Big winner at 2013 Addy awards gaining national, international exposure

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Rob Jackson usually leaves the annual Addy awards with an armful of hardware.

This year, he needed some help to carry the 13 awards plus a Judge’s Choice trophy his firm Extra Credit Projects garnered at the local advertising industry’s version of the Oscars.

Sponsored by the West Michigan chapter of the American Advertising Federation, the awards show is the first level of a three-tiered national competition.

RELATED: See who won the 2013 West Michigan Addy Awards

ECP was the big winner of the night, collecting more awards than any other firm. The accolades come as Jackson is gaining national and international attention for his work.

Jackson was recently included in the 2013 People to Watch section of New York's Graphic Design USA Magazine, and his firm's work featured in Lurzer's Archive magazine, which showcases advertising campaigns from around the world.

"Archive inclusion is one of the highest honors, and we strive for this quality of work in all we do,” Jackson said.

His nearly seven-year-old firm has amassed more than 100 Addy awards, including some national ones. The most recent round includes three of the 32 gold and 10 of the 57 Silver Addy awards given out on Thursday, Feb. 21.

Three of the Addy awards were for the firm’s work on the Heart of the West Michigan United Way campaign.

“It most definitely resonated,” said CEO Maureen Noe, who credited the campaign for raising awareness about the needs of the community.

The firm’s work on the multi-media campaign, which was mostly pro-bono to keep costs down, utilized a range of mediums from street graphics to billboards, print to web.

The billboard began as an Art Prize entry "Hands. Heart. Hope." that played up the theme of helping hands by crowdsourcing handprints on an enormous white canvas to form a Grand Rapids landscape. The artwork was later mounted on a billboard.

“For me, it symbolized us all coming together,” Noe said.

It won an Addy gold for the public service category as a non-traditional entry.

Judges also liked the firm's campaign for the Gran Fondo cycling event, a fundraiser for Michigan State's Grand Rapids medical school. The logo is an image of S - for Spartans - made with bicycle chain links.

Rob Jackson's trademark is simplicity.

"The need for a simple creative idea is becoming greater as technology and the medium format and the speed of communication evolved," Jackson said.

The distilling process requires rounds of purging.

Jackson: "You know you are done when you have taken off everything you possibly can."

His evolution into an award-winning ad man began as an art director for billboard companies, which may explain why his ads are easy to consume in a blink of an eye.

“Much of our stuff is visual but we value words as equally important in communication,” Jackson said.

His client list is a mix of national and regional companies and organizations including Zondervan, United Way and Global Vision Eyewear. ECP also partners with a consortium of Grand Rapids agencies that compete against big Chicago and Madison Avenue firms for national accounts.

“We are very cost effective in this market,” Jackson says of his firm’s rates. “We are modestly Midwest-priced and stay small for that reason. We think that is a heck of a value for clients.”

RELATED: Founder of The Image Group 'humbled' to receive top Addy Award

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