Me in ALL CAPS

Thanks to whoever handled the Denver 50 write-up for A&M Review. Especially since they put my name in all capital letters. (Which moved Gregg to quip, "I just thought that was core to the brand MATT INGWALSON.")

But seriously, any write-up on the Denver 50 that doesn't thank Lindsey Larson, Lauren Davis, Lindsey McCune, Thomas Dahl, Steve Miller and Jeff Mason is grievously incomplete. The market, the show, and the New Denver Ad Club owe them all a big "thank you."

Denver 50 2008 show FAQ

The 2008 Denver 50 party/show/event/book release is coming up on Tuesday, Dec. 2. And according to my email inbox, inquiring minds want answers.

Where do I get tickets?: At Regonline.com/d50bash2008. If you're not a member, the site will let you buy a membership, thereby allowing you to get tickets at the member price.

Is there a dresscode?: Nope. Some will be dressed as if headed for a gallery opening. Others will probably come in flannel.

Can we buy a table?: No. There are no tables for sale. There is no assigned seating. There will be couches, chairs and corners to fall down in. But no purchasable tables.

Will we be able to shoot each other with Nerf guns all night long?: That's the plan.

What's with the Twitter feed?: I don't know. What's with the Denver Broncos?

Will there be a big bus parked outside the event?: Signs point to yes. But who knows? It's advertising. Things change.

Food?: There will be a buffet of heavy-appetizer type things that can certainly pass for dinner. I forget exactly what's on it. Not taquitos, but that sort of thing.

Are you currently on the verge of a nervous meltdown?: Yes. But that's not, like, new for me. And it's not really related to the show. So many amazing people have stepped up to help this year. In 2007, the show was carried off by a small group of individuals. This year, it's truly a community show. Hopefully everyone will come out to celebrate the work.

Other questions? Hit me in the comments.

2008 Denver 50 on Twitter, Facebook and so forth

• Join our Facebook group
• Follow @Denver50 on Twitter
• Save it on your calendar
• Get your tickets now.

The Denver 50 artwork shown here was created by Justin McCammon and Camille King.

2008 TD50 judging instructions

Some of you are probably wondering why you did or didn't make the Denver 50. For the record, these are the exact instructions given the judges:

The Denver 50 is about finding fresh, relevant ideas that connect brands and people. Please consider each entry based on how well it does that, judging it first on the "big idea" and second on the creative merit of the executions.

Each entry was scored on a scale from zero to 10. We averaged all the judge's scores and the top 50 scoring entries are this year's Denver 50. They will all be in the showbook, which will be debuted at the show on December 2.

Flood in NYC messing with the 2008 TD50

The flooding at JWT/NY has played havoc with TD50 judge Ty Montague's schedule. You didn't really think this thing was going to go off without a hitch, did you? This is advertising, after all.

UPDATE: Montague will be able to be done with judging on Saturday. With a little work this weekend, we should be able to notify winners by Monday or Tuesday. They'll need to get high resolution files to Hero Design Studio by October 1. My undying thanks to Akavit and NetNewsdesk for creating the bulletproof and user-friendly judging site. Send some business their way, Denver.

TD50 entrants asked to stay cool

Apparently there is some disinformation or rumor or some other form of confusion making the rounds. So let me state this as clearly as I can.

Judging for the Denver 50 has not been completed. Winners have not been notified.

Judging should wrap up around 9/15, with some allowances made for our judges' schedules. We'll need a couple days to double check our results. Winners will be notified somewhere between 9/18 and 9/22. They will be asked to provide high resolution art for our showbook to Hero by 10/1.

There is also a rumor that I compulsively check the judging site at all hours of the day and night. That, I'll confirm.

2008 TD50: Random thoughts

This is how I know I'm in advertising: Four of the six meals I ate Friday and Saturday were pizza.

I spent most of Saturday at Cactus, where I was helping a group of volunteers, interns and students upload all of the Denver 50 entries to the judging site.

