AdCast: Episode XVI

Once again our regular hosts were absent for this show—always wild things happening in the lives of today's young professionals. As always, their trusty cohorts were waiting in the wings to keep us running. This time our own Cris Vatalaro joined veteran guest co-host Vinny Tafuro for another great month of adcasting (Yes, I'm verbing us. And while I'm at it, I'm also verbing the word verb). We were lucky enough to crash Tampa's Gasparilla Film Festival this time, broadcasting live from the beautiful Tampa Theatre.

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is definitely one of our favorite organizations in the area—both for the great things they bring to the city, and the great people they send our way. This time our guests were the lovelies Kari Goetz and Christen Pettitt, and the topic was Avenue Q. They came on to tell us what that means (Hint: It's a sweet Broadway Show coming to TBPAC) and how Ad 2 can get a great deal on it.
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Next we got to find out what we'd gotten ourselves into, with the Gasparilla Film Festival's Chad Moore and John Rosser. They told us all about one of Tampa's great cultural attractions, and tried to forgive us for crashing it (well actually I think they kinda liked us).
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Having gotten our feet wet, we now dove deeper into the Festival's substance, bringing on some real live independent movie makers. Adam Sigal and Brahman Turner created one of the featured films of the event—a piece called Daydreamer. What followed was some interesting insight into how it all came to be.
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Man, if you like film, this was the show for you. Our next guests were Pete Guzzo and Dan Brienza, who told us about Tampa's upcoming Weekend Film Workshop. It sounds like a great event for aspiring film-makers, covering all the aspects of making it happen in film. And... action!
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Continuing with our film theme, we brought Erik Cattele and Adam Lenfest of Polycreative on next. Polycreative is a digital media producer in the area, and one of the most prominent members of Tampa's Digital Media Alliance.
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We did a little something different with our last segment. No film here; just funds. Josh Crum is a Business Development Assoicate for Raymond James Financial, and one of this month's Rising Stars. He came on to tell us about his work with financial advisors and independent contractors that's brought him to Rising Star status.
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You know we're eternally greatful to the sponsors. As always, it simply couldn't happen if it weren't for the folks at Tampa Digital Studios, and the help of La Casa Dolce and tbt*. And for this month, "props" to Tampa Theatre and the Gasparilla Film Festival for letting us team up with them.

Until next time, make good choices!

Ad 2 Road Show

The Ad 2 Road Show is a presentation we developed to spread general awareness of Ad 2 Tampa Bay and the Student ADDY Awards to advertising, communication, media and design students. Jeff Morrow, Ad 2 Tampa Bay's Membership Director, and Kate Whatley, Ad 2 Tampa Bay's Education Director and Student ADDY Chair spoke to hundreds of students from six area colleges over a three week period. Over the course of the tour the presentation was given at the University of South Florida's weekly AdClub meeting, the University of Tampa, the Art Institute of Tampa, the International Academy of Design and Technology, Eckerd College, and ITT Technical Institute.

With the visual assistance of a projected powerpoint presentation, Jeff started by explaining what Ad 2 is, what we do for the community, and types of the events Ad 2 puts on. He also discussed the value of networking and different types of opportunities Ad 2 has to get involved in. Kate then spoke specifically about the upcoming Fall Media Tour and the importance of participating in the Student ADDY Awards. Students were shown a reel of the local Student ADDY Award winning work from the last two years. Students were greatly encouraged to enter their work and attend ADDY Gallery Night, an evening showcasing all of the ADDY entries in both the professional and student divisions. Each Road Show presentation ended with a question and answer session.

Strategically timed to take place right before the Fall Student Media Tour, we credited the Road Show as a major factor in selling out the fall tour. In the months preceding the Road Show we noticed a dramatic increase in student attendance at our monthly meetings. There was also a large student presence at other various Ad 2 and advertising community events including AdBash, ADDY Gallery Night and the ADDY After Party. The Road Show has also been credited by students and professors as a main factor in the dramatic increase in Student ADDY entries this year. In previous years the Tampa Bay Ad Fed has received between 30 to 40 Student ADDY entries. This year they received a record breaking 109 Student ADDY entries and had more Student ADDY winners than ever before.

AdCast: Episode XV

Tonight our regular hosts Jessica McDonald and Carl Vervisch took a break as we welcomed guest hosts Lindsey Norris and Vinny Tafuro in their place. After a one-month holiday hiatus, AdCast came back with a bang—another great show for all things Ad 2 and otherwise.

