2016 RENO-TAHOE AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

What is the Ace Awards?
THE ACE AWARDS IS AN ANNUAL EVENT HOSTED BY THE RENO-
TAHOE AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION (AMA). THE GOAL OF
THE ACE AWARDS IS TO RECOGNIZE AND ACKNOWLEDGE
MARKETING EXCELLENCE RIGHT HERE WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY.

Special Thanks To All Our Amazing Sponsors
LakeridgeGolfCourse
TheAbbiAgency
LakesideInn
CircusCircus
NevadaArtMuseum
SqueezeIn
Basecamp
Granlibakken
AcesBallpark
SparksFlorist
Campo
SouthcreekPizza
RenoeNVy
Without sponsors, none of this could be possible. Thank you to all these inspiring local businesses for helping
this year’s Ace Awards be the best YET!

BEST IN:
Brand / Re-Brand
A MARKETING OVERHAUL OF A PRODUCT, BUSINESS OR
SERVICE AREA AND HOW IT CREATES A MEANINGFUL IMPACT
FOR THE BUSINESS OR ACHIEVE A KEY MARKETING
OBJECTIVE.

Truckee Base
Camp for a Big Life
Truckee Chamber of
Commerce
Our primary goal was to create
the first Truckee Brand Identity,
including our community core
values, voice, tone, personality,
unique town strengths, logo,
tagline, font treatment and color
palette. The purpose of this
project was to unite all
communications about Truckee in
order to have a united,
comprehensive and consistent
message for residents, visitors and
business owners to leverage. The
second goal was to lay the
foundation for a new Truckee.com
web site.

OUR Center, an
LGBTQ Community
Center
Biggest Little Group
Create a brand that was
identifiable to the northern
Nevada LGBTQ community and its
allies. Implement brand standards
across all mediums for the launch
of its new community center.
The brand name “OUR Center”
derived from “Build Our Center,”
as it was already identifiable and
perceived inviting to members
and allies. The brand could also be
utilized across all of their
programming, i.e. “OUR Youth”
and “OUR Calendar.”

The Reno
Philharmonic
Stan Can Design
The primary goal of this
campaign was to redesign the
Reno Phil brand to better align
with its brand positioning
statement: "The Reno
Philharmonic enriches our
community's cultural life in
unexpected ways." We also
sought to increase top of mind
awareness and shed light on
everything the Phil does for the
community, education, and its
cultural impact.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST BRAND / RE-BRAND IS:
Truckee Base Camp
for a Big Life

BEST IN:
Event Promotion
THE OVERALL PROMOTION OF AN EVENT THAT EXTENDS
THE BRAND EXPERIENCE TO CUSTOMERS AND ACHIEVES
MEASURABLE RESULTS FOR THE ORGANIZER.

10th annual
NCET Small
Business Expo
Nevada Center for
Entrepreneurship & Technology
NCET’s goals for the 10th annual NCET
Small Business Expo were to: 1.
Increase attendance by 5% over 2014’s
attendance of 900 2. Attract 300 first-
time attendees 3. Recruit 10 new
members.
The Expo is designed to answer
attendees’ needs for:
1. Quality networking opportunities with
other small business owners and people
looking to start small businesses
2. One-stop shopping for the wide range
so resources needed to start or run a
small business All of NCET’s marcom
promotes features-and-benefits tied to
those goals.
Results 1. ~950 attendees (5.6% increase)
2. New contacts: ~375 3. New members:
14

Virginia Street
Bridge Ribbon
Cutting
April 12, 2016
City of Reno
The primary goal of the Virginia Street
Bridge Ribbon Cutting event was to
celebrate the opening of the Virginia
Street Bridge, which was under
construction for the previous 10 months.
In addition, several stakeholders were
involved in this process and it was an
opportunity to recognize the outstanding
efforts and collaboration of all of those
involved.
In total, the media coverage, the
attendance, the participation of
dignitaries, involvement and coordination
of multiple departments within the City
and a very limited budget all make this
event a marketing success.