Truth be told, I had a sneak preview of the work Friday night. I went through all the entries to troubleshoot discs, separate out all the checks, that sort of thing. The side benefit? I got to see all of the work you've been doing for the past 12 months.

This is what I think: The work is better this year. I'm not sure if it's because people get the show concept. Or if they've been inspired by the ad club or the Egotist or something. But there are several entries that I wish I had in my book. There are even a couple agencies who could argue they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Cactus, Factory and Sukle.

Here are a few other things I think, phrased cryptically:

• More agencies took the Own-Your-C Gamble this year.
• Everybody loves TD50, but it's never going to make much money.
• If we ask for a 4 Mb .mov, we'd rather not receive a 800 Mb file.
• Will the ex-McClain people get their revenge on Denver?
• Our TD50 party (I think it's Tues., Dec. 2) is going to rock.

You get no more intel out of me. I'd like to thank more than 30 brave agencies for entering the Denver 50. Best of luck to you all.

Award show inspires more film

Brian Wilkens and the Integer folks riff on Death to the 50:

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.

The value of advertising award shows in general. And one in particular.

When a business wins an award, it contacts its agency and asks it to put together an ad to publicize the fact. When an agency wins an award, it rushes to reassure its clients that the awards are just a recruitment tool, and the agency's only real concern is its clients' ROI.

Whatever.

Awards matter. It's silly to pretend they don't. The awards give you something to push up against. Something to inspire you when you're tired. Something to reward you for all the late nights and lost weekends. And something objective to judge this awfully subjective industry against.

Sure, we'd rather use other measurements. Like, say, our clients' profits. But advertising - and even marketing - are only pieces of a company's profitability. You can run the best ad in history, but if your shipment sinks halfway across the Atlantic, you're still doomed.

Likewise, awareness and recall measurements don't tell the whole story. I'm aware of snow, human misery, and all sorts of other things I wish I wasn't. I recall those horrible "He went to Jared" ads so well that I've pledged never to buy anything from Jared. Ever.

Engagement sounds swell, but no one has a clue how to measure it. Ditto ROI. (Tell me, how much brand advertising is needed to support a consumer activation tactic?)

The only concrete thing a creative - especially a young creative - has to go on is how well his work stacks up against his peers. And in my mind, there is no local show in the nation that gives you a clearer picture of where you stand than the Denver 50.

Not too long ago, I received an email stating that if the New Denver Ad Club expects people to enter the Denver 50, we needed to provide a reason besides, "It's a good way to support the market."

Part of me says that's a lame assertion. I know dozens of people who have quietly donated hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to support this market. But screw it. I'll play.

Let's say you genuinely don't care about building a great branding community in the Denver metro area. In fact, let's say you hate this backwater cowtown and are just counting the days until Juan Cabral swoops down on a flying white stallion and whisks you away to London. Guess what? You should still enter the Denver 50. Here are four reasons why.

It gives nontraditional shops a seat at the table - It is easy for an interactive or public relations agency to win an award at a category-driven show. But if they want strategic or branding responsibilities, they need to prove they can develop big ideas. The Denver 50 provides a level playing field. Last year, about half the winning ideas included digital components.

It's made for the modern era - Not so long ago, three clever ads were all you needed to prove your creative mettle. Not anymore. Campaigns like Beta 7 have exploded the definition of what makes great advertising. Clients expect agencies to come up with great print and broadcast and great microsites and witty blogs and gripping SMS and engaging games and strange guerilla demonstrations and oddly placed out-of-home. And they should. Because consumers are tuning out traditional advertising and rewarding brands like Converse and Scion, which are providing newer, cooler, more creative experiences. Only the Denver 50 is designed specifically to award that sort of thinking.

It'll make you famous - We created the Denver 50's structure to get maximum attention from the national community. We built a showbook that we mailed to ad schools, media outlets, and great agencies in other markets. And by only giving 50 awards, we guarantee that each winner gets lots of recognition. (Yes, Cannes would make you more famous. Duh.)

