Granted, events, job openings, new hires and such are a given – those will always be part of the coverage. But what else would you like to see or know more about? Work that various shops have been doing lately? Industry trends? Loosely related news with a local spin?

It’s your turn – fire away.

Among the updates coming down the line: New job listings, new hires, notable news and research, available talent and more.

Stay tuned.

Even though that’s been the case as of late, there have still been quite a few things happening in and around the marketing, advertising and communications industry.  Here’s just a sampling:

SOVRN Creative added a new staff member recently.

SOVRN also won a National Silver ADDY Award for their work on Todd Meier’s “Rapture in Six Cantos” Direct Mail, and completed several spots for the “Go On” campaign from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

Red Sky Public Relations welcomed two new folks to their team in the past month or so.

Both the Boise Advertising Federation and AIGA Idaho look to be ramping up events for the season.  The Magic Valley Advertising Federation is also maintaining an active schedule, and the Eastern Idaho Advertising Federation looks to be picking up as well.

All in all, there’s a lot going on these day, with more yet to come.

Even if some half-rate hack blogger isn’t covering it nearly as much as they should…

The complete set of photos from the event are available here.

So, I’m stepping away from it all for a few days.

Look for new news and updates to resume next week.

Now, for everyone else, here are the judges for this year’s show (after the jump):

Brett Craig
In the decade-plus that Brett Craig has worked for TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, he has helped launch multiple brands including XM Satellite Radio, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3.  He has helped reinvent and rebrand companies like Pepsi and Ballpark Franks, and has worked with iconic companies like Apple, Energizer and Nissan.  Writing positioning lines, such as “Play Beyond,” for PlayStation, and “Every Generation Refreshes the World,” for Pepsi, is all in a day’s work for Brett.  He is no stranger to awards shows, having received recognition in every major awards show around, including The OneShow, Cannes, D&AD and Communication Arts.

Victor Camozzi
Victor Camozzi is a Group Creative Director and has been with GSD&M Idea City for the past ten years.  Victor’s commercials for Southwest Airlines have been honored with some of the top awards in the industry.  He was a leader in the creative launch of the new AT&T, as well as the merger of AT&T and Cingular. He promoted bipartisan solutions to the health care crisis for AARP.  He’s also worked with BMW, 7-Eleven, the US Olympic Committee, Hallmark, Caesars Palace and more.

Prior to joining GSD&M, Victor was part of a creative advertising start-up in San Francisco and worked in Los Angeles at Ogilvy & Mather on accounts such as Paramount Pictures.

Victor earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising and Philosophy from the University of Idaho.

As a hobby, he recently released an album of Texas-style country songs that went top 10 on the European Americana Charts.  Just like his favorite mythical grunge band “Citizen Dick”, he’s big in Belgium.

Joe Shands
Joe Shands has worked for some extraordinary agencies including Cole & Weber (creating campaigns for Doc Martin), Goodby (where he helped launch “Got Milk”), Wieden & Kennedy (creating campaigns for Nike, Diet Coke, Miller Brewing Co, to name a few), and TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles (where he redefined Visa).  Joe has now taken his vast knowledge to Austin Texas and has opened the doors to his own agency, Vendor Inc.

Over the years, Joe’s been Adweeks Art Director of the year (he’s now a writer so…so much for that award) and he’s won every award that there is to be won.

Warren Payne
Warren Payne is partner at PayneSpencer, a marketing communications firm in Kent, Washington, that provides PR, advertising, marketing and editorial services for a wide range of clients, including Fluke Corporation, Amprobe Test Tools, Microsoft Learning, Pomona Electronics and Avanade.

With his business partner, Cathy Spencer, he also writes WineBites, a wine blog.

Warren earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts/Music from Seattle University and has performed music professionally for many years. He has also worked in marketing positions for several technology companies, including Aldus, Hewlett-Packard, and Real Networks.

Several months ago, I made a conscious decision to stop writing about “layoffs, downsizing, staff reductions” or whatever other name you want to call it.  Why?  A few different reasons.

There’s enough layoff news going around already.  For the past year (and more), news of layoffs has been everywhere.  Name the medium, name the industry — it was there.  And that sort of news gets old.  Quick.

