Thom Gonyeau takes Creativity Atlanta helm

Creativity Atlanta Elects 2006-2007 Officers

Board members re-elected include: Thom Gonyeau, Mountain View Group, President; Melissa Donovan, The LvngRoom, Co-Director-Membership & Addy's; Garet Hayes, Hope-Beckham Inc., Co-Director-Addy's; Larry Stultz, Art Institute of Atlanta, Co-Director-Addy's; Jennifer Coleman, Denmark The Agency , Co-Director-Programs; Kirstin Popper, Matlock Advertising & PR, Director-Production SIG & Programs; Susan Solomon, SKS Creative, Director-Sponsorship; Laura Schmidt, Edelman, Director-Public Relations; Brandi Williams, Fletcher Martin, Director-Young Professionals; Lindsey Kirshner, T.G. Madison , Director-Social; Stephen K. Jones, Garner & Jones CPAs, Financial Counsel; Jon Lee Andersen, Andersen Law Firm, Legal Counsel; At-Large Board Members: Ron Huey, Huey+Partners; Guy Tucker, Ask Guy Tucker, Inc.; Leda Walker, Fletcher Martin.

Newly elected board members include: Bob Conquest, Moxie Interactive, Co-Director-Membership; David Cohen, JWT, Co-Director-Programs; Brett Compton, Blattner Brunner, Co-Director-Programs; Jyoti Danes, Carroll White Advertising , Co-Director-Programs; Jeff Cole, three, Director-Agency Open House; Eduardo Perez, Perez Montalbetti, Director-Cultural Diversity; Latesha Williams, Ames Scullin O'Haire, Director-Silver Medal; Raquel Sanabia, The Robin Shepherd Group, Director-Marketing Communications.

Susan Stottlemyer will again serve as Executive Director and her company, The Association Planners of Georgia will serve as support staff to Creativity Atlanta.

For Art's Sake Silent Auction Fundraiser

Lots in store...don't miss out!

Creativity Atlanta Production SIG Fieldtrip
Join us tomorrow, August 23, for the third fieldtrip event for the Creativity Atlanta Production Special Interest Group. We'll visit Henry & Company, one of the south-east's finest print finishers, where we'll see everything from die-cutting, embossing, foil stamping, leather work and more applied to folders, presentation boxes, books and more. The meeting will start with refreshments at 6:00pm. At 6:30 pm we'll begin with a brief tour, view examples of different types of finishing and close with time for questions and answers. Click here to register.

Creativity Atlanta Agency Open House
Creativity Atlanta invites you to our Agency Open House series. Come check out the digs and meet the people behind Atlanta's advertising agencies. Drinks, light food and good conversation to be had. Our first host is MATCH, Inc. Join us Thursday, September 7 between 6-9 pm at 1180 West Peachtree Street, suite 400, in Midtown. Click here to register.

Creative Atlanta "First Draft"
Since the Atlanta Ad Club and Creative Club merged in 2003, a common question has been presented to board members...where are the creatives at these meetings? Well, we listened and we've got a plan. Come out and hang with other creatives at our first monthly "First Draft" pow-wow. Questions? Email Susan or Larry.

WHEN: Thursday, October 5, 6-8 pm
COST: First drink is on us...the rest on you!
WHERE: Manuel's Tavern, 602 N Highland Ave, 404-525-3447
*When you enter, walk to the end of the bar and turn left into the side room. Look for the Atlanta Ad Club sign on one of the tables.

ShowSouth/Addy 2007 Award Entries
Mark your calendars! The ShowSouth/Addy 2007 Award entry deadline will be Wednesday, November 1, 2006 for early entries and Monday, November 6, 2006 for late entries. Look for Call for Entry details in early October! Get ready for the ShowSouth/Addy 2007 Awards show on Saturday, January 27, 2007 at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Atlanta.

Member News

Ethan Stokes's documentary, Criminalizing Dissent, was accepted into the 30th annual Atlanta Film Festival . Hosted earlier this summer, the festival features panel discussions, award ceremonies, parties, and most importantly, screenings of more than a hundred films.Stokes works as an Interactive Producer with Creative Digital Group, a leading interactive agency in Atlanta.When he is not producing in-flight programming for Delta Airlines, Stokes shoots, edits, and produces interactive media projects for a wide variety of Creative Digital Group clients.

Howard Lee Puckett recently collaborated with ImageTap to create three conceptual images for Noble & Associates and Tyson. The Tyson ads feature smoke which has been manipulated into either a dragon, palm tree, or chili pepper to match each ad's entree and coincide with a distinctive theme. Click here to view or download the ads. The Noble & Associates team who created the concept and produced the ads included, art director, David Bowling; writer, Carrie Smothers; as well as production manager and art buyer, Sandy Haymes.

