for the board to let us buck the national awards format. It took optimism for our jaw-dropping judges to spend their time on a local show. And it took faith for agencies to buy into the show concept. People can argue about whether the Denver 50 was a huge success or a giant flop. But I hope people appreciate the fact that we were swinging for the fences.

3. The names of our sponsors. There is an exhaustive list in the book. A little extra love from me to my friends at:

• texturemedia, who built the judging site.
• Amatucci, who shot the book cover.
• Pure Brand, who produced the book.
• Integer, who planned the event.
• Fueld Films, who shot our video and game.
• Thought Equity, who assembled the reel.

Today we're all back at work, trying to do the best job we can. That's the nature of this business. What you did yesterday doesn't matter half as much as what you'll do tomorow. Onward.

Monday night isn't ugly, it's beautiful

• MySpace pages make my eyes hurt. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're beautiful.

• Jennifer Love Hewitt gets grief for being curvy. But she thinks she's beautiful. She's right.

• The concept seems tired. But the video for "Apartment Story" is beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the song.

The Denver 50 short film

Fueld Films let me put their film on my YouTube page so people can get all bloggy with it.



UPDATE: If you need a good laugh, play the TD50 game. Maybe it'll inspire you to get your tickets.

TD50 2008 judges I'd like to see: Gareth Kay

The Denver 50 2007 judging panel was maybe the greatest ever assembled for a local show. Mike Lescarbeau, Mike Byrne, Rob Rasmussen and Kevin Roddy. I defy you to name four more influential creatives in America. I'd love to keep the bar high for 2008. One person I'd like to see is Modernista! planner Gareth Kay. This presentation from his Slideshare page explains why:

| View | Upload your own

Tuesday morning concurrence

• TD50 is one month away. Get your tickets. And join our Facebook group.
• Scott Goodson thinks that copywriters are more important than ever. I concur.
• Andy Bosselman is psyched for the Denver International Film Festival. I concur.
• The Denver Egotist is high on Texture. And I concur.

TD50 tickets are on sale as of right now

The Denver 50 show will be on December 6 at Exdo. Tickets are just $35 for NDAC members and $50 for everyone else. Get yours at regonline.com/denver50.

This print ad was created for the New Denver Ad Club by Dave Schneider and me, both of Karsh\Hagan.

Liveblog: NDAC planning session

8:53 a.m. I am at the NDAC's planning meeting. It's an all-day funfest of pod updates and work sessions. There are about 25 people from Karsh, Cactus, TTD and so forth. Got a question or concern? Let me hear it in the comments. I'll try to update throughout the day.

10:29 a.m. Break time. Lots of yapping on the costs associated with running a nonprofit. SWOT analysis. That sort of thing. Apparently the national club wishes we did the ADDYs instead of TD50.

12:20 p.m. Please let lunch come soon. I gave a little speech on the state of the Creative Pod, which was mostly babbling about TD50. Gave thanks to Texture, Pure and Amatucci, among others.

2:02 p.m. Group breakouts. How do we increase relevance to members? Does the pod structure add value or just confuse everyone? How can we help students, causes and job seekers?

Gamekillers premieres tonight on MTV

Why am I blogging this? Maybe because Bartle Bogle Hegarty executive creative director Kevin Roddy judged The Denver 50. Which makes us BFF.

But there's another reason Gamekillers is worth talking about. It's an example of a big idea - the sort of idea that TD50 was designed to reward. It's more than just a three-spot campaign. It's an intricate web of sites and print and now a TV show that has inspired wikipedia entries and blog postings and buzz all over. Gamekillers is a good example of where advertising is in the year 2007. Oh, and it looks funny as hell, too.

2007 ADCD award show

The Art Directors Club of Denver gives good award show. Always has. Last night was no exception.

The big winners in the ad categories were Cactus and Integer. Some other shops also took home multiple awards, like John Amatucci, Vermillion, Lee Reedy and Pure Brand.

In his opening remarks, club president James Pelz said some nice things about the New Denver Ad Club, of which I'm an overactive member. I want to return the favor. When we were planning TD50, we started by agreeing that ADCD was already doing a killer multi-discipline show. We didn't see any point in duplicating their efforts. So TD50 partially owes its structure to the ADCD. There's no excuse for agencies not to enter both shows.

Be that as it may, my agency sat out this year. But Thomas Taber & Drazen, where I worked up until last month, entered a couple things. And our - or is it "their," now? - 2006 print campaign for Colorado Farm Bureau Insurance took home silver and judge's choice awards. Stephen Curry, creative director of Lewis Communications wrote:

What makes this campaign refreshing is the simple credit it gives the reader for his/her own intelligence.

