In a couple of weeks, a new Caribbean advertising entity is expected to receive official recognition — after having already won an assortment of awards for creative excellence in a mainland competition.
The Caribbean Advertising Federation, or CAF, is mainly the brainchild of Terri Brown, who has worked in advertising on St. Thomas for more than a decade and is a past president of the Advertising Club of the Virgin Islands.
The V.I. Ad Club, which is active on both St. Thomas and St. Croix, is a member of the 4th District of the American Advertising Federation, which sponsors the annual American Advertising Awards. The district, one of 15 in the AAF, consists mainly of Florida, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As the District 4 Caribbean liaison, Brown connected with Norman Mayers of McCann-Erickson Barbados, an affiliate of one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, and they begin soliciting participation in a regional organization.
"To gain recognition and attention," Brown says, "an advertising awards competition was created."
Calls for entries went to advertising entities in 10 island nations. Agencies in the Virgin Islands, Barbados, Puerto Rico and Trinidad submitted nearly 100 entries that were judged in their own category at the annual District 4 American Advertising Awards competition in Daytona Beach, Fla., in mid-May.
CAF entries collected a total of 26 gold and silver district medals in print, broadcast, specialty advertising and public service, with Brown's own company, Mock LeBlanc Brown, taking Best of Show honors.
The territory won nine awards — five to Mock LeBlanc Brown in addition to Best of Show, and one each to Austin Advertising and Don Hebert Photography, both on St. Thomas; and to Steve Simonsen Photography and Kate 'n' Design, both on St. John.
The Best of Show award was for a full-color brochure produced for the Nature Conservancy of the Virgin Islands.
Gold Awards went to Mock LeBlanc Brown for the same brochure and for a sales presentation kit for CES, a Tampa, Fla., firm; and to Austin Advertising for a full-color newspaper campaign for Cruzan Rum.
Silver Awards were to Mock LeBlanc Brown for a full-page consumer magazine 150th Emancipation Commemoration ad for Banco Popular, a multimedia "Soap Opera" campaign for Antilles Wireless Cable TV, and a logo for the V.I. Institute of Performing Arts; to Kate 'n' Design for a label for Virgin Java Coffee; to Don Hebert for color photography for the Virgin Islands Calendar produced by TOPS; and to Steve Simonsen for color photography for a calendar produced by The Otto Companies.
"The AAF District Awards will focus merited attention on Caribbean creative agencies," Brown says. "This competition shows that communication skills and creative excellence here are second to none."
The CAF winners are being forwarded as part of the 4th District AAF entries in the national AAA finals, to be held in Washington, D.C., in mid-June. At that gathering, the AAF will vote on admitting the CAF into the national federation.
The new organization represents "multiple nationalities, creative differences and networking possibilities throughout the world," Brown says. Membership is open to any creative, marketing or advertising firm in the region. Further details may be obtained from Brown by calling (340) 774-8478, faxing to (340) 774-8372 or e-mailing to terri@mlbcaribbean.com.