TEDxUniversityof
Nevada
University of Nevada, Reno
The primary goals for marketing the
TEDxUniversityofNevada event were
to build a great program of speakers
and performers, sell tickets (we sold
over 1,100 tickets – selling out the
Pioneer Center for the Performing
Arts) and to promote the event’s
TEDx videos once they were posted
to YouTube. In just over 90 days the
videos for the event received over
350,000 views.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST EVENT PROMOTION IS:
TEDxUniversityOfNevada

BEST IN:
Cause-Related
Marketing
A MARKETING CAMPAIGN DEVELOPED BETWEEN A BUSINESS AND
A CHARITY OR CAUSE THAT DELIVERS BENEFITS FOR BOTH
PARTIES. THE CAMPAIGN NEEDS TO DEMONSTRATE RESULTS AND
HOW WELL IT WAS INTEGRATED WITH BROADER MARKETING
OBJECTIVES OF BOTH ORGANIZATIONS.

#NeighborGood
Paul Klein
#NeighborGood was a movement to
build neighborhood good through
events and outreach that spread
goodness. Instead of marketing a
message, we created opportunities
to experience goodness, which was
the very message we were working
to share.
Reno Vice Mayor Oscar Delgado
enlisted Paul Klein to help him share
his brand of working to improve life
in neighborhoods. That's when Paul
and Oscar created #NeighborGood,
a noble cause to build
neighborhood good through
community events, little free
libraries, career fairs, tech talks, and
more. The effort created a
movement that is still continuing
today.

Diaper Duty: A
Community-Wide
Diaper Drive
Estipona Group
Estipona Group's Diaper Duty
activated residents from all over
the Reno-Sparks area to collect
more than 10,000 diapers
through grass-roots initiatives
providing clean diapers for
hundreds of babies in the
community. Partnering with
local businesses allowed
Estipona Group to create
mutually beneficial marketing
for Estipona Group, the various
drop-off locations, and WACCS.

Impact Awards of
Northern Nevada
Biggest Little Group
Increase attendance by 50% and attract
new attendees—New attendance was up
by 75%. Raise brand awareness for both
the organization (NACE) and for the
charitable recipients by leveraging media
sponsorships.
The event raised $35,000 for The Solace
Tree, a local nonprofit that provides
programs and services to grieving
children; The SEARCH Foundation, a
nonprofit that helps special event,
meeting and hospitality professionals
who are faced with a life-threatening
illness or any catastrophic occurrence;
and the Foundation of NACE, a nonprofit
public foundation supporting the catering
and events industry through scholarships
and community grants.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING IS:
Diaper Duty:
A Community-Wide Diaper Drive

BEST IN:
Direct Marketing
A MARKETING INITIATIVE THAT DEMONSTRATES
STRATEGY, CREATIVITY AND RESULTS. IT TARGETS A
SPECIFIC AUDIENCE WITH A CLEAR MESSAGE, OFFER
AND CALL TO ACTION.

The Weekly Yelp
- Reno
Yelp Reno
Create a compelling opt-in
weekly newsletter that
recognizes our great local
businesses for what they do
best, utilizing user generated
content shared by passionate
local Yelpers, increasing
awareness of these businesses,
and Yelp amongst, business
owners and consumers
throughout the Northern
Nevada area. We aim to feature
6 businesses, 3 local events, and
a sponsor in each issue. At the
link you can view several past
issues.

Blackbird
Delivery
Laxalt & McIver
Create a unique marketing kit
for Blackbird, a marijuana
delivery business, that
highlights their service that
connects businesses to the
patients. This includes creating
personalized promotional
marketing pieces for various
medical marijuana dispensaries
in the Reno/Sparks and Las
Vegas areas.

