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.