It puts a spotlight on those who have been affected, whether they’re ready for it or not.

And, quite frankly, it’s draining.  In many cases, these are friends and colleagues, and it’s hard not to let it get to you.

So there you have it.  If you’re looking for the latest layoff news, I’m afraid to say this isn’t the place you’re going to find it.

Hopefully this will help to get rid of some of the irrelevant jobs that end up in the list.

Stay tuned.

Rick has already explained it much better than I can, so I’ll let him take it from here.

We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming before too long.

Do you have an upcoming event that readers of the Idaho Ad Agencies blog should be aware of?

Let us know, and if it’s a good fit we’ll get your event on the calendar.

Did you treat anyone differently, or were you treated any differently last week?  If so, did it have any effect on you?

Feel free to comment away.

As it turns out, they found their family, and are just past halfway through the vacation/filming.

Among the areas that they’ve either visited or are scheduled to visit:  Boise, Banks, the greater Island Park area, Sun Valley, Ketchum, Stanley, McCall, Hells Canyon, Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene, Wallace and Athol (Silverwood).

The full campaign is scheduled to launch in Spring 2010, complete with “Dedicated campaign website, complete with downloadable webisodes, podcasts, online maps and itineraries, e-coupons from statewide participants and communities and more.”  They’ve had some good press of the production, including coverage by the Associated Press, NPR, Idaho Mountain Express, Idaho Business Review and more.

If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the trip, take a look at the Adventures in Living updates on Twitter. 

It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on the rest of this as it unfolds, and the full campaign kicks off next spring.

And, if you’re not on the list, drop us a line so we can add you to the list.

Yesterday (April 29th) at 5:00 was the deadline for all response materials to be delivered to the Idaho Lottery for their current RFP.  Now, those who responded are playing the waiting game.

Now the pressure is on the folks at the Idaho Lottery to work their way through all of the materials that were submitted (NOTE – I have no count of how many firms submitted materials), and make their decisions.

A decision is expected in mid-May.

Depending on the interest level, it could take the shape of either direct calls, one-on-one, or a weekly conference call where anyone / everyone could be involved.

Feel free to either leave a comment or send an email with any thoughts.  Hair-brained idea?  Yeah, probably.  But then again, that’s how some of the best ideas get their start…

For the time being, comments are being loosely moderated.  How so, you ask?  Well, when you leave a comment, you are required to leave a name and email address.  If it’s the first time you’ve left a comment on this platform, it will be held for moderation.  Once that comment has been approved, it’ll appear on the site, and any comments you leave in the future should appear on the site automatically.

As time goes on, this process may get automated a little more, but for the time being, it is the way it is.  Thanks for understanding.

• The Idaho Ad Agencies blog now has its own URL.  IdahoAdAgencies.com had long been pointing visitors over to the blog that was originally hosted via Blogger.  Now, by moving the blog to its own host, we’re able to do quite a bit more with it.  Don’t worry, the RSS feed remains the same, and if you’re used to visiting the old site there will be either a note to visit the new site, or a redirect to get you here automatically.
• The list of Agencies in Idaho has moved away from the sidebar, and now has it’s own dedicated section.  You’ll also find that the Featured Agencies to the right have more prominent billing on that list, and yes, there is a reason for it.  If you’d like to find out how to become a Featured Agency, drop us an email and we’ll get you all the details.
• There’s also a new section title Local Resources — this is where you’ll find other resources that don’t quite fit into the list of agencies in Idaho, but still warranted inclusion on the site.
• The new Jobs section of the site allows agencies to post their job openings directly on the Idaho Ad Agencies blog. No more hoping that I’ll stumble across the Craigslist listing every few days.  That job board also pulls in job listings found across the Internet.
• The Events section is a monthly calendar that gives you a quick and easy snapshot of events.
• The Reading Room is where you’ll find recommendations on books, articles, blogs, and a variety of other useful reading material.

There will, no doubt, be more changes in the coming weeks and months.  But in the mean time, expect the same content that you’ve been enjoying for the past four years, together with a few new twists and turns along the way.

As such, the ability to leave comments anonymously has been disabled.

Everyone is welcome to share their opinions, and everyone has the right to their own opinion, but let’s keep things above the belt, shall we?