EMPLOYERS
2016 Calendar
Stan Can Design
The primary goal of each year's
EMPLOYERS poster is to foster brand
loyalty in the company's clients
while also reinforcing their brand as
"America's Small Business Insurance
Specialist.“
This year's calendar featured a
theme that made it especially well-
received. Each calendar month was
stacked with the most influential
moments in American business
history, offering a unique and
welcome cubicle distraction for the
recipient. Each month also featured
trivia that drove the curious to the
EMPLOYERS blog for the answers.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST DIRECT MARKETING IS:
The Weekly Yelp

BEST IN:
Print
THE PRINTED PIECE DISPLAYS DESIGN, CREATIVITY AND A
STRONG THE CALL TO ACTION. IT CAPTURES ATTENTION AND
INTEREST AND HELPS CREATE A MEANINGFUL IMPACT FOR
THE BUSINESS OR ACHIEVE A KEY MARKETING OBJECTIVE.

Reno Lens Book
City of Reno
The book was created as a keepsake
in the Citizen Recognition Program,
which was launched to recognize
exemplary Reno citizens who add to
creating a community that people
are proud to call home and embody
the spirit of the City of Reno. Reno
City Council members are using the
book as a way to recognize citizens,
but it’s also a way to showcase
exemplary photography from the
Reno Lens community.

NASA – Space
Apps Challenge
Laxalt & McIver
The beautifully executed design shows
Reno as a place for art, creativity, in a
high-tech environment. This event
takes place internationally, so
conveying the community as a proud
location for the event was very
important. The image focuses on the
illustrative style, using bright colors
and cleanly presented information.
This piece displays great usage of
design fundamentals, while still being
stylized enough to show the
uniqueness and progressive thinking
that Reno has to offer. Hackathons are
a fairly new concept, so showing
information about the event while still
being intriguing for an open audience
was vital to the success of the poster.

2015 Artown
Poster
Stan Can Design
The primary goals of the 2015
Artown Poster was to market
and advertise the iconic month-
long event and to celebrate the
20th anniversary of the festival's
inception. The tricky part, as it is
every year, is to do so in a way
that elegantly displays the work
of featured artist Franz Szony
while respectfully presenting
the festival sponsors in the
same space.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST PRINT IS:
Reno Lens

BEST IN:
Social Media
THE WAYS A BUSINESS USES SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENHANCE
AND BOOST ENGAGEMENT AND AWARENESS WITH
PROSPECTIVE / CURRENT CUSTOMERS.

Travel to
Rural Nevada
TravelNevada
The primary goals were to use user-
generated content on Instagram to
increase awareness, engagement, and
to inspire Millennials to travel to rural
Nevada.
There is an overwhelming
misconception that the only
worthwhile attraction in Nevada is Las
Vegas and the rest of the state is just a
barren wasteland. The Nevada Division
of Tourism, better known as
TravelNevada, has the challenge of
changing this perception by boosting
tourism to rural Nevada communities.
In a state that only has two major
cities, with more than 400 miles
between them, there are some
significant challenges of promoting
these lesser-known towns and
attractions that lie beyond the neon
glow of Las Vegas and Reno.

Flu Goes Viral
(Pun Intended)
Estipona Group
Our goal was to use the
sometimes-viral effect of social
media to spread awareness of
the need for flu vaccines. Our
target audience was existing
and new Facebook users. We
were tasked by our client,
Immunize Nevada, with creating
a series of shareable, engaging
social media graphics intended
to generate conversation about
flu vaccine.

