Get Your ADDY Gala Tickets Now!

Make your reservations for East Tennessee's biggest communications industry event, to be held Saturday, February 25. Hurry! The gala often sells out. Click below to start.

2012 ADDYs Event Tickets

Single Ticket $70.00 USD VIP Ticket $90.00 USD Student Ticket $40.00 USD Table of 10 $650.00 USD

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AAF-Knoxville Welcomes Branding Guru Abigail Rendin

Who does Oscar nominated Morgan Spurlock (director of Super Size Me) look to when he is doing a movie completely about advertising? Spurlock talks to Abigail Rendin, Senior Manager at Olson Zaltman Associates. And this week, Abigail is coming to Knoxville to talk to us.

AAF Knoxville
January Seminar & Lunch
Thursday, Jan 26, 2012
Register: Members Non-Members Students

Olson Zaltman Associates is a research based consulting firm that identifies deep consumer insights to help clients develop and implement effective marketing, communications and innovation strategies. Olson Zaltman Associates uses an exclusive research tool, ZMET® (the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique), that identifies the deep mental and emotional universal orientations that structure and guide how people think, feel and behave with regard to a particular topic.

Abigail has spearheaded major branding and innovation research studies with Fortune 500 firms around the globe. She is also the firm’s Global Partner Liaison managing the network of firms that license ZMET in over 25 countries around the world. Abigail recently appeared in Spurlock's documentary film Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Her contagious passion for insights and outgoing nature makes her a natural speaker at conferences around the country. She holds a BA in Anthropology and a BA in International Studies both from The Pennsylvania State University.

• January 26, 2012

• 11:30am -1pm (11:30-12 networking/shmoozing)

• Peerless Restaurant

• Lunch

• $25 Members in advance

• $35 Non-Members

• $20 Students

• $35 Members Paying the door

Make Reservations Here: AAF-Knoxville Welcomes Jewelry TV's Pat Bryant

Join us for our next AdFed luncheon on November 17, as we welcome Pat Bryant, Jewelry TV's Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, who'll share his experiences and ideas on marketing communications, television, direct response, online, and many other topics.

To make reservations, simply click the links below:

AAF-Knoxville November Lunch Seminar

Member $25.00 USD Non-member $35.00 USD Student $20.00 USD

Big Wig Winners Announced

The second Annual Big Wig Awards were a huge success! Thanks to everyone who participated in nominating, voting, and celebrating with our Big Wig Winners.

AAF Knoxville's Big Wig Awards were created to celebrate the people who maybe don't get ADDY or creative awards, but who are instrumental in others getting them. Here's a list of our honorees for 2011:

Josh Loebner of DesignSensory was given the first annual Unsung Hero Award in appreciation for outstanding dedication and devotion to the principles and ideals of the advertising community.

Josh has started a blog called advertisinganddisability.com that addresses how the communications industry portrays people with disabilities.

Best Online Rep
Marina Prutskova, South Central Media

Best Receptionist
Joanne Hurd, Ackermann Public Relations

Educator of the Year
Dr. Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee

Best Large Format
Hart Graphics

Best Sign Company
Signs-N-Such

Best Direct Mail/ Fulfillment
Tennessee Valley Direct

Best Talent
Talent Trek

Best Web Programmer
Paul Gibson, VIEO Design

Best Sound
Paul Jones, Zippy Tunes

Best Film/Video Production
RIVR Media

Best Intern
Haley McCallie, Designsensory

Best Printer Rep
Brent Golden, Hart Graphics

Most likely to be my Boss is 10 years
Catherine Rapp, Knoxville News Sentinel

Best Magazine Rep
Brig Samson, Metro Pulse

Best Newspaper Rep
Marti Townsend, Knoxville News Sentinel

Best Media Planner/Buyer
Cynthia Wells

Best TV Rep
Mitzi Rouse, WBIR

Best Out of Home Rep
Emily Jenkins, Lamar Outdoor

Best Radio Rep
Jennifer East, Journal Broadcasting

Best Exhibitor
Martha Kopp Shear, Skyline

Graphic Design Student of the Year
Haley McCallie, University of Tennessee

Best Printer
Hart Graphics

Second Annual Big Wig Awards Set

On October 28 AAF-Knoxville's Big Wig Awards Will Recognize the "Unsung Heroes" of Advertising

You know who they are--the people who save your bacon on a regular basis. If you're in the communications business, you have plenty of them.

Assistants. Printers. Media reps. Even teachers.

