2012 ADDY Awards a Success!

The 2012 ADDY Awards was a great success with 222 entries from 34 different companies and 15 student entries representing 3 universities.  The awards show, with over 150 attendees, was Hosted by Bill Shirk at the D’Amore on the 48th Floor of the Chase Tower on Thursday February 24th.

Check out the 2012 Addy Award Winners!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Thanks to your 2012 ADDY Awards judges:

Monika Royal
New Business Director, Sanger & Eby

As a past president of the Advertising Club of Cincinnati, as well as Chair of the Board for AAF District 5, Monika has been active with the American Advertising Federation in various capacities for many years. Her involvement includes chairing the District 5 NSAC competition, the District 5 ADDYs, as well as founding the Ad2 Cincinnati chapter. She is also the newly elected Education Chair for Ad Club Cincinnati.

As New Business Director for Sanger & Eby, Monika’s role is to identify and build relationships with new clients seeking to engage Sanger & Eby for design, strategy, social media and high-end web development. Her strength in understanding the interactive space is integral in her ability to bring Sanger & Eby together with the right kind of clients.

In addition to her role at Sanger & Eby, Monika is also a partner in The All Night Party (ANP), a music services and licensing company that she co-founded in 2009. ANP is a music services company dedicated to creating branded music products and licensing the best undiscovered talent—breathing new life into your project through sound. Monika handles marketing, sales and in some cases, talent scouting for the company.

Monika is active in Cincinnati, serving on the board for the Carnegie Center for the Arts, as well as serving as Chair for Club Red, the young professionals division of the Red Cross. In her free time (what little there is!) she enjoys traveling, Champagne Tuesdays, shopping and writing for her fashion blog, Such a Redkatblonde.

This year, Monika was honored to be selected for the Cincinnati Business Courier’s 2010 40 Under 40 class. She is a native Cincinnatian and a ’97 cum laude graduate of the University of Cincinnati, where she received her degree in Communications.

John Topacio
Freelance Writer & Advertising Instructor

John Topacio hates “ads.” He hates how they pound him over the head to buy things. He hates how they too often talk down to him. He hates how they are more annoying than useful. So why would he enter an industry full of things he hates? So he could be in a position to create work he loves. Work that inspires. Work people can’t avoid because they don’t want to. Work that’s just plain cool. He wants to create ads that don’t act like “ads.”

John began his career creating that work at Leo Burnett Detroit. There, his first assignment was to write ads for a little event called the Super Bowl. He also created high profile television, print and radio work for Cadillac, Pontiac, GM Goodwrench and Chevy Europe.

The next stop on the John Topacio world tour took him to Doner in Southfield, MI. As a Senior Copywriter, he developed web content and television for American Greetings, ADT, Blockbuster Video, Expedia, HGTV, Owens Corning, PNC Bank and all new business pitches.

In 2007, he moved away from the Detroit area to help launch Organic/Chicago. As the lead in the creative-only outpost, he wrote and managed digital assignments for Bank of America, all Chrysler brands, College for Creative Studies and new business opportunities.

From there, it was off to Euro RSCG/Chicago. While working on Anheuser Busch, Barilla, Kraft, Sears and Sprint, he dug even deeper into the digital world by creating applications, emails, microsites, mobile and social initiatives.

Currently, he is a freelance writer working with agencies such as Campbell-Ewald, Critical Mass, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Some of the brands he has touched include Alltel, Audi of America, Best Buy, Centers for Disease Control, Chevrolet, FBI, Harley Davidson, Humana, Infiniti, Nissan Commercial Vehicles, OnStar, Remington, USAA and the US Navy.

Although he’s usually busy writing ads, he does find time to critique them as a frequent judge for the American Advertising Federation’s ADDY Awards. To date, he has helped five different ad clubs across the country determine their best work.

He earned a BA in Advertising from Michigan State University and an MS in Mass Communication with a concentration in Copywriting from the VCU Adcenter (now Brandcenter). At MSU, the American Advertising Federation named him one of the 25 Most Promising Minority Advertising Students from the class of 1999. He also took a few improv classes at the Second City to further round out his already twisted view of the world.

In May 2006, John returned to Michigan State not as a student, but as an advertising instructor. There, he helped screw up the heads of the future leaders of this wacky industry. Hopefully the students didn’t take him too seriously. After all, he doesn’t.

Larry A. Profancik
Executive Vice President/Group Creative Director, PriceWeber

When Larry “Pro” Profancik says he sees things, PriceWeber takes him seriously. The agency credits him with being key to its success. “Pro” has been with the agency for over 30 years. He has led or worked on branding and rebranding assignments in nearly every area of the service business, such as: automotive, healthcare, financial, food, hospitality, engineering, legal, architectural and consumer energy—in addition to his experience in entertainment, sports marketing and consumer package goods.

Aside from having visions, “Pro” is an insanely hyperactive Brand Maniac. He has been honored with myriad regional, national and international awards, among them Clios, ADDYs, Andys, CA, New York Festival and Graphis. Also a very active member of the local advertising community, he has served as President of the Creative Communicators of Louisville, President and Chairman of the Board of the Advertising Federation of Louisville, Governor and Chairman of the Board of the AAF 5th District, and board member of the American Advertising Federation.

Throughout his career, he has worked on an impressive list of brands, including: Korbel Champagne, Bolla Wines, Mercedes-Benz of North America, Subaru, Renault, Navistar International, Maybelline, Early Times Whisky, Canadian Mist Whisky, Fruit of the Loom, RJ Reynolds, Coke USA, Borg-Warner, Indiana National Bank, Eli Lilly, Amateur Athletic Union, G-N Aircraft, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Holiday Inn and Marriott Corporation.

“Pro” has also received an equally outstanding list of accolades. Just a few of them: AAF Silver Medal Award, ADDY awards, the Art Direction & Design Awards (Communication Arts Magazine), and Art Directors Club Awards from New York, Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth.

When not creating award-winning work of his own, “Pro” has judged multiple creative competitions across the country—ADDY awards for five districts, numerous Ad Club and AAF competitions across the country, the W3 Web Awards, and the Davey Awards. He currently serves on the boards of the 5th District American Advertising Federation and the Advertising Federation of Louisville. He is also Board President of the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky, and a Board Member for the Brain Injury Association of KY.