For Immediate Release

Contact: Saltzman Communications
Michael Saltzman
310-271-5789

Richmond, VA – The best commercials of the year will be coming to Richmond, Virginia on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at the historic Byrd Theater in Carytown as part of the world tour of the 2009 AICP Show, entitled The Art & Technique of the American Commercial. Doors open at 6:30 pm, with the evening beginning with a reception sponsored by the Richmond Ad Club from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm at the New York Deli. The screening will begin at 7:15 pm at the Byrd Theatre. Presented by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), the show is an hour-long compendium of advertisements selected for honors by industry professionals. The show debuted on June 9th, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and is currently touring museums and cultural institutions around the country and abroad. In Richmond, the AICP show is sponsored by the Richmond Ad Club, the VCU BrandCenter and the Virginia Production Alliance. Tickets are available at the door or online www.richmondadclub.com. For information, email info@afci.org

Now in its eighteenth year, the show is presented annually by the AICP, an advertising trade organization that represents companies that specialize in producing commercials on various media. (The full Show archive may be found at www.aicpshow.com) Selections of the honored commercials were made by 300 judges across the country, including a blue-ribbon curatorial panel composed of distinguished members of the industry from production companies, advertising agencies, editorial companies, and others. The Next categories, which include Integrated Campaign, Viral/Web Film, Experiential, and Website/Microsite are judged by a separate panel. Next was established in 2007 to honor outstanding multidimensional brand promotions.

Each category of the Show may have up to three honorees, with the exception of Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial and Advertising Excellence/Campaign, which may have only one honoree each, making those pieces Best in Show. “Piñata” for Skittles, directed by Tom Kuntz of MJZ, was honored for Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial. (It was also honored in the Humor and Performance/Dialogue categories. The Crest campaign comprising “Bulldozer,” “Lice,” and “Pre Nup,” directed by Harold Einstein of Station Film, was honored in the advertising Excellence/Campaign category.

Honored spots were produced for such brands as Nike, Durex, Skittles, Audi, Comcast, Crest, and created by such agencies as Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Wieden+Kennedy, Fitzgerald+Co, Ogilvy New York, and TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, among many others. With an impressive total of ten honors, MJZ led production companies by a large margin with the most representation in the show. Biscuit Filmworks received eight honors, while Anonymous Content received five honors. Bob Industries, Psyop, and Superfad each received four honors, while Prettybird and Station Films received three honors.

Tom Kuntz of MJZ was the most honored director in the show with seven honors. Directors Tim Godsall of Biscuit Filmsworks and Robert Rugan of Superfad came in a close second, with four honors each. Harold Einstein of Station Film, Mike Geiger of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Paul Hunter of Prettybird, and Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks each received three honors.

The show recognizes commercial filmmaking in technical and artistic categories, ranging from animation to visual effects, and including such fields as production design, cinematography, and original music. Although the show focuses on American commercials, it includes a category for excellence in international commercials, reflective of the globalization of the commercial production industry.

The show is currently on tour across the United States and abroad. In addition to Miami, stops on the tour in the U.S. include: Atlanta, Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Richmond, Va., San Francisco, and Chicago.

Support from the AICP Show sponsors helps make this event possible. Corporate Leaders are: The Eastman Kodak Company, Entertainment Industry, and the Directors Guild of America. Corporate Benefactors are: Advertising Age; American Airlines; Aspen Travel; Blink Digital; Boards Magazine; Creativity; Imaginary Forces; International Duplication Center Inc.; Istros Media Corporation; The London Hotels; Microsoft Advertising; NBC Universal; Nice Shoes; Nice Spots; Sacred Noise; SHOOT; Sony Pictures Studio; SourceECreative; and Trollbäck+Company. Corporate Patrons are: Autodesk; CAPS Universal; COLOR- An Audio; Production Company Entertainment Partners Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz; Hello World Communications; Little Black Book; Maxell Corporation of America; McCann Systems; Optical Disc Solutions; PES Payroll; and VCU Brandcenter.

Further information is available at 212-929-3000 or online at www.aicp.com.

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