The American Advertising Federation’s National Conference is always an inspiring experience, and this year was no exception.  Hosted at the beautiful Waldorf/Hilton Conference Center in Orlando, FL, this year’s theme “Ideas at Work” shone through. A gathering of advertising professionals, students and corporations were treated to 3 days of panels and sessions, keynote speakers and of course, the National ADDY Awards.

We were lucky enough to be heavily involved in this year’s conference. SBS Studios continued its yearly support of the AAF by being a Platinum Sponsor. Shane Santiago, President and Chief Creative Officer moderated a panel featuring some of the advertising industry’s top digital experts. The AAF also unveiled their new membership microsite, which was also created by SBS. There’s a lot to cover so let’s start there:

• The National Conference served as the launchpad for the AAF’s newly created Membership Microsite. The site is a bold first step in providing the Federation’s members an outlet to share important information and resources, see an ongoing calendar of events and take advantage of a Knowledge center — the ever-growing online library with documents, webcasts, presentations and more, that create an indispensable resource for AAF Members.
• Shane Santiago moderated a panel entitled, “Let’s Get Digital: Trends in Online Marketing & Communications,” and featured Linda Goldstein, Partner & Chair, Advertising, Marketing & Media Division, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP; Jeff Marshall, SVP, Liquid Thread-Starcom MediaVest Group; and Denise Warren, SVP & Chief Advertising Officer, The New York Times Media Group/GM, NYTimes.com. It was a lively discussion covering topics from content creation, mobile integration and legal ramifications of social media.
• SBS Studios would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Connie Frazier on her appointment as the new Chief Operating Officer at the AAF.  Her well-deserved appointment makes her the highest-ranking African-American woman at any advertising trade association. We’ve worked with Connie for years and are so so proud of her. Congrats Connie!
• The National ADDY Awards were a blast! And while we didn’t win, seeing the stiff competition we were up against made us feel inspired and grateful for even being considered among such great work and agencies. The AAF also introduced a new interactive People’s Choice Category, in which the audience texted their choice from the Best of Show finalists.  Congrats to Leo Burnett and their innovative campaign featuring an unexpected approach for Tampax.  See their winning work here. Congratulations to all the ADDY Winners!

As you can tell, it was a busy few days.  Thanks to the AAF for inviting us to participate, and to the Orlando club for hosting. Next year, we hit the West Coast and head to sunny San Diego.  Looking forward to it!  For now, check out a few of our snapshots from the conference and for the full collection, visit our Flickr page.

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