Check out our breakdown of the winners and losers below. Do you agree or disagree?

• Most Valuable Ad: Chevy Silverado – Apocalypse
• Best Low Budget: Doritos – Man’s Best Friend
• Celebrity Sack: Pepsi – King’s Court
• Championship Chuckle: Chevrolet – Happy Grad
• Illegal Use of $$$$: CocaCola – Superstition
• Creative Fumble: Xfinity – Fastest House
• Should Have Punted: Go Daddy – Cloud

During the five weeks of the “No Pants” policy, we are encouraged to wear anything but pants; instead, suggested leg wear can range from shorts and skirts to lava lavas. Whoever is caught wearing pants will be fined one quarter for their treason. No exceptions. During this time, we will also be collecting clothing items to be donated to the Volunteers of America. The needy are usually forgotten during the summer months, and this is our version of a Christmas in July.

Salt Lake City historically registers its hottest days of the year in July and August, with temperatures last year topping 103 degrees. Each day the temperature exceeds 100 degrees, we will hold a “Cool Down” party, providing treats for everyone in the agency.

This past week has been successful, and most have not worn pants. Unfortunately, some have been caught by the “knickerbocker police” and have had to pay up. They were warned. One week down, four to go. Stay tuned for updates on our progress over the next four weeks.

Alohamora!

It’s no surprise that working at a creative agency, we like to have fun in a plethora of ways. For example, yelling out magic spells at unnecessary times.

Incendio!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Harry Potter! In 1997, this young wizard was welcomed into the hands of millions of readers across the world. Now, 14 years later, Harry Potter has his own theme park, movies grossing over $6 billion dollars and a cult following of fans.

“Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” hits theaters across the country today. The film has sold out over 2,000 show times across the country. The world premiere, which happened last week, had Potter enthusiasts lining Trafalgar Square for over 24 hours just to get a glimpse of the movie stars.

Here at the agency, we wanted in on the Harry Potter craze. It all started last week with our own R7 Horcrux Challenge. Richter7 was being threatened by the status quo and needed to find the horcruxes to destroy such a horrible foe. To battle these demons, us muggles were put on teams and taken on a hunt in and around the building to find the horcruxes. Today, our magical adventures will land us in the theater with friends, popcorn and wizardly spells to enjoy the end of the Harry Potter saga.

You may think we’re huge fans, but we’re just muggles looking to get in on all the fun. Parties are being thrown, costumes are worn and theaters are sold out everywhere. Harry Potter has definitely made his mark. If you aren’t having as much fun as we are here at Richter7, give us a call and we’ll see what we can do to help.

Forget about deciphering the future, or trying to envision what new technology or digital tools will appear next.

Pause from that frustrating pursuit for five minutes while we peer into advertising’s distant past, in order to re-discover what the future will require – no matter what quirky Facebook rip-off or magical mobile app surfaces next week.

Look backwards for a moment.  Way back.  Keep going.  And going.

1925, bingo.

Lord & Thomas was the largest ad agency in the world at that time, and forerunner to what later became known as Foote Cone Belding (which itself became a behemoth in the ad industry).   Although his name never appeared on the door, L&T’s creator was Albert Lasker, a tireless taskmaster and one of the advertising industry’s greatest pioneers during the first half of the 20th century. With the assistance of Claude Hopkins, one of the first great professional copywriters, Lasker transformed brands such as Kleenex, Kotex, Pepsodent and Lucky Strike into household names.

That year, his agency published a series of magazine ads.  (Imagine that, an ad agency practicing what it preaches.)  The long-copy ads, mostly devoid of graphics, taught tenets of truth that may well be eternal.  Here are some excised jewels from that series.  See if you agree.

1. “Look for two certain qualities in every advertisement: ‘Fire and Feeling.’  Elements which, possessed, make one man a super-salesman.  And lacked, another a misfit.  Which make one ad sway millions to buy.  And left out, make another costly mediocrity.  ”
2. “The advertisement that trumpets ‘Here Is the Greatest Thing on Earth’ is, in modern advertising practice, judged a liability.  Only medicine shows and street carnivals any longer employ ‘barkers.’  Avoid boast and bombast.  For the whispered word is often more potent than the shouted.”
3. “When you find a winning story in advertising, stay with it.  Don’t, in the struggle for ‘something different,’ change it.
4. “The true science of headlines is to strike the right balance.  Not common-place, for that’s without excuse.  Not bizarre, for that’s a costly folly.  Not indefinite, but definite and compelling.”
5. “Many slogans can apply to ten or fifty products, but your claims as to the exclusive features of your product can apply only to yours.  If your ad copy features generalized slogans or extraneous ‘human interest’ leads more pertinently than your product, then change your copy.”

