Video work for clients like Legrand earned awards for Gravity Six Alliance. Courtesy Gravity Six
The American Advertising Federation District 6 ADDY competition concluded recently with West Michigan advertising collaborative Gravity Six Alliance taking home eight awards — the second most awards following Chicago firm Leo Burnett, which received 23 ADDYs.
Gravity Six Alliance consists of local firms Auxiliary Advertising and Design, Extra Credit Projects, Grey Matter Group, Hanon McKendry and Palazzolo Design. The partnership formed in 2007 with the goal of bringing more work, talent and attention to the West Michigan advertising and design community.
“While there are plenty of multiple-agency ‘team’ concepts out there, Team Detroit for example, all of those have been forced upon those respective agencies by the client,” said Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer with Hanon McKendry. “Gravity Six is a completely unique concept that really stands out to clients because we have chosen to work together.
“As a result, the experience has proven to be very positive for clients and the participating agencies alike. There’s no infighting or politics; we all like and respect each other, and we love being pushed by each other to be our best.”
Gravity Six won two gold and six silver District 6 ADDYs for its work with Legrand and MLive Media Group.
“The regional ADDYs were primarily won for a client named Legrand and their launch of their new Adorne Collection,” McKendry said. “Legrand is a $5 billion company based in France with U.S. headquarters in Connecticut. This new product line is their largest consumer product launch in the U.S. with distribution in major home centers like Home Depot and Lowe’s.”
Rick Devon, president and creative director with Grey Matter Group added, “Gold ADDYs were awarded for Legrand's product Look Book as well as for its overall campaign, which included print, digital banners, collateral, point of sale and video.”
The project also received four silver ADDYs for Legrand video and banner ad work.
“Gravity Six competed against five New York agencies for the Legrand work and won it ‘hands down,’” said McKendry. “According to the client, none of the other agencies were even close in their level of creativity.
“Legrand has been a huge win for Gravity Six, and I think it's fair to say that none of the individual partner firms would have been given this opportunity on their own. So, the key advantage for partner firms is participating in bigger opportunities.
“Additional revenue streams are another great benefit — we're growing the pie. Plus, because Gravity has virtually no overhead — each company bears their costs independently — it has proven to be a very profitable venture.”
Gravity Six also was recently awarded one silver and two bronze Tellys, awards that honor the best film and video productions and online video content, for its Legrand online videos demonstrating Legrand's innovative light switches, wall plates and lighting solutions.
Gravity Six received two silver ADDYs for its MLive Media Group campaign focused on raising awareness about the newspaper’s delivery changes and to increase its web traffic.
The campaign was a strategic combination of traditional and new media including TV, outdoor, print, point of sale and digital work.
This is the second time that Gravity Six has come in second to Leo Burnett in the AAF District 6 awards.
In addition to the Gravity Six wins, G6 partnering agency MINDSCAPE at Hanon McKendry picked up a silver award for its work on the Legrand Adorne product visualizer, a part of the larger campaign. Partners Extra Credit Projects and Grey Matter Group also received recognition, taking home three and two awards, respectively.
Other West Michigan agencies that received District 6 ADDYs are:
- The Image Group, silver ADDY for 2012 Thanksgiving card.
- Plenty, gold ADDY for SOLACE Magazine spring and summer 2012 and silver ADDY for The Dead of Winter invite.
- Full Circle Marketing & Design, gold ADDY for Circus Freak Music product design and packaging.
- Mitch Ranger Photography, silver ADDY for SOLACE magazine.
- Boileau Communications Management, gold ADDY for Holland Board of Public Works 2012 annual report.
- Kantorwassink, silver ADDY for Bissell corporate recruitment brochure.
All winning entries will go on to compete in the national ADDYs competition being held June 5-8 in Phoenix.
