Peabodys

Question: what is the most prestigious honor for broadcast journalists?

Answer: It's not a Grammy. It's not an Emmy. And of course it's not a Tony. It's a Peabody, and many don't realize that the Peabody Awards are headquartered at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication here in Athens. The list of past Peabody winners includes most of the legends of broadcast journalism and some of America's most well known television programming, including everything from Sesame Street to the Sopranos.

On Monday, Eric O'Brien and I had the opportunity to represent Jackson Spalding at the Peabody Awards Gala at the Waldorf=Astoria in Manhattan. It was a remarkable event for a number of reasons.

First of all, the diversity of the honorees. Everyone from 30 Rock to Project Runway to NPR were among the 30+ award winners. We heard acceptance speeches from television anchors who covered the Virginia Tech tragedy with calm, skill and dignity. We heard a moving tribute from Bob Woodruff after he was honored for his production about injured veterans of the Iraq war. And we had the pleasure of hearing from Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Heidi Klum (although, I must say, she had an unusual new look going on). While the winners came from across the electronic media spectrum, they all had one thing in common: absolute excellence with their craft.

The event was a first class production in every way with the glitz and glamour of your typical televised award show. It made me proud to be a supporter of the University of Georgia to see the respect and honor given to our flagship institution in New York City.

A sample of some of the media coverage is below (note my closest brush ever with Perez Hilton); notably the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Athens Banner-Herald (fair disclosure: the ABH did highlight the winners back in the spring when they were announced) have no mention of the event or its honorees. My former employer the Rome News-Tribune did a wonderful locally driven story on the event, as they typically do.

--L.A. Times
--Washington Times
--Perez Hilton
--Media Bistro story and a good summary of winners

Overall, this is a great example of another one of "those things" that the University of Georgia does that it gets very little credit for in the local community that help establish it (and by association, Athens) as a national leader.

The Truth about Political Ads

We are all aware that 2008 is a presidential election year. There is no denying it. It's down to two candidates, and the world is watching. Talking heads begin to analyze, bumper stickers are proudly displayed, blogs are red hot with comments and opinions and the next round of town hall debates can begin. Athens, Ga. is not likely to see McCain or Obama on the City Hall steps nor perched before the Arch in hot debate. However, we are certain to see an abundance of political commercials on the local and presidential level.

As a student and practitioner of advertising I have been less than impressed with this election's commercials (although I did find Obama's Yes We Can YouTube music video to be inspiring and smart). As I was mentally preparing myself for the onslaught of awful political ads that are sure to begin soon the creative and talented Mart Martin sent our office this spectacular Argentinian political ad, a great example of the power of words. In Mart's words, "they should pay the copywriter a couple of million!"