Sound familiar?  Some things never change, and shouldn’t.  These principles, circa 1925, apply every bit as much today, whether we’re creating a Flash banner or a matchbook cover.

I have long believed my job is to sell my clients products and services.  Awards are a bonus for doing that job right in the first place.  With that in mind, I offer a sixth excerpt from the Lord & Taylor ad series – again illustrating that the past can be totally applicable to the present:

• “The object of advertising is to sell.  Its only court of judgment is a profit sheet.  Men may deceive themselves, but profit and loss columns – never.”

Hats off to Mr. Lasker and Mr. Hopkins for leaving us a history lesson that has never gone out of style.

One of my favorite features revealed at the conference is Twitter being built in as the default social networking program on the iOS 5. Users will be able to sign on to their Twitter accounts one time, and then tweet with a single tap from Apple applications such as YouTube, Safari and Photos. Tweeting made extra simple.

I love tools like this that can make my job just a little easier. I thoroughly enjoy watching how simple changes like these help modify how business is done. Processes gradually become more streamlined and effective. I hope you can see and reap the benefits of these developments in your own world.

Perhaps the best part, though, is this is Richter7’s 8th year receiving the honor. And while we only focus on the advertising category, my 21 years at this agency has shown me that we have outstanding divisions throughout the company in Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Research, Design, Media Planning and the explosive Online Marketing/Web & Mobile Development division. All add to make one great company.

But the real bonus is having stellar clients who authorize us to do outstanding campaigns. Without their trust and a collaborative vision, we wouldn’t have the award-winning work to move their business forward. Thank you to all.

Traditional media is not dead – not yet, and not for the forseeable future. They’re not all as strong as they’ve historically been, but they still occupy an important place in the media landscape. Let’s look at some numbers.

Daily Newspapers

• 74% of American adults read a newspaper at least once a week, either printed or online. In certain markets, it’s 90% (Scarborough Research)
       79% of white collars
       82% adults with household income over $100k
       84% university grads
• 19% of American adults have visited a daily newspaper’s website in the last week (Scarborough Research)
• 69% trust that newspaper articles are verified and exact. (North America – Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey – July 2009)
• 61% trust advertising in daily newspapers. (North America – Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey – July 2009)
• American men spend 2.4 hours a week with newspapers vs 1 hour for women (8+ years old) (TNS Newzoo BV)
• The average daily paper has 18,000 Twitter fans and tweets 11x daily (eMarketer Bivings Group)
• The New York Times grew it’s online audience by 10% and print circulation by 2% in 2009. Ad revenues fell 25%. (Wall Street Journal)
• Coupons use increased 36% in 2009 – Sunday flyers account for 70% of all coupon use in the US (Borrell Associates)

Magazines

• 59% trust magazine advertising (North America – Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey – July 2009)
• American men spend 1.7 hours with magazines weekly vs 1.4 for women (8+ years old) (TNS Newzoo BV)
• 367 magazines stopped publishing in the US in 2009 (Crain’s)
• 17.5% drop in ad revenue for US magazines in 2009 vs 2008 (Magazine Publishers of America) (merci @tomtsinas). The only winners are entertainment gossip, women’s and home & garden titles

Television

• 61% trust television advertising (North America – Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey – July 2009)
• 18% of TV campaigns (traditional) generate a positive ROI
• American men spend 10.7 hours weekly watching TV vs 11.2 for women (8ans et +) (TNS Newzoo BV)
• 65% of American Internet users want to connect their TV to the Internet (eMarketer & Deloitt)
• 2-5 year old Americans watch 25 hours of TV weekly, 4.5 hours of DVD or video games + 90 minutes on DVR and 45 minutes with a VCR. (Nielsen) 50% of 2-11 year olds TV and Internet separately while the other 50% use both simultaneously. 60% of teens use both simultaneously.

