Award trophies were lined up for recipients at this year’s Richmond Show, held Friday at Altria Theater. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
After a Martin Agency sweep at last year’s awards, it was a night of unexpected best-in-show winners at the Advertising Club of Richmond’s annual Richmond Show, held Friday at Altria Theater.
Breaking through this year with two of the evening’s top awards was The King Agency, which took home best-in-shows in the advertising and design categories for work done not for a client, but for its own 25th anniversary party.
The nine-person firm led by industry veteran Dave King received the recognitions for its Netflix-themed party invitations, which were disguised as the iconic red envelopes – complete with a (blank) DVD – that the then-movie rental company started mailing in 1997, the same year King founded the agency.
The King Agency’s Netflix-style invitations.
In the interactive category, best-in-show went to Bridget Guckin, an art director with local agency Think, whose freelance web design work for On Three Photography beat out the competition.
Film studio Mondial won the production best-in-show for its work on The Martin Agency’s “Cross Country” ad for phone brand Straight Talk Wireless.
Straight Talk “Cross Country” from MONDIAL on Vimeo.
And in the student competition, Noelle Jessup of Old Dominion University took top honors for an illustrated map of Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood.
A total of 60 awards were presented this year.
Also presented were more than 50 gold, silver and bronze Bridge awards, the pewter trophies depicting Richmond’s arched CSX bridge that replaced the show’s longtime cannonball trophy last year.
Gold awards in the four agency categories went to Alice Blue, Arts & Letters Creative Co. (2), Campfire & Co., Martin Agency (2) and Wildfire. Silver awards went to Campfire & Co., King Agency, Martin Agency (4), Owen Design Co., Spang, Rian/Hunter Production and Wildfire (2).
Charles Hodges
The show’s three judges were Adam Cote, a freelance creative director in Boston; Lap Le, lead designer at MediaMonks and part-time faculty at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles; and NiRey Reynolds, director of creative impact North America at McCann in New York.
Non-competitive recognitions also were presented, including the honorary title of Ad Person of the Year, this year awarded to Charles Hodges, founder and executive creative director of Arts & Letters. The 6-year-old agency’s accolades this year included being named a “standout” on trade publication Ad Age’s Agency A-list rankings for its “Work Together, Anywhere” hybrid work model.
Rachel Spiller
This year’s $2,500 Women in Advertising Scholarship was awarded to Rachel Spiller, a creative advertising major with a marketing insights minor at VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Emery Schindler was awarded the $1,500 Excellence in Creative Education Scholarship, awarded to VCU Brandcenter students.
Emery Schindler
Ad club board members Yasir Afzal and Rebecca Frankel emceed the ceremony, the theme of which was “Adage” – a reference not to the trade publication (which also named Martin its 2023 Agency of the Year), but to its definition as “a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.”
Afzal, a recruiting manager with Atlantic Vision Partners, was announced as the club’s next president, replacing Brandon Shields.
Shields said this year’s show saw engagement from several first-time entrants and an uptick in submissions from beyond Central Virginia, specifically in the Hampton Roads area, noting ODU’s best-in-show and increasingly higher rankings.
Brandon Shields
Noting as well the showings of smaller shops like King Agency and Mondial, Shields said, “I believe we will continue to see our large agencies such as Arts & Letters Creative Co. and Martin Agency take home a large amount of awards. However, the rest of the community is gaining traction across the board, including new names, familiar faces and independent creatives claiming higher ranked awards.”
Shields said the ad club tripled its membership over the past year and gained seven new corporate members. He said new programming has also contributed to consistent attendance at club events throughout the year, adding that it’s aiming to keep up that momentum.
“We hope to continue trying new ideas that will build connections with more organizations in the community, and build a thriving atmosphere for creative talent and agencies in Richmond,” Shields said.
Award trophies were lined up for recipients at this year’s Richmond Show, held Friday at Altria Theater. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
After a Martin Agency sweep at last year’s awards, it was a night of unexpected best-in-show winners at the Advertising Club of Richmond’s annual Richmond Show, held Friday at Altria Theater.
Breaking through this year with two of the evening’s top awards was The King Agency, which took home best-in-shows in the advertising and design categories for work done not for a client, but for its own 25th anniversary party.
The nine-person firm led by industry veteran Dave King received the recognitions for its Netflix-themed party invitations, which were disguised as the iconic red envelopes – complete with a (blank) DVD – that the then-movie rental company started mailing in 1997, the same year King founded the agency.
The King Agency’s Netflix-style invitations.
In the interactive category, best-in-show went to Bridget Guckin, an art director with local agency Think, whose freelance web design work for On Three Photography beat out the competition.
Film studio Mondial won the production best-in-show for its work on The Martin Agency’s “Cross Country” ad for phone brand Straight Talk Wireless.
Straight Talk “Cross Country” from MONDIAL on Vimeo.
And in the student competition, Noelle Jessup of Old Dominion University took top honors for an illustrated map of Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood.
A total of 60 awards were presented this year.
Also presented were more than 50 gold, silver and bronze Bridge awards, the pewter trophies depicting Richmond’s arched CSX bridge that replaced the show’s longtime cannonball trophy last year.
Gold awards in the four agency categories went to Alice Blue, Arts & Letters Creative Co. (2), Campfire & Co., Martin Agency (2) and Wildfire. Silver awards went to Campfire & Co., King Agency, Martin Agency (4), Owen Design Co., Spang, Rian/Hunter Production and Wildfire (2).
Charles Hodges
The show’s three judges were Adam Cote, a freelance creative director in Boston; Lap Le, lead designer at MediaMonks and part-time faculty at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles; and NiRey Reynolds, director of creative impact North America at McCann in New York.
Non-competitive recognitions also were presented, including the honorary title of Ad Person of the Year, this year awarded to Charles Hodges, founder and executive creative director of Arts & Letters. The 6-year-old agency’s accolades this year included being named a “standout” on trade publication Ad Age’s Agency A-list rankings for its “Work Together, Anywhere” hybrid work model.
Rachel Spiller
This year’s $2,500 Women in Advertising Scholarship was awarded to Rachel Spiller, a creative advertising major with a marketing insights minor at VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Emery Schindler was awarded the $1,500 Excellence in Creative Education Scholarship, awarded to VCU Brandcenter students.
Emery Schindler
Ad club board members Yasir Afzal and Rebecca Frankel emceed the ceremony, the theme of which was “Adage” – a reference not to the trade publication (which also named Martin its 2023 Agency of the Year), but to its definition as “a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.”
Afzal, a recruiting manager with Atlantic Vision Partners, was announced as the club’s next president, replacing Brandon Shields.
Shields said this year’s show saw engagement from several first-time entrants and an uptick in submissions from beyond Central Virginia, specifically in the Hampton Roads area, noting ODU’s best-in-show and increasingly higher rankings.
Brandon Shields
Noting as well the showings of smaller shops like King Agency and Mondial, Shields said, “I believe we will continue to see our large agencies such as Arts & Letters Creative Co. and Martin Agency take home a large amount of awards. However, the rest of the community is gaining traction across the board, including new names, familiar faces and independent creatives claiming higher ranked awards.”
Shields said the ad club tripled its membership over the past year and gained seven new corporate members. He said new programming has also contributed to consistent attendance at club events throughout the year, adding that it’s aiming to keep up that momentum.
“We hope to continue trying new ideas that will build connections with more organizations in the community, and build a thriving atmosphere for creative talent and agencies in Richmond,” Shields said.