Durham Ranch
#1meat12ways
Influencer
Campaign
The Abbi Agency
The #1meat12ways campaign was
developed with an overall goal of
regional brand awareness for the Durham
Ranch brand. Secondly, Durham Ranch
wanted to activate regional brand
influencers to drive user-generated
content and online awareness of their
products. Finally, they wanted to
highlight their wide array of specialty
meats available and to illustrate the
versatility of each one through content
development.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST SOCIAL MEDIA IS:
Travel to Rural Nevada

BEST IN:
Public Relations
COMMUNICATIONS EFFORTS THROUGH PR AND TRADITIONAL
MEDIA OUTLETS THAT PROMOTES AWARENESS AND
CHANGES PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICES, CORPORATIONS, AND
ORGANIZATIONS TO CONSUMERS, EMPLOYEES, INDUSTRY
PROFESSIONALS, THE INVESTOR COMMUNITY AND OTHER
STAKEHOLDER GROUPS. THE EFFORTS MUST RELATE TO THE
OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY AND IS NOT JUST A SINGLE
TACTIC.

NCJFCJ National PR
on Ending
Indiscriminate
Juvenile Shacking
KPS3
The main goal was to support the
advocacy movement with an
aggressive PR awareness effort in
several states to end
indiscriminate juvenile shackling
in courts throughout the country
where this practice is still allowed.
The NCJFCJ passed a resolution on
the issue, as juvenile shackling is
contrary to the goals of juvenile
justice. The objective was to
garner at least one story a month
in a major news outlet to create
awareness of the issue and
resolve to stop shackling in
courtrooms, with a 60-hour
budget over 10 months.

2015 State of the
City - September 1,
2015
City of Reno
Educate and engage citizens by
bringing the theme of “A New Day in
Reno” to life through the State of
the City address. Increase attendees
from approximately 100 attendees
to more than 300 citizens to attend
and/or view the 2015 State of the
City address, create a positive vibe
on social networks and media
coverage of the event.

Flirtey Campaign
The Abbi Agency
Announce a series of 'firsts' for
independent drone delivery
company Flirtey, a Reno-based
startup. Position Flirtey's
accomplishments as being steps
ahead of Amazon, Google, and
other startup competitors Bring
attention to Nevada and UNR as the
premier test site and partners for
drone delivery

AND THE WINNER IN BEST PUBLIC RELATIONS IS:
Flirtey

BEST IN:
Web and Digital
THE WEBSITE DEMONSTRATES EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN,
CONTENT, FUNCTIONALITY AND USABILITY. THIS
INCLUDES THE OVERALL LOOK AND FEEL OF THE SITE,
ENGAGING CONTENT, NAVIGATION AND EASE-OF-USE
FOR VISITORS.

Personalized
Web Experience
Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows
With our personalization tool, we have
the ability to segment our users by
location, persona and season
passholder status. Once a user is
associated with a segment, that user
immediately receives a unique
experience throughout
squawalpine.com. Since our persona-
driven campaigns, 7 of 8 target
segments have seen a lift over control.
In particular, our high-value “family”
segment realized a 38% increase in
conversion rate and a 41% lift in
revenue per user. We've also
implemented a dynamic weather
trigger campaign that is immediately
enabled once we report 4". The
campaign was created to increase our
database, and after it's
implementation, we saw our highest
database growth this winter - a 22%
increase.

Nevada Discovery
Museum Website
Redesign
Noble Studios – Noble Deeds
This pro bono project had several key
goals: to create a new responsive website
for the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery
Museum, improve metrics and add a
content management system for the
Discovery's marketing team. The biggest
challenge was to help the museum
rebrand itself, taking it from a children's
museum to a general audience science
center.
We launched the site on March 9, 2016
with new features that make it easier for
the public to discover classes and events
that inspire them through science, math
and other subjects. Now responsive, the
new site works beautifully across all
device types. And, with its first-ever
content management system, the
Discovery's staff and marketing team
have the ability to maintain the website
without and HTML/CSS experience. The
overall look and feel of the site is geared
toward a broader audience than before.

