FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2.25.24
Photo Gallery link
Winners’ Book link
MEMPHIS, TN—AAF Memphis presented its 57th annual American Advertising Awards for creative excellence on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at United Auto Exchange. This year’s theme was “Used Car Lot” created by independent creative studio Pretty Useful Co.
The event honored 38 Gold Addy winners, 40 Silver Addy winners, 1 Student Gold and 2 Student Silver Addy winners, and 11 recipients for “Best of” awards. In addition, our 3 judges each awarded a judges choice award. This year, a Mosaic Award was given to DCA for their work for the Art Memphis: We Don’t Make the Art video project. This award recognizes “companies, agencies and individuals whose commitment to diversity and inclusion is evident through their creative work and organization-wide initiatives”.
This year’s 386 entries were judged by Sophia Latto, XD Directoron the Behavior Design Team at Orion Innovation headquartered in Edison, NJ, Mike Caguin, Chief Creative Officer at Periscope in Minneapolis, and David Soames, Co-Founder and Creative Director of The Shop in Dallas.
“Every year, our board looks forward to organizing this competition to showcase the very best of the creative talent in our community. I had the unique opportunity this year to both lead our board as President through this process, and be part of the agency in charge of creative direction and organizing the award ceremony. We’ve really enjoyed putting together the theme of “A Lot of Winners” – a used car lot hosted by Crazy Addy. It’s been a lot of work but very rewarding as well!” said AAF Memphis President Katie Mars, Partner at Pretty Useful Co.
Following is a complete list of all 2024 AAF Memphis American Advertising Awards winners:
- Archer: Best of Self-Promotion, Best of Animation, 6 Gold, 12 Silver
- Baby Grand: Best of Packaging, 6 Gold, 1 Silver
- DCA: Best of Show, Best of Video, Best of Interactive, Judges Special Award (David Soames), Mosaic Award, 10 Gold, 14 Silver
- Harvest Creative: Judges Special Award (Mike Caguin), Judges Special Award (Sophia Latto), 2 Gold, 1 Silver
- Hemline: 1 Silver
- Holtermonster: Best of Outstanding Graphic Design, 1 Gold, 1 Silver
- inferno: 1 Silver
- Loaded For Bear: Best of Branding, Best of Public Service, Best of Apparel, 7 Gold, 5 Silver
- Paradigm Marketing and Creative: 1 Silver
- Pretty Useful Co: Best of Illustration, 1 Gold, 2 Silver
- The Break-Up Show: 1 Gold
- St. Francis Elevator Ride: Best of Print, 4 Gold
View the full winners book online.
Following the Memphis chapter awards, local winners will compete in the AAF District 7 level of the American Advertising Awards, a three-tiered national competition. District winners will proceed to compete on the national level, which represents the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition for creative excellence.
Recognizing Individual Achievement
In addition to recognizing excellence in advertising through awards for creative work, for the first time AAF Memphis conferred a slate of 5 special awards to individuals who made outstanding contributions to the field of advertising. A panel of judges that consisted of AAF members and a former Silver Medal Award winner evaluated nominees based on: contributions to their company, creative ability, contributions to the general advancement of advertising, and contributions to the community.
Silver Medal Award: Cynthia Saatkamp, Owner at Hemline
The Silver Medal Award recognizes remarkable lifetime achievements and has been conferred in Memphis since 1960.
Cynthia has worked in the Memphis advertising community for over three decades, and has served with AAF Memphis for over 10 years as a board member, executive committee member, president, and past president. She has been an active member and steward of the Memphis community through mentorship and service, serving on multiple boards including Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School, the Junior League of Memphis, Midtown Memphis Development Corporation, Central Gardens Association, and New Spark Performing Arts. She’s a fixture of the Memphis advertising community and truly cares about keeping it alive and thriving.
“Advertising is still more or less a boy’s club – less than 1% of advertising agencies are owned by women. Cynthia and her work establishing Hemline as not only women-owned but entirely staffed by women has made a real impact in the local landscape and the fabric of the Memphis advertising community.” – Allie Mounce, Co-Founder at Pretty Useful Co
Newcomer of the Year: Mary Elizabeth Whitmire, Junior Art Director at Archer
The first annual Newcomer of the Year award recognizes advertising professionals within their first four years in the industry.
