Creativity Trumps Budget for Columbia-based Firm
Mays & Associates, an award-winning full service interactive web development and marketing agency, received a silver award in the Baltimore ADDY award competition in the category of Arts/TV for a special project produced for Columbia Festival of the Arts. Organized by the Advertising Association of Baltimore, the ADDY awards highlight the most creative work produced in Baltimore.
Mays created a special 30 second television promotion for an opening gala event for the Columbia Festival of the Arts. John Waters, the famous filmmaker, hosted the open gala as a fundraiser for the non-profit community arts event, and the segment highlighted Waters’ event, as well as featuring the entire Festival. As a tribute to Waters as a local celebrity and to promote the fundraising event, Mays produced an innovative and extremely creative television segment that integrated pink flamingo images, as a tribute to one of Waters’ earliest signature movies, with a humorous twist showing tribute to Hitchcock’s The Birds.
“We needed a TV segment that recognized the stature and reputation of John Waters and because he is such a non-conventional l film maker, we wanted something that was both offbeat and humorous,” said Nichole Hickey, Executive Director for Columbia Festival of the Arts. “Working with a shoestring budget, Mays produced an extraordinarily clever, attention-grabbing segment that John Waters himself found outrageously fun. We are thrilled that they were recognized with such a prestigious award for their work.”
The Baltimore ADDY awards is the local first step in being considered for a prize at the world’s largest advertising competition, organized by the American Advertising Federation. This year, there were a record number of entries to the competition.
“Recognition by our peers with an ADDY is the highest acknowledgment a creative team can achieve, and a great thrill,” said Ken Mays, president and creative director of Mays & Associates. “Getting recognized for the John Waters spot shows that, even in this digital age when we are inundated with big budget messages filled with expensive special effects, a clever concept can still trump expensive execution.“
Columbia Festival of the Arts was founded in 1987, and its popularity and growth have transformed it into one of the Baltimore/Washington Corridor’s premiere summer arts events. Each summer the Festival presents a brand new season of world-class events, including gala performances, exhibitions, free concerts, family activities, master classes, workshops and community dialogues. The Festival brings together the arts community, businesses, local schools, and individuals to create an annual event that shines a spotlight, not only on the arts, but on the Howard County community as a Maryland showplace.
Mays & Associates has been working with Columbia Festival of the Arts for 14 years. Mays will compete in the District Two ADDY competition against agencies in the Mid-Atlantic area.
About the Baltimore ADDY Awards
One of the biggest events organized by the Advertising Association of Baltimore (AAB) is the ADDY Awards. For over 30 years, the AAB has worked with members, volunteers, local businesses, area colleges and universities, media outlets and sponsors to celebrate the best creative work coming out of Baltimore. www.baltimoreadvertising.com
About Mays & Associates
Mays & Associates is an award-winning web development, print design, advertising, marketing and communications company headquartered in Howard County, Maryland. Mays specializes in the development of high impact creative strategies to brand businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and their products and services. Our innovative team has expertise in all media, website development, print, advertising, flash product demos, website marketing and strategies, email marketing and all venues for communicating corporate messages.
Click here to see the “John Waters Is Coming” TV Spot