Radio

• 55% trust radio advertising (North America – Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey – July 2009)
• American men spend 4.9 hours listening to radio weekly vs 4.8 for women (8+ years old) (TNS Newzoo BV)
• 236 million American listeners A12+ weekly, that’s 92.5% of the population (Arbitron 2010/01) (thanks @slanglois) 90% of 12-17 year olds, 86% of 18-34 year olds.

Internet

• American men spend an average 10.8 hours online weekly vs 11.3 for women (8+) (TNS Newzoo BV)
• 43% notice ad banners on websites (Smart Adserver)
• 46% of US SMBs don’t have a website (Ad-ology & eMarketer)
• 50% of American kids 6-11 years old use Internet, also 20% of 2-5 year olds. (Nielsen)

Traditional media may not be the top winner in the eyes of online marketers these days, but traditional media is not the enemy to online media or vice-versa. Traditional and online media are close relatives that support one another. The Internet may be a very effective way to market, but rarely can it be 100% effective as a standalone marketing vehicle because it often does not provide all the touch points that lead a customer to convert.

A recent report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reveals that Internet media grew 10.6% in 2009. Meanwhile, TNS Media Intelligence reports that total U.S. advertising expenditures declined 4.1% in 2009. This decline in traditional media does not exactly wipe out decades of strong numbers. Companies need to be careful to not shift too far away from traditional media. An old adage holds true: “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Before making rash decisions, companies should consider testing and evaluating slight changes in media mixes to see how those changes affect each other. For example, suppose a company finds that last year numbers reveal 35% of customers were generated from traditional media: PR, events, TV, print, radio, direct mail. 65% of new customers were attributed to Internet marketing: PPC, display ads, social media. Would the company jump to a conclusion and allocate 65% of their budget to Internet media spends? Hopefully not. Just because 65% of new customers were attributed to online media by no means tells the complete story. How many of those customers also had touch points with the brand through traditional media.

It is always a good idea to test and evaluate how traditional media and Internet media affect and support one another in terms of both immediate and long term CPA.

Finding the right blend of traditional and Internet media that results in the most cost-effective and successful ROI-driven campaigns is the correct approach for today’s marketers. Knowing that customer acquisition campaigns require multiple touch points over time helps marketers properly slice each media format and deliver the winning recipe for upcoming campaigns.

Lastly, here is an important statistic to consider for the two segments as measured by BIA/Kesley.

Traditional Media
2009 : $115.0 billion
2014 : $108.2 billion

Online/Interactive Media
2009 : $15.2 billion
2014 : $36.7 billion

Richter7 was lucky enough to take home more awards than any other agency this year (for the 9th time in 10 years!) From a total of 132 awards distributed, we were awarded 39, including 14 gold, 25 silver and one judges’ choice award for our Apple Beer campaign.

As one of our fearless leaders, Dave Newbold, puts it, “The awards are a bonus for doing our job right in the first place – that is, to sell our clients’ products and services.”

A big congrats to all of the Richter7 team members involved in creating this year’s winning campaigns. You inspire us each day! Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year’s ADDY’s.

The web application uses Google Maps to estimate the visitors closest airport, the flight time from departure and destination, and the drive time to Park City. The results page displays a Google map showing the travel path.

Thank you to the Richter7 team who concepted and developed this tool: Frank Imler, interactive art director; Gary Sume, writer; Dave Newbold, executive creative director; Brett Winklesky, technologist, Teri Gibson, account supervisor and Evin Catlett, social media director.

“Based on a 100-year-old German recipe, Apple Beer was first bottled in the United States in the 1960s. Although the unique soft drink has grown a loyal following over the years, many people still have the misconception that it’s some kind of apple-flavored beer. These point-of-purchase postings were designed, by Salt Lake City-based Richter7, to clear up the confusion while tying in to the heritage of the locally-bottled beverage.”

Here’s the team who worked on it: Ryan Anderson, art director/digital retoucher; Gary Sume, writer; Ryan Anderson/Gary Sume, creative directors; Dave Newbold, executive creative director; stock, photographer; Cynthia Griffin, production manager.

Image courtesy of www.commarts.com