TravelNevada.com
TravelNevada
Create and build brand awareness among
the primary target audience segments
and increase destination consideration.
Encourage new visitors to include Nevada
in their vacation plans while ensuring
continued planning activity among repeat
visitors.
Deliver content to create relationships,
encourage engagement and deliver an
authentic Nevada experience to the
target audience.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST WEB AND DIGITAL IS:
TravelNevada.com

BEST IN:
Integrated
Marketing Strategy
A COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN THAT STRATEGICALLY
USES A VARIETY OF COMMUNICATION DISCIPLINES,
SUCH AS ADVERTISING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, PERSONAL
SELLING, AND SALES PROMOTION AND COMBINES THEM
TO PROVIDE CLARITY, CONSISTENCY, AND MAXIMUM
COMMUNICATION IMPACT.

Toucan Charlie’s
Buffet Grand
Reopening
Atlantis Casino Resort Spa
The main objectives of the Toucan
Charlie’s Buffet integrated marketing
plan were to 1) create awareness; both
during the closure of Toucan Charlie’s
and amplified once reopened, 2) build
anticipation with guests, and 3)
increase revenue and headcount.
The net result: a 21% increase in
budgeted headcounts at the newly
reopened restaurant. This was not
merely a restaurant upgrade but a
complete rebranding effort. The
award-winning Toucan Charlie’ Buffet
and Grille received much more than a
cosmetic facelift. The entire restaurant
was gutted, front and back of the
house. Both the food line and kitchen
as well as the dining room were
completely redesigned. To go along
with the new décor, an expanded
menu and new logo were introduced.

North Lake
Tahoe Ale Trail
The Abbi Agency
In order to increase consumers’
engagement with North Lake
Tahoe as a brand during the fall of
2015, The Abbi Agency set out to
create an interactive North Lake
Tahoe Ale Trail map as the
campaign centerpiece pairing
popular watering holes, such as
taverns and breweries, with
sporting trails that lead to the
doorstep of that watering hole.
Additional multimedia assets
including videos, photos and
visually-driven blog posts, as well
as a public relations campaign
supported the interactive map.

Onstream
The Abbi Agency
After naming the company, developing the
brand, creating the logo and building the
website, The Abbi Agency launched Onstream
through public relations, content marketing and
guerilla tradeshow marketing. The company /
brand debuted at the IoT Evolution Expo in Las
Vegas with an animated video, an infographic
and full media relations and guerilla marketing
push. We launched PR campaigns to highlight
their funding, partnerships, founder advice, and
its products. The company made Dell's list of
most innovative IoT startups in 2015, the
animated video took home a silver Addy (done
in conjunction w/ Orange Tree), and for the
2015 year they had a total of 19 pieces of
coverage with and estimated 62K views and
2.23K social shares. A byline in VentureBeat that
has to date received an estimated 20.7K views,
and was one of the top 5 read articles that
month of the publication. The social media
efforts and updates recently lead to an investor
meeting at the Collision conference, where
Onstream pitched in a competition that
accepted only 120 of the 16k applicants.
Onstream also won the NCET Software Co of the
Year award in 2016.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST INTEGRATED MARKETING STRATEGY IS:
Toucan Charlie’s Buffet
Grand Reopening

BEST IN:
Video
THE VIDEO / FILM / COMMERCIAL CAPTURES
ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, AND LEADS TO ACTION.
IT HELPS TO DRIVE RESULTS FOR THE BUSINESS OR
ACHIEVE A KEY BUSINESS OBJECTIVE.

David Wise
Commercial and
Video
Northern Nevada Medical Center
Northern Nevada Medical Center launched a
multimedia advertising campaign featuring local
Olympic Gold Medalist Skier David Wise. The
campaign was designed to show case NNMC’s
Orthopedic and Spine Centers of Excellence,
emphasizing that we are the only orthopedics
program in the market certified in knee/hip
replacement, spine surgery and back pain by the
national accrediting organization, “The Joint
Commission.” NNMC also wanted to emphasize that
they are the only hospital with all private rooms.
David Wise was selected because he is a local
celebrity who has broad appeal across different
genders and ages.
The television and video spots were designed to
capture the audience with the energy and
excitement that extreme skiing offers, while
capitalizing on the civic pride of featuring a local,
home-grown Olympic gold medalist. The campaign
included television, billboard, direct mail, print, and
social and digital media. The campaign has proven to
be a huge success and has surpassed our stated
objectives. NNMC has performed 589 orthopedic
surgeries through April of this year, 108 more than
last year at this time.