It's a new name, a new look, and more for one of Tampa Bay's most important organizations. Fresh off the unveiling of their complete re-branding roll-out, Tampa Bay & Company sent Senior VP of Marketing Dianne Jacob to tell us all about it. Check out why they did it, how they went about it, and what they're doing to get it out to the public on this segment.
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Mmmmm Chipotle... next up we had Kimberly Higgins, the official "Chipotle Cheerleader" for Tampa Bay and Orlando. You might recognize her from the amazing turnaround she orchestrated for about 50 students on our most recent Media Tour, or from her Rising Star status of months past. Tonight she let us in on all her crowd-pleasing promotional secrets.
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The Addys are upon us! They seem to come sooner every year for those of us that have to prepare our entries, and a couple of the local authorities on the subject were here to make the announcement this time. Tampa Bay Ad Fed president and Maddux Business Report marketing manager Craig Neuman, along with art director Kate Whatley of PeakBiety Branding + Advertising, came on to give us the low-down on the big show.
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And now for tonight's Rising Star! A great new addition to our show over the last few months has been the tbt* Rising Star. This time around, we had a lawyer in the house. Nicole Kibert is an Associate Attorney for Carlton Fields, and tonight we found out what she does and how she does it so well.
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As young, opinionated people in the advertising community, we always like to add our insight on the subject. This time it was Vinny and Lindsey telling us about their expectations for the star-studded ads of this year's Super Bowl. See what they had to say in our latest Advertising Insight.
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We wrapped things up with Ad 2 Roundtable, where we bring on Ad 2's finest to let us in on the club's latest. With that said, check it out and find out what you need to know!
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As always, we gotta thank those that made it all possible for us. Tampa Digital Studios ran the show, Tampa Bay Brewing Co. hosted it, and the folks at tbt* and La Casa Dolce sponsored it. Great job to all, and don't forget my strong encouragement for you all in three simple words—Make good choices.

AdCast: Episode XIV

Hello folks, another great month has come and gone in Tampa Bay, and along with it another great edition of Ad 2 Tampa Bay's AdCast. This month's show, broadcast live from Tampa Bay Brewing Company, was very sporty, which is pretty appropriate for this time of the year. That's not to mention the area – big happenings all around in the Tampa Bay sports scene.

• We kicked things off with the "homies" as usual. This time it was Cris Vatalaro and Mai Tran coming on to talk about two of Ad 2's biggest annual events, the Student Media Tour and AdBash. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say that both were extremely successful this year, both for entertainment value and for raising funds for our Public Service client, Wheels for Success. There's also a nice little highlight reel of AdBash, prepped by Mike Compton and the folks at Tampa Digital Studios: VIEW NOW

• Next on the show we started off our sports theme with America's favorite past-time. Brian Killingsworth, Director of Marketing and Promotion with the newly re-branded Tampa Bay Rays, was on the show with us. Brian told all about the re-branding efforts, which pretty much spread to every aspect of the team and its interaction with the city. Cheers for all the great community involvement coming out of that organization, and best of luck with the new image. VIEW NOW

• Time to talk about the Lightning and Storm! We don't have a weather center at AdCast, so that can only mean one thing - We're talking about more Tampa Bay sports. Brad Lott is the VP of Sales and Marketing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he brought us up to speed on all the defenders of the St. Pete Times Forum. VIEW NOW

• In a world where college bowl games seem to creep out of forgotten corners of the couch, we're lucky to have one of the best and longest-lasting of these events here in Tampa Bay. Mike Shulze is the Director of Communications + Sponsorships for the Outback Bowl. He gave us the play-by-play on everything from how its promoted to even revealing one of this year's teams live on the air - That's right, you heard it here FIRST. VIEW NOW

• The Society for Marketing Professional Services. What does it all mean? As we found out, it's an organization that focuses on training, networking, and community involvement for those in the fields of construction and engineering. Members Tara Ryan and JR Kozera were live on the air to tell us more about all the great things they do as an organization. VIEW NOW

• What are you doing for the holidays? Let us give you the run-down. Ad 2's very own Cris Vatalaro went to the trouble of researching, inspecting, deliberating to bring us the biggest and best in upcoming events in Tampa Bay. She even drug in Dan Gorda from 13 Ugly Men to tell us about their next extravagant event this New Years Eve. VIEW NOW