The best part of working on the campaign came after we sent final art out out to dozens of community newspapers across the state. We got media reps calling us to tell us our files were screwed up. The photo was too small. The headline was missing. That sort of thing. We had to reassure them that the files were fine. And our client deserves heaps of praise for saying yes to a very quiet campaign.

So it was a good night. And a tough act for the TD50 award show to follow.

Get another take on the evening from The Denver Egotist.

The Denver 50: How to enter your idea

These instructions also live on newdenveradclub.com. But let's get it out there.


About the Denver 50

The Denver 50 isn't about backslapping and gladhanding and plastic pieces of hardware that you can display on your agency shelf. Because advertising in the year 2007 isn't about those things.

Advertising is about ideas. And ideas are bigger than individual executions. Bigger than individuals.

The Denver 50 is America's first idea-centric award show. You submit your idea, and as many executions as you need to illustrate it. Our judges will pick the best 50 ideas. Then we'll put out a book that shows the world just how good this market can be.

Our judges include the very best creative directors from the world's very best agencies.

1. Mike Byrne, CD and partner at Anomaly/NY
2. Kevin Roddy, ECD at BBH/NY
3. Robert Rasmussen, ECD at R/GA
4. Jason Zada, ECD and founder at EVB
5. Mike Lescarbeau, President and CCO at CarmichaelLynch


How do I enter The Denver 50?

1. Write a 50 to 150-word description of your idea in a Word document.

2. Decide which execution or executions best represent your idea. You could choose a single piece. Or up to 10 executions in an integrated campaign.

3. Optimize the executions you want to submit with your idea according to the specs below.

4. Put all the executions in a single folder with your Word document.

5. Title the folder with the name of your agency and a number. (For instance, the second entry from Thomas Taber + Drazen would be tiltled "TTD2.")

6. Repeat this process for as many ideas as you want to submit to the Denver 50.

7. Burn all your folders to CD-ROM or DVD.

8. Each submission is $100. Make checks payable to the New Denver Ad Club for the appropriate amount.

9. Deliver your disc (or discs) and check to Matt Ingwalson at Karsh\Hagan, 2399 Blake, Denver, CO 80205 or to Ted Morse at Thomas Taber & Drazen, 1610 15th Street, Denver, CO 80202. Submissions must arrive by August 28.


The Rules

Let's keep this simple, shall we?

1. Entries must be submitted by 6:00 pm on August 28, 2007.

2. $100 per entry. Each entry can include one to 10 pieces that represent the idea.

3. The idea must have been created in Colorado.

4. The idea must have debuted publicly between 1/1/06 and 8/28/07. That's 20 whole months worth of work you can submit.

5. Both NDAC members and non-members are eligible.

6. You cannot submit any piece more than once. For instance, do not submit a print ad campaign and then also submit each ad in that campaign separately.


How do I size my files?

Option 1 - Compose a two-minute (or less) slideshow or video about your idea. You can include photos, videos, a voiceover, or whatever you want along with the elements of your idea. This is how they do the Titanium Lions at Cannes. For examples, see canneslionslive.com/titanium.

Option 2 - Follow the instructions below.

1. Print ad, editorial layout, outdoor, logo, poster or other printed piece: Convert your file into a .jpg or .gif. Make it fit within 900x600 pixel space. The total file size must not exceed 1Mb.

2. Video, animation or commercial: Create a 320x240 .flv file. Compress the video at 400Kbps and the audio at 96Kbps. If you'd like to submit a .mov, make sure it is 320x240 and no larger than 4Mb.

3. Website or microsite: Your site must be hosted somewhere for it to be judged. Submit a link to the site. If you choose, you can also submit a screencapture of your idea to demonstrate a key detail, following the requirements for a print ad or poster.

4. Web banners or rich media: Send us your .swf, .gif, .flv or whatever your deliverable was, no larger than 4Mb. If you feel it must be seen in context, you can submit a screencapture.

5. Event, signage, packaging, 3-D piece, environmental or guerrilla activity: Take a photo and then follow the requirements for a print/poster idea. Or take a movie and follow the requirements for a video/spot.

6. Radio spot or audio track: Submit an .mp3. File size must not exceed 2Mb.

7. Something else: Write an explanation in a Word doc and add it to your folder. Be as clear as possible. Include a photo if you like. If this isn't working for you, post a question on this thread.

Shh, there was a Creative Pod meeting last night

The Creative Pod meeting last night was a little quiet. Maybe the Rockies game across the street jammed up parking. Or maybe people were just saving their energy for tonight's kickball tournament. The upshot was that about eight of us gathered at Thought Equity to watch the latest reel from Lurzer's Archive and discuss the Denver 50.

Tim of Thought Equity volunteered to help us find a venue for our November show. Two folks from Crispin dropped by to let us know they plan to enter. Fueld had some ideas for a viral video. I seem to remember drinking a Blue Moon.