Wild Nights
Travel Nevada
TravelNevada’s primary marketing objectives were
to position Nevada as an ideal adventure travel
destination for key drive markets in order to
encourage spending in the state. The video strategy
was focused to encourage the audience to put
Nevada in their consideration set when making
vacation decisions.
“Wild Nights” was produced to capture the unique,
authentic characters in Nevada and how travelers
could experience these encounters and go home
with more stories than souvenirs. Destination
Analysts did a study and video results were as
follows: - Approximately 70 percent of survey
respondents reported that their first impulse was to
take some sort of action.
- The majority of survey respondents found the
video ad to be enjoyable, including the following
aspects; the ad’s friendly characters, the fact that it
depicted that there is more to Nevada than its
stereotypes, its humor, the fact that it’s action-
oriented and the fact that it was generally appealing
to them.
- For half of the survey sample, the video ad
stimulates more interest in visiting Nevada.
- Two-thirds of survey respondents feel that the ad
is realistic in its portrayal of Nevada

Beyond the Veil
High Fives Foundation
Adaptive Surf Camp
In May 2015, the High Fives
Foundation took seven athletes to
Maui for an adaptive surf trip.
Being around these positive,
motivated, life-loving humans is a
constant reminder of why we
choose to dedicate our lives to
telling stories that feed our souls -
stories that give us a lump in our
throats, raise the hair on our
arms, a tightness in our chest and
a tear in our eye.
This film serves to inspire us all to
go beyond what we once thought
possible, our perceived limitations
and open our eyes to what it
means to truly live.

AND THE WINNER IN BEST VIDEO IS:
Wild Nights

People’s Choice
IS IT A POPULARITY CONTEST? IS IT SHAMELESS SELF
PROMOTION? WHO CARES! IT’S AN AWARD AND PEOPLE
ARE VOTING FOR YOU. OUT OF 120+ NOMINEES, YOU
REIGNED SUPREME. TO US, YOU ARE MORE POPULAR
THAN CAT VIDEOS AND YOU DESERVE THIS PRESTIGIOUS
AWARD!

AND THE WINNER OF PEOPLE’S CHOICE IS:
Ending Indiscriminate
Juvenile Shackling

LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST:
Influencer of the Year
TO THE RENO AMA BOARD, THIS AWARD IS THE ONE WE HOLD
THE CLOSEST TO OUR HEARTS. EVERY YEAR, WE ARE FORTUNATE
ENOUGH TO SELECT ONE PERSON FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT
WE HAVE WATCHED MAKE A SUBSTANTIAL IMPACT. THIS IS OUR
WAY OF SAYING THANK YOU TO THE SPECIAL PEOPLE OUT THERE
THAT GO FAR BEYOND THE REST TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN
OUR COMMUNITY. IT IS OUR HONOR TO ANNOUNCE…
(WAIT FOR THE DRUMROLL)

Mike Higdon
INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR

A Very Special Thanks
PLEASE HELP US IN THANKING RACHEL KINGHAM FOR HER
COUNTLESS HOURS OVER THIS PAST YEAR TO MAKE THE AMA
CONTINUE TO THRIVE AS AN ORGANIZATION IN OUR AREA.

Now It’s Time For The Real Fun To Begin
We know it is getting late, but you have made it this far. Let’s bring on the Raffle Prizes!!!
We hope to make you more excited than a kid in a candy store.

THANK YOU
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR FINALISTS AND WINNERS!
REMEMBER TO TIP YOUR BARTENDERS AND DRIVE SAFE.