And finally, there's a chance to give these people the credit they deserve. AAF Knoxville's Big Wig Awards were created to celebrate the people who maybe don't get ADDY or creative awards, but who are instrumental in others getting them.

Check out our microsite to see more, and to nominate some of those people you know should be honored. Then, on October 28, we'll host an amazing party and bring the "unsung heroes" of our business to the forefront, giving them long-overdue props for hard work.

AAF-Knoxville Takes You Behind the Brands

Summer Conference:
July 28-31

Agenda, Details, Registration: AAFBehindtheBrands.com

Don’t let the title deceive you: this event is open to all communications professionals – and you'll want to put this conference on your “must attend” list. The 2011 AAF Summer Conference and District 7 Leadership Event will be held at Knoxville’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, with more than 200 marketers in attendance from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Professional Development & Networking
“Behind the Brands” will give you inside information on how several national companies have built their identities, what makes a brand successful and how they’re facing branding challenges through advertising, PR, sustainability, ROI, social media, identity, packaging, special events, consumer engagement and strategy. To-date, the participating brands include:

• AC Entertainment (Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)
• Bush's Baked Beans
• Pilot Flying J Travel Centers
• Ruby Tuesday
• Scripps Networks (HGTV, Food Network, DIY, GAC, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel
• TeamHealth (Provides clinical outsourcing services to more than 600 hospitals throughout the U.S.)
• University of Tennessee Athletics

Beyond this professional development, you'll get to network with a few hundred peers from our five-state AAF region.

Visit AAFBehindtheBrands.com to view the agenda, conference details and to register.

Club Workshops
Learn from the best of the best in District 7 about how to grow and manage your local chapters. Additionally, there will be workshops and roundtable discussions for chapter Presidents, Regional Directors and with Governor Elizabeth Perry. Speakers and topics are still being confirmed, but the following areas are usually addressed:

• Programs
• Membership Recruitment & Retention
• Education
• Government Relations
• ADDY® Awards
• Fundraising
• Finances
• Club Achievement

Questions, Ideas, Concerns?
Conference Chair Michael Torano: michaelt@n8promo.com or 361-438-3550

AAF-Knoxville President Susie Norris: susie@orangeapplebranding.com or 865.406.7558

Recap: “People Are Weird” Seminar

If you missed last week’s “People Are Weird” seminar, here’s a brief recap.

While no one fits into just one type or group, there are four types of people we have/get to work with, pitch to and try to sell to:

1. Communicators: They’re emotional decision makers.
   
2. Commanders: They see the value in making what seem like risky decisions.
   
3. Calculators: The decisions they make must be logical.
   
4. Completers: They are sometimes held back from making decisions due to fear.

How do you peg someone?

1. Communicators: Extroverted, people-oriented, friendly, stylish, open, emotional/animated, socializes regardless of time, empathizes with others, popular and gung-ho.
   
2. Commanders: Commanding, bottom-line oriented, dominating, formal, impatient, emotional/direct, always pushed for time, about achievement, restless, quick/impulsive and fast.
   
3. Calculators: Non-nonsense, facts-oriented, assessing, conservative, closed, unemotional/reserved, values and manages time, about organization, selective, cool/distant, objective and controlled.
   
4. Completers: Laid-back, systems oriented, accepting, conforming, cautious, unemotional/low-key, respects time but not pushed, accepts others, about functions, willing, steady/reserved, slow/studied and steady.
   

Their hot-buttons, the things to avoid when communicating with them?

1. Communicators: Alienation.
   
2. Commanders: The feeling that they’re being taken advantage of.
   
3. Calculators: The fear of making a mistake.
   
4. Completers: Anything that seems like radical change.

So what do they want to hear?

1. Communicators: How they’re going to get the credit and look good. Ask them how to include others in the decision. Socialize with them and entertain them.
   
2. Commanders: Show them the benefits and throw in a high-profile reference. Ask them how they would do it and about their opinions.
   
3. Calculators: Stay focused on the facts, the details and the long-term benefits. Ask them how they would organize it and solve the problems.
   
4. Completers: Remove the risk, and don’t talk about change or new ideas. Ask them how they do their jobs and make it a no-pressure decision with a lot of time.
   

Okay, so that’s not a full synopsis of the hour-long session at Barley’s (we tried a downtown venue for a change of pace), but at least it’s some tip-of-the-iceberg insight into the different types of personalities we encounter each day in our communications professions.