• And of course, there's our tbt* Rising Star segment. Every week, they crown a lucky individual in Tampa Bay and give them a proper feature in their lovely publication. We went through this month's winners, and brought one on the show. Sharon Nobles is a realtor with Wingate & Associates, but that's not all. Find out everything she's got going on, right here. VIEW NOW

Thanks to everyone that keeps watching the show... all the faithful that stayed with us through my worst wardrobe follies and love us just the same. And I can't stop raving out our great sponsors - La Casa "Delicious" Dolce, tbt* (something worth reading!) and of course the blood, sweat, and tears of Tampa Digital Studios and their elite production force. Oh and Tampa Bay Brewing Company. You guys rock, and so does your beer.

And in closing, it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't keep you to it:
Make Good Choices.

Ad 2 Tampa Bay Fall 2007 Student Media Tour

Posted by Kate Whatley

On Thursday November 8th, 2007 Ad 2 Tampa Bay hosted the Fall 2007 Student Media Tour. 50 students were given the opportunity to tour some of the most exciting advertising related companies in Tampa. As with any large orchestration, the effort was very much a joint venture between Ad 2 Tampa Bay and the participating advertising related businesses.

The first stop on the tour was OAI, the largest large-format printer in the Southeast. OAI brought the students through the entire facility explaining all of the high-end equipment and the print production process in general. We finished up with a short Q & A session and then boarded the bus and headed off to the next stop.

The second tour destination was Pyper Paul + Kenney, a local advertising agency known for edgy design and a large presence in the local ADDY awards program. Currently their office is located at an old firehouse in the Channel District just outside of Downtown Tampa. Hal Vincent, gave the tour and then shared some of his insights on the industry. Hal is also a professor at USF and formerly worked at the prestigious local agency West Wayne. Since PP+K could not accommodate all 50 students at once, the tour was broken into two groups.

Students who were not with Hal heard all about the benefits of joining Ad 2 from Mai Tran and Vinny Tafuro, respectively Ad 2 Tampa Bay’s president and immediate past president.

We then went over to Centro Ybor, taking a minute to grab a Starbucks, and toured Tampa Digital Studios’ new office. Tampa Digital Studios is a full-service digital media, film & video production house that maintains a long-standing partnership with Ad 2 Tampa Bay. They are currently the producers of AdCast, Ad2 Tampa Bay’s monthly live broadcast Internet video program highlighting young professionals and the groups they belong to. Several different guides took students in small groups around the studio. Students also had the opportunity to record a review of the last movie they saw. The video reviews are featured on Bob Ross Movies website (bobrossmovies.com).

After that, we got back on the bus and drove to Chipotle in Hyde Park. Chipotle donated free lunch and a t-shirt to every student on the tour.

For the final stop in the tour, we went back to downtown Tampa to Grupo D, a Multicultural Division of The Dutcher Group. Fabian Yépez spoke to students about the importance of Hispanic Advertising now and in the future. He explained the benefits of organic multicultural advertising and the downsides of straight translations without cultural considerations. Again, the entire tour could not fit in the Grupo D’s office space all at once so the students were separated into groups. The students that were not in the Dutcher Group listened to Carl Vervisch speak about winning a National Student ADDY and how it helped jump-start his career in advertising. Carl is an Ad 2 Tampa Bay AdCast co-host, fine artist and the copywriter at SPARK, a local advertising agency.

After the tour students were invited to come back and join us at Tampa Bay Brewing Company for our monthly Ad 2 Tampa Bay social during Media Mix. A dozen or so decided to take advantage of the opportunity to network with media and advertising professionals in a casual environment. Several students set up interviews for internships. One Art Institute student set up an internship interview with PeakBiety and will be interning there in the art department during the spring semester.

We received lot of positive feedback from all of the students and businesses that participated in the tour. These companies share a common goal with Ad 2 of wanting to help cultivate the future of advertising in the Tampa Bay market and the creative community overall.

Ad Bash is November 9th! Come party like a Hollywood Star!

Ad 2 Tampa Bay invites you and your friends to join us and 'walk the red carpet" at Ad Bash 2007!

This hollywood inspired event will take place at Hyde Park Cafe on Friday, November 9th from 6-10pm. Old and new celebrity attire requested - including baubles, bangles, and bright shiny beads. Proceeds benefiting Wheels of Success non-profit organization.

