Winning Big at the 2022 American Advertising Awards

This past weekend, we celebrated the 2022 American Advertising Awards hosted by AAF Reno. This is when our local industry gathers together around beautifully arranged tables, munching on delicious food, imbibing on fine spirits and hooting and hollering to properly celebrate the best designers and their exquisite creativity.

2022 AAF Reno American Advertising Awards

The American Advertising Awards, formerly known as the ADDYs, attracts 50,000 entries nationally each year from professional advertising companies and individuals to recognize creative excellence in advertising at the local, district and national level.

Reno ADDYs continue to be the largest fundraiser for the AAF Reno Foundation. The AAF Reno Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the arts and arts education in northern Nevada by successfully funding $300,000 in scholarships for northern Nevada students. The Foundation implements programs such as the Reno ADDYs, a national advertising competition that recognizes the best work by professional advertising design firms, as well as statewide programs such as Nevada Young Artists.

So, How Did We Do in the Local American Advertising Awards? 

The results for the American Advertising Awards were announced last night and dozens of advertising agencies and creative firms walked away with a top prize including us and our 18 awards. Here’s a rundown of how Noble Studios performed.

Gold for Social Media Campaign: “Morgan cHill” for Morgan Hill

Visit Morgan Hill (VMH) is a new TBID formed in 2019 that needed to educate potential tourists in nearby cities about the destination. Morgan Hill has myriad outdoor activities, cultural institutions, distinctive accommodations and amazing food and wine options. It’s the perfect escape from the big city.

But people didn’t know about the area’s fabulous amenities like wine tasting and outdoor activities, so we had to make a splash and twist the prism of consumer perception by introducing Morgan Hill as something different than they expected. Otherwise, they would have trouble believing and responding to marketing.

So we took on the misperception head-on by basing the brand launch on a tongue-in-cheek initiative to show that the name should probably be “Morgan cHill” instead. We did that through a fun, brand-appropriate, hand-written “c” in front of “Hill” in the logo.

The tagline highlights the revision of the name at the same time it calls upon a familiar phrase we say to ourselves when we find someplace a little less hectic and a little more relaxing. The creative highlights Morgan Hill as a place where people can disconnect from daily routines, be present and enjoy the activities and beauty of Morgan Hill–or Morgan cHill rather–and that’s more like it.

The comprehensive digital paid advertising strategy identified Google search and display as well as paid social media as the ideal channels to reach target audiences. Google Search provided the ability to engage with high-intent audiences doing research, while Display and Paid Social provided visual mediums to build instant brand visibility and design unique creative to play off the messaging strategy.

Gold for Copywriting: “The SLO Life” for San Luis Obispo

SLO is a lovely city at the heart of California, centrally situated midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. This region has all that you would want from the people to climate, from quaint streets to cool cafés.

But brand research revealed that travelers unfamiliar with SLO didn’t understand its value proposition. The more time people spent there, however, the more they realized the city had something super special to offer. So we needed to frame and communicate that unique quality in order to get them to understand the benefits of our destination sooner.

The new brand platform gave rise to the brand line, “Live the SLO Life”—a call to action to not just visit, but embrace the bright, laid-back, welcoming, progressive and fresh lifestyle of the city. 

Once this foundation was in place, we needed to share this new lifestyle brand with the world through a fully integrated marketing campaign. We did that with a friendly invitation, befitting this small-town California gem,  “Say Hello to the SLO Life.”

This campaign’s copywriting sought to position SLO as a home base away from home and the perfect place to explore all that the Central Coast of California has to offer. The message was aimed at conveying the welcoming nature of the destination with particular attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion that needed to be reflective in the creative.

Gold for Logo Design: Ruby’s Diner

Ruby’s Diner has been a Southern California favorite since the 1980s, with a nostalgic place in people’s hearts. It’s a place where diners can get a burger, hang out and get that “Ruby’s Feeling” of a “classic cool” that is approachable, fun loving and sincere. Sharing timeless classic food and “Diner Moments” is what it’s all about.

That is changing though, as they are adapting to the needs of a changing market. In order to continue evolving the brand, and to create a new brand strategy, we evolved and revised the logo and visual identity for Ruby’s Diner.

The revised logo embodies four qualities that our design team found critical:

• “Burger” –  The full logo looks like burger, because Ruby’s is distinctly a burger diner.
• “Waterfall” & “a roof” – The full logo showcases that under this roof we are all equal and we make room for everyone to share burgers and diner moments.
• “Equality” & “Neon” The equal sign ties back to the new brand line, “Make Room for Everyone.”
• “Simple” &“Minimal” but still looked like the existing logo in order to connect to the brand’s history, “Honor The Past. On To The Future.”

Even More 2022 American Advertising Awards for Noble Studios

Noble Studios also took home Silver and Bronze ADDY Awards in the following categories:

Advertising & Promotion: Email

• Silver Award for Paleonola – Email Drip Campaign

Copywriting

• Silver Award for Ruby’s -“Make Room for Everyone”
• Bronze Award for Yes& – “Always Add Something”

Corporate Social Responsibility Collateral: Brand Elements 

• Silver San Luis Obispo – “Sustainable SLO”

Digital Creative Technology: Data Driven Media

• Bronze Award for Visit Morgan Hill – “Morgan cHill”

Digital Creative Technology: Responsive Design

• Silver LTVA Website – TahoeSouth.com
• Silver Travel Nevada – “Road Trips”

Integrated Consumer Campaign

• Bronze Award for LTVA “Clearly” Campaign
• Bronze Award for RTAA – “Ready, Jet, Go!”

Online Film, Video And Sound Campaign

• Silver Award for Visit SLO “Hello to the SLO Life”
• Silver Award for Visit Morgan Hill – “Morgan cHill”

Online/Interactive Campaign

• Silver Award for Visit SLO – “Hello to the SLO Life”

Public Service Online/Interactive

• Bronze Award for CSSNV Substance Abuse Campaign
• Bronze Award for Join INC – Join.org

Social Media Campaign

• Silver – LTVA – “Clearly” Campaign

This year’s ADDY awards will add to Noble Studio’s extensive list of awards that includes recognition from the Hermes Creative Award and the Communicator Awards. We’ve been fortunate enough to be recognized for a lot of our work this year, but we couldn’t have achieved this without the support from our clients, who are just as passionate about achieving results, solving challenges and getting better every day.