What makes Mary Elizabeth truly exceptional is her self-taught journey in graphic design. Her work is a testament to her passion and creativity, and it’s evident that she possesses a rare talent that goes beyond conventional education.
“Mary Elizabeth is such a pleasure to work with. She brings her infectiously sunny disposition to every project and meeting. She’s got a bright future and a high ceiling ahead of her. We can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.” – Amanda Casabella, VP Group Creative Director at Archer
Unsung Hero of the Year: Lily Hurt, Media Manager at Hunt Marketing
The first annual Unsung Hero of the Year Award recognizes the crucial—and too often unsung—sales and service side of the industry.
As the first dedicated media manager at Hunt Marketing, Lily established many of her own processes and procedures that not only helped her perform her job well, but had ripple effects that impacted many other areas at Hunt including media strategy planning and tracking processes, and billing and invoicing.
“Account and creative teams often get the praise in this industry, but we would be nowhere without people like Lily. Without her, our creative could be awesome, but fall totally flat without being distributed to the right people, in the right places, supported by the right budget.” – Emily Kidd, Senior Creative Strategist at Hunt Marketing
Mosaic Champion Award: Cynthia Daniels, Owner and Chief Event Strategist at Cynthia Daniels & Co
The first annual Mosaic Champion Award recognizes a professional that has been continuously supportive of and goes above and beyond diversity, equity, & inclusion within the industry.
In addition to owning her own full-service event planning and design company, Cynthia has created 10 signature events including Memphis Black Restaurant Week, which has brought in more than $2.5 million dollars in the minority owned restaurant community since 2016. Another of her signature events, the Top 40 Under 40 Urban Elite Professionals Awards Gala, provides a platform each year to showcase young black professionals doing amazing things in and around Memphis. Cynthia has been featured in national publications Black Enterprise and Essence Magazine.
“Cynthia Daniels has spearheaded so many events that spotlight and feature black businesses. She’s created new opportunities for black owned businesses to showcase their offerings, black entrepreneurs and employees to mix and mingle for future job opportunities, and established annual heavily attended events in Memphis that have black business at their heart.” – Chris Porter, Partner and Creative Director at Baby Grand
Public Service Award: Josh Horton, Founder and Director of Creative Works
The first annual Public Service Award recognizes an individual who shows dedication to the Memphis community through public service activities, positively representing the field of advertising on a local level.
Josh Horton is a fixture of the Memphis advertising industry who has for years worked to build community and provide professional development and advancement opportunities for creatives in Memphis. Since founding the Creative Works conference in 2014, Josh has expanded the event to become a nationally recognized conference that draws attendees to Memphis from across the globe. For two years (2016-2018), the organization was also a nonprofit keenly focused on growing and empowering local creative talent through youth education and monthly events, including meetups, lectures, workshops, screenings, and gallery shows. Through the conference, Josh strives to empower artists and creative professionals to recognize their intrinsic value and ignite positive change in the world.
“Josh Horton is the heartbeat of the design community in Memphis. I’ve never met anyone more passionate about connecting people to each other — and to the greater purpose that we serve as creatives in this city — so that all of us can flourish. Whether he’s planning the next Creative Works or connecting with a young designer over coffee, Josh brings his whole self with vulnerability and courage. The impact he’s made is incredible, and we’re lucky he’s here.” – Matt Washburn, VP of Operations, Simple Focus
Media Contact:
Katie Mars, AAF Memphis President
aafmemphis@gmail.com
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ABOUT AAF MEMPHIS: The mission of AAF Memphis, the Memphis chapter of the American Advertising Federation, is to inspire, empower and applaud the professional growth of marketing communications specialists. For more information, visit aafmemphis.org.
AAF District 7 is composed of 23 local advertising clubs located in Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. AAF District 7 works to enhance professional development of club members while increasing recognition for the advertising industry and giving back to the local community. For more information, visit aafdistrict7.com.