Morris & Casale Advertising, Weiser Creative Group and BBM&D Strategic Branding were the top winners in the 2009 ADDY Awards Coastal California competition recently held by the American Advertising Federation.

The ADDYs recognize advertising excellence for work that appeared last year in all kinds of media, including print, radio and television, online content, posters, brochures, packaging and logos. Winners from the Coastal California area, which includes Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and northern Los Angeles County, were chosen by a panel of three judges who evaluated 140 entries, according to Mark Landon, chairman of the local competition.

Recipients of Gold and Silver ADDYs are eligible for the regional contest in AAF District 15, which covers Southern California and southern Nevada. The winners in 15 regional districts nationwide will compete for national awards, which will be presented June 6 during the advertising federation’s convention in Washington, D.C.
Morris & Casale, based in Thousand Oaks, won 18 ADDYs: four Gold, one Silver and 13 Bronze.

“We are just so excited and pleased,” co-creative director and partner Bill Casale said of the awards. “This is the first time we have entered an awards contest like this and we’ve been in business five years now. . . . I think we do really good work and we are virtually unknown in the community.”

The firm won three Gold and a Silver award for fractional page magazine ads for Pacific Rim Home Furnishings. The agency picked up another Gold for its nontraditional ad campaign for Rheem Tankless Water Heaters. The Bronze awards were for online work, posters and audio/visual sales presentations for Kama Sutra Co.; Web site work and brochures for Paloma Industries; newspaper insert advertising for Rheem; and a poster, program and flyer for the West Coast premiere of “Missa Americana” at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Weiser Creative Group was awarded 15 ADDYs, including one Gold and five Silvers. The Westlake Village firm received its Gold award for nontraditional ad industry self-promotion for a clever “curiously strong design” New Year promotional kit sent to customers in a tin mimicking an Altoids container. Its consumer and mobile Web sites won Silvers in the business-to-business Web site category. Silver ADDYs were also given for its designs of a summer catalog for Beautyhabit, brochures for Mutual Securities and stationery for Coastal Dental. Bronzes were awarded for its work for The California Endowment, DTS, Beautyhabit, Kal Fragrance, Mediterraneo Restaurant and Green Eyed Monster, a maker of reusable tote bags.

Paula Weiser, president of Weiser Creative, said “our team continues to amaze me with their fresh ideas and innovative solutions to client requests.”

BBM&D Strategic Branding, based in Ventura, won six Silver and five Bronze ADDYs. Silver awards recognized its work on consumer Web sites for B and H Flowers, Girl Please! Apparel and the agency’s own Web site. BBM&D also received Silvers for its design of a poster for the California Avocado Festival and two food packaging campaigns for Gluten Free & Fabulous. Bronze ADDYs recognized work for JLS Concrete Pumping, the agribusiness firm Limoneira Company, Children’s Dental Group and Farr & Associates, an insurance advisory firm.

Barnett Cox & Associates of San Luis Obispo was another big winner with 10 ADDYs, three of them Silver and seven Bronze. It won Silvers for a newspaper ad campaign for Phillips Floor to Ceiling, a mixed-media campaign for Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and a self-promotion campaign.

IdeaWork Studios Inc. of Santa Barbara won six ADDYs, including three Silvers for its Web site design for Thunder From Down Under and Harrah’s Entertainment and its micro online site work for MGM Grand Las Vegas. Bronze awards were given for Web site work for Rincon Technology and Shav-Wet and online work for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas.

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