Day Three at Admerica/REcap
When you got past the pink walls and La Alhambra-influenced halls, your unfettered, childish excitement began to take a backseat to professional blinders that let you really appreciate the core of the American Advertising Awards.
The weekend didn't just revolve around the scenery of harbor/beach-side resorts with the white Atlantic waves crashing in on the perfectly manicured beach front. Nor did it center around the presentation of the three-course meals we dined on accompanied by diligent servers who might as well have been refilling our glasses with gold.
It went deeper than that.
You could say the weekend was all about the influential keynotes speeches that graced our ear holes with deep industry knowledge and touched our chest ticker with such moving words. You could even say it was the impressive work honored at the awards ceremony. Maybe even the unifying voice of the AAF bringing all of advertising's best together.
But who's behind that voice?
Who's the producer behind that brilliant, gilded work? Who are the visionaries behind the speeches and keynote addresses?
The people. When you boil it, bake it, stick it in a stew, the weekend was all about the people.
This industry is chock-full of eclectic misfits that make every day a new and weird opportunity. Advertising is fueled by the kooks and creatives that make us want so badly to be a part of it. And we got to meet them!
We were lucky enough to meet people who vocally criticized terrible typeface decisions on the bar menu where we were ordering drinks.
We also lightly debated the utility of the oxford comma in our rare poolside downtime. These were the same people who could tell a good joke and share loyalties of Big Ten teams. And above all else, we were fortunate enough to meet these people who inspired themselves to strive for good advertising great advertising. And all the while these were the people that flirted with our intelligence and creativity...what a feeling!
We didn't just make business contacts and exchange cards. Nay! We made connections on an oddly professional-personal hybrid level.
In the near future, these people will be our coworkers, colleagues and (if not already) our friends.