Creative i Conquers Silicon Valley ADDYS

An iconic leader in Silicon Valley advertising was recognized for creative excellence at the industry’s annual ADDY Awards ceremony, held March 2 in San Jose.

Creative i Advertising & Interactive Media won 12 major awards, including two ADDY’s and two prestigious Judges Awards for the print and online components of the agency’s 2005 campaign for the Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance.

The print component of the Concours campaign, from ACD Stephanie Lucas and designer Phil Brooks, included a series of sophisticated, black and white newspaper advertisements promoting the annual car show, which raises money for South Bay charities.

The online component of the campaign, from VP Rick Mathieson and designers Vivian Choi, Phil Brooks, AJ Ross and Flora Wong, was comprised of a fake blog, or “flog,” which won praise for its innovative – and highly amusing – approach to viral marketing. The Concours campaign also won a Silver Award for a humorous series of radio spots. Overall, the integrated campaign helped boost revenues for the Concours by a full 20%.

Among the agency’s other winnings: Bronze Awards for the agency’s own Web site and a self-promotional flash experience, and Gold Awards for the identity system and collateral for FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, among others.

“This has absolutely been a banner year for the entire team in terns of marketing innovation,” says Mathieson. “And with FIRST 5 and the Concours, we had that whole ‘doing well by doing good’ thing going on.”

“What can we say: We’re blessed by clients who are willing to let us help them engage consumers in whole new ways,” adds agency founder Tom Antal. “The results speak for themselves.”

The national ADDY Awards is the largest advertising competition of its kind, with more than 60,000 entrants participating in 200 local competitions. Winners from those events advance to competition at the national level.