Our judges are superstars - There is no local show anywhere that attracts the level of judges that the Denver 50 attracts. Some are intrigued by our innovative format. Others by our online judging system, which gives them two weeks to sort through entries at their leisure. Want to get your work in front of the ECDs of TBWA\Chiat\Day or Bartle Bogle Hegarty or JWT/NY? Enter the Denver 50. (Read more about why judges love the Denver 50 on the Egotist.)

The award shows matter. And the Denver 50 matters a lot. To the community. The agencies. And the individual winners. Hopefully we'll see your best ideas on August 22.

[Ed. - My opinions do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the NDAC or Karsh\Hagan. Crossposts in their entirety are welcome under a Creative Commons by license.]

Tuesday link love

The Denver 50 call for entries video, which is on YouTube here and here, has been blogged by the Egotist, Andy, Justin, Patrick and Karsh\Hagan. (UPDATE: And Cactus.) Thanks for the links, folks.

The video was created pro bono by Citizen Pictures. Love it? Let 'em know. Hate it? Well, it still kicks the crap out of the nothing you made.

Full-length version of Death to the 50

Death to the 50

Enter the Denver 50.

2008 TD50 entries due August 22

The 2008 TD50 call for entries email went out this morning. The entry specs are at NewDenverAdClub.com. The film Death to the 50 from Citizen will debut any day now.

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.

2008 TD50 deadline coming August 22

Early buzz for this is here, here, here, here and here. And here and here.

StrawberryFrog is in London (and just about everywhere else)

Over the past few days, I've started to suspect that I'm being stalked by StrawberryFrog. I look on the Cannes shortlist and there it is. I turn on CNN and there it is. I wonder what's up in London and, now, there it is:

Last year, SF moved headquarters to New York and is moving its European operations to London...

It's no secret that StrawberryFrog has been successful by being smart and ahead of the game. They've been one of the most talked about shops since their inception in 1999. Goodson says, "I think it's fair to say that in today's ever changing market you need to stay entirely agile while remaining focused on delivering innovation, strategic and creative excellence." And that's exactly what StrawberryFrog seems to be doing. I see this as just another smart move on their list of good calls.

We're lucky to have StrawberryFrog founder and CEO Scott Goodson judging the 2008 Denver 50. Norm, Citizen Pictures and I are filming the call for entries now. Look for the video in about four weeks.

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.

Ty Montague and Adam Owett join TD50 judging panel

If you're in the New Denver Ad Club's TD50 Facebook group, you already know that JWT New York CCO and co-president Ty Montague has agreed to join StrawberryFrog CEO and founder Scott Goodson and Modernista! head of planning Gareth Kay on the 2008 TD50 judging panel.

I recently got confirmation from a fourth judge. Adam Owett is currently the Executive Vice President of the Creative Group at SONY BMG Music Entertainment. Before that, he was the Global Creative Director at Grey Worldwide. His job description at Sony reads like this:

Head "everything creative except the music" for all Sony BMG labels... [Including] videos, viral, packaging, online, mobile, in-store, all advertising, some merchandise and media buying/planning.

In other words, he is creating big ideas for a big brand on the biggest stage you can imagine. We're honored to have him join the judging panel.

Agenda for 3/20/08 NDAC creative interest group meeting

The creative interest group of the New Denver Ad Club will be meeting at Citizen Pictures and Base 2 Studios on Thursday, March 20. You can get details and directions on Upcoming.

The in-progress agenda goes like this:

• 6:00pm: Say hi. Become familiar with beer cart.
• 6:30pm: Check out Citizen's new reel.
• 7:00pm: Listen to me update the 2008 Denver 50.
• 7:00pm: Elect new board members.
• 7:15pm: Elect new creative interest group captains.
• 7:00pm: Enjoy appetizers, pool and Guitar Hero.
• 8:00pm: Adjourn.