Ad Club pros receive special recognition

Agencies were not alone in the spotlight at the 2002 Addy Awards. Several individuals were singled out for special recognition.

Silver Medalist

What has been called the "most coveted" individual award, the Silver Medalist Award, went to Mike Scott, general manager at KY3.

The Silver Medalist Award was established by the Ameri-can Advertising Federation in 1959, but has been awarded locally since 1979 the first year of the Springfield Ad Club Addys. That first Silver Medal was awarded to Gary Ellison. Other past winners include Curt Brown, Art Hudkins, Bob No-ble, Larry Lipscomb, Bill Per-kin and Dianne Elizabeth.

It is those same previous winners that determine each newcomer, basing their judgments on an individual's contributions to his company, his creative ability, contributions to the ad-vancement of advertising and contributions to the community.

Past winners selected Scott, who has nearly 20 years in Springfield's advertising sales business.

He began his career in 1983 at KWTO as an account executive. In 1985 he spent another two-year stint as account executive for KOLR, then became KDEB's general sales manager from 1987 to 1990. That's when Scott found his home at KY3, where he has served as general manager since 1996. "I'm one of those that never left the market, just changed jobs," he said.

Scott credits the award to the quality associates he has worked with and known throughout his career.

"It's representative of the people I've worked with over the years," he said of the award, "especially here at KY3 in 11 years. Most of our successes here and the awards that we win are more representative of a lot of people and their efforts. I would consider this to be one of them."

Scott's community involvement consists of board memberships with the Community Part-nership Organization, Ozarks Fighting Back, American Red Cross and Missouri Broadcast-er's Association.

Ad Professional of the Year

This year's Ad Professional of the Year, another award decided by past recipients, was Tammy Leigh, director of communications at the Springfield Conven-tion & Visitors Bureau.

The Ad Professional Award has been handed out since Addy 11 in 1989, when Ellis Shook was named the Ad Professional of the Year. Other past winners include Arlen Diamond, Keith Amercrombie, Bill Perkin, Nick Sildey, Toni Marra and SBJ columnist Joe McAdoo.

The award recognizes accomplishments for a single year. The individual is someone who stands out in contributing to the advancement and professionalism of advertising and marketing in the area.

For Leigh, that would be in handling all advertising local, regional and national that is purchased through the bureau. She is also in charge of the CVB's public relations department and all seven publications it distributes throughout the year. On top of that she coordinates all advertising placement, which she said "was just learned along the way."

Her "way" began with two local advertising agencies: Gary Advertising and Noble & Associates. She then worked as a freelance artist for her own company, Leigh Productions. She has been at the CVB for the last seven years.

Outside of her career moves, Leigh has volunteered her services to the ArtsFest Committee during a nine-year period. Leigh, who is originally from Omaha, Neb., said she donated the design for the poster for about five years.

"Since I wasn't from here, that was kind of my foot in the door to getting my name around town," Leigh said.

Leigh was Ad Club president 1998-1999, and she now is on the AAF District Board of Directors as fourth lieutenant governor of the four-state district covering Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. She also serves on several committees with the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Anita Ludwig Award

Anita Ludwig was well known for her creative mind. For that reason, the Ad Club gives a special recognition award in her name.

Dianne Davidson, owner of D.L. Media, received the Anita Ludwig Award. She personally knew Lud-wig and actually worked on a couple projects with her, making it an even more special recognition for Davidson.

"The Anita Ludwig Award is a wonderful honor because I knew Anita Lud-wig," Davidson said. "She was one of the most creative people I've ever met in my life. It was a wonderful thing that the ad association named an award after her because she had done so many really cool things in her career."

To Davidson, the award is flattering, "especially because it is voted on by your peers the people I deal with every day," she said. "You work hard and you want to do the best that you can for your clients ... and try to conduct business in a way that is appropriate and respected."

D.L. Media will celebrate its five-year anniversary this March, and Davidson is appreciative of the support it has re-ceived.

"This has been a good thing my business has grown, my reputation in the industry apparently has grown, and people enjoy working with me," she said.

Davidson actually has about 15 years of experience in the industry; five years selling radio and cable television in Jop-lin and 10 years in Springfield split be-tween KSPR, the Copeland Group and her own company.

Homer Tindle Award

Another special Ad Club award is that named after Homer Tindle, a salesman who was involved in the local industry for around 60 years.

The Homer Tindle Award, which is given to account executives only when Ad Club members feel someone is de-serving for that particular year, went to Robert Felton, KY3 account executive.

Tindle was known for never missing an Ad Club meeting throughout his involvement, which lasted into his 70s.

"I was pretty privileged to have won it, considering it's from radio and print and television," Felton said. "There are quite a few people in town."

But probably few with as many years 26 with one company. Felton has spent 16 years in sales at KY3 and another 10 in production.

In that time, Felton was able to create a direct partnership between the production and sales departments.

"They created this position where I was kind of liaison between production and sales and kept things going smoothly," Felton said. "It was a very unique opportunity. ... I think that they just saw some talent there and utilized it."

Now, Felton focuses on advertising clients and working with direct accounts.

"We try and develop a very strong message for our clients. We've really grown and developed," he said of KY3's production and sales departments. "The technology and capabilities are huge."