$5 tickets can be purchased in advance at www.ad2tampabay.org $10 tickets per person at the door.

First 50 guests get free goodie bags filled with great things from our sponsors! Drink specials will run all night long and free pizza will be available for our early guests! Come after work for a Happy Hour drink and start your Friday night of fun with Ad 2 Tampa Bay while helping out a great cause!

Hyde Park Cafe is located at 1806 Platt Street West Tampa, FL 33606 For more information please visit www.ad2tampabay.org. A huge thank you goes out to our wonderful sponsors! Hyde Park Cafe, Malibu, OnDemand Printing, and TBT

AdCast: Episode XIII

I suppose I didn't realize I should have been especially fearful of this month's episode - dreaded number thirteen. But really it wasn't bad at all. Remote show this time, from Tampa Bay Brewing Company (next door to Tampa Digital Studios' new offices in Ybor City). And to further mix things up, Jessica McDonald was out hang-gliding through the Amazon, opening up the coveted co-hostess spot for Ad 2's own Robin Adkins. And what a show it was...

• First, Cris Vatalaro and Mai Tran were on the show to catch us up on Ad 2 happenings. They discussed AdBash (which is coming up November 9, 6-10pm, and should totally rock, Hollywood-style) and the Student Media Tour (November 8, 9am-6pm – also likely to rock). For details on those events and everything else, you can always check out Ad 2's website at www.ad2tampabay.org

• Next up, Mike Compton was on the show with Susan Jacobs to announce this year's Ad 2 Tampa Bay public service client – a great cause called Wheels of Success. Great things to come on that front; Wheels' has an established identity, a sound plan, and a lot of potential for a great public service campaign for us. Anyone that's interested in helping out, toss Mike an email as soon as ya can. VIEW NOW

• Unfortunately the head honcho Larry Thompson couldn't make it out to the show to speak on the Sarasota Design Summit, but that didn't stop us. At the last second, we pulled a major community player, Mr. Peter Kageyama, President of Creative Tampa Bay and partner with Sextant Marketing. We had plenty to learn about the Design Summit, and honestly his talk changed my perspective on the whole thing. SDS is a new approach to the "design" conference, inviting people that aren't designers to find out why it's so important. VIEW NOW

• The next segment was a great learning experience for me, considering I didn't know what the Film Commission was until Lindsey Norris came onto the show to tell us about it. It's not really what I thought at all - these are the people responsible for the luring, caring, and feeding of any and all film production outfits visiting Tampa Bay. VIEW NOW

• It wasn't our first segment on advertising to the Hispanic community, and at the rate the population is growing, it won't be our last. This time we had a very tuned-in guest, live on the air with us. Pedro Perez has been working in the industry for 14 years, and came on to talk about his company Nuevo Advertising and how they reach out to such a diverse audience. VIEW NOW

• The Night of the Iguana. It just sounds fun. Sure enough, the details Melinda Dale revealed to us made it sound even moreso. This is a charity event for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, founded and firmly supported by Tampa's own Green Iguana restaurant, and it's going on November 16 from 7:30-11:30pm. VIEW NOW

• Was it all for the illiteration? The phrase "Hike for Hospice" is actually what they use to describe a pretty cool 5K race that supports Gulfside Regional Hospice, and special events coordinator Jennifer York was on to tell us all about it. VIEW NOW

• We wrapped things up with another edition of tbt* Rising Stars. I'm really glad we're doing this segment; it does what we always wanted to do with "Young Professional of the Month," but uses tbt*'s reach and resources to really pick out the best of the best. Then we get to have them on the show; keep an eye out for this being a really fun segment as this relationship moves on. This time we had Patrick Donlan of EdgeRock Technology Partners; great story there. VIEW NOW

And that's how we did it. Robin did a great job in her first attempt at hosting, especially considering she thought we'd have a teleprompter on the set (sorry Robin we're not all high-tech like that). The venue was quite honestly pretty tough to deal with as we were going along... I mean seriously, since when do so many people go to the bar on a Wednesday... but regardless, it all came out well. The clips look great, Tampa Digital Studios' team did great, and our sponsors are just generally great for the things they do for us (La Casa Dolce, tbt*, and TDS of course).

Let's do it again next month!
Make Good Choices.