To accommodate recent business growth, Blattner Brunner , a full-service advertising agency with offices in Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, has added three key executives to its Atlanta office. Rick Brysonre-joins as Senior Art Director and will focus his efforts primarily on Anderson Hardwood Floors, Great Stuff Foam Sealants and Golf Pride golf grips, and pitching in on other accounts as needed. Anamaria McCormack joins as an Account Supervisor,responsible for leading the day-to-day activities of various accounts, including Anderson Hardwood Floors and The Masonry Group, participating in the overall strategic direction of each account, and contributing to new business development. Jill Belloma,a graduate of Kent State University and who completed The Creative Circus in March 2006, joins as Copywriter.

Mountain View Group took home honors and bragging rights at the Telly, NORI, and Questar Awards recently for film and video projects produced for the Georgia Aquarium, the Corporate arm of GE, as well as their Healthcare and Energy businesses.And speaking of GE Corporate, Mountain View video podcasts are featured on GE's homepage with a behind-the-scenes look at R&D science labs where next-generation technology is being developed. On another front, Raytheon partnered with Mountain View on an internal and external branding campaign to promote the world-class science, technology, and people of one the worlds leading defense and aerospace systems manufacturers.Finally, with the healthcare crisis growing in this country, Mountain View helped GE to promote consumerism with a fresh approach to benefits communication. Learn more at www.mvgltd.com.

Kilgannon announces it has hired Devon Suter as group creative director and promoted Diane Fitzgerald to production manager. Suter is responsible for creative development for several clients, including Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund, Bank of Atlanta, LeasePlan USA and SouthernLINC Wireless. Suter, who teaches at the Creative Circus, has spent the last two and a half years as a freelancer, working for several Atlanta agencies. Fitzgerald joined the agency as traffic manager in January 2005.Prior to Kilgannon, Fitzgerald worked as a freelancer in production, traffic and proofreading.

DENMARK, an independent Atlanta-based full-service advertising and Public Relations agency recently announced the launch of a new advertising campaign for its client Cbeyond, a managed services provider that delivers integrated packages of voice, mobile and broadband services to small businesses. Running in more than 50 U.S. publications, the campaign promotes Cbeyond's BeyondMobile and Secure Back-up and File Share services within the healthcare, legal and real estate markets using national trade journals, local publications and the Internet.

Andy Goldsmith, Client 

Featured Rant

I am a client.

Have been for nearly a year, after a career as an account guy. Starting to get used to it. Can't say that it's that much different than agency life, except there are even more emails and special interests to check off. It's still about persuasion and consumer insight; about doing and getting the very best work possible; about timelines and deadlines and making sense out of the mush.

Recently I asked our advertising and public relations firms to talk to us about getting the best from your agency. You know, the "Top 10 List" of client/agency relationship tips (#5:"Let the agency do its job, and hold them accountable"). We got some valuable information and perspective, but it got me thinking:what would that list look like from the client perspective?What would it say?

Top Ten List:Working With Clients

#10:Get the details right. Unfortunately, advertising isn't the most important thing on my plate every day. For you, it probably is. Help keep me honest and trouble-free by nailing the details. It'll make me and my team look good in front of our peers, which is something money can't buy. When you bend over backwards to make sure the copy doesn't have any factual glitches, the media plan is deadly accurate, and yes, we can definitely deliver that brochure by Friday, we all win.

#9:Expect changes. We want great work that sings. You want great work that sings. Nothing could make me happier than see an advertising concept or PR plan sail through without need for tweaking. But c'mon - how may times in your career has that happened? I say, we all fight together to protect the core idea, when it's right ... and be open to different ways to execute that great idea.

#8: Sometimes it's not about strategy. Sometimes we just need to get things done, "100% strategy-free." Be there for me then, while insisting on a place at the big table. There are plenty of juicy strategic issues that I'll need your help on. Save your energy.

#7: Keep on asking questions. Check out this statistic - 80% of service providers believe they're truly on top of their clients' needs. But when you ask clients that same question - about 80% say that their agencies don't really get all the needs. Can that really be true? I dunno, I just made those statistics up. But I do know this:the more questions you ask, the more successful you'll be. Relationships often fail because of complacency, and the first sign of complacency is when you stop asking questions.

OK, I only got to #7, and obviously there are 6 more tips in this top 10 list. But I gotta go - there's work to be done. Maybe the agency can ask me a few questions, come up with a strategy and direction, and fill in #'s 1-6 for me. That's why we need them - to make us better than we would be alone.

After all, I am a client.

Andy Goldsmith, Managing Director, Creative & Brand Strategy, The American Cancer Society