Spotlight on: Idaho Falls Advertising Federation Board

Recently, the Idaho Falls Advertising Federation highlighted their board members on their Facebook page.

Given the work that they — and all members of any Ad Fed board — do, and the time commitments they’re willing to make to serve on the board, it warranted sharing here as well.

Familiar names among IBR’s 2020 Women of the Year

In December the Idaho Business Review released their list of the 2020 Women of the Year. 50 individuals were recognized out of the 220 nominations and applications, and included those in a wide range of industries and professions, from education and health care to science, government and fine arts.

Among this year’s honorees were a few familiar names in and around the advertising world:

Rhea Allen, Peppershock Media (Circle of Excellence)

Kate Holgate, Stoltz Marketing Group

Maria Walker, Drake Cooper

Congratulations go out to these three, and to all of the honorees.

This year’s gala will be held on Wednesday, March 11th at the Boise Centre, where the Idaho Business Review will also name the 2020 Woman of the Year — the overall top winner based on scores from the judges and staff.

The 2020 gala will celebrate women leaders from Salmon to Idaho Falls and Coeur d’Alene to Pocatello who have made their mark as healers, warriors, storytellers, trailblazers and connectors. It will also recognize women from Idaho’s history who have paved the way for leaders of today and will recognize women who are building on that legacy for the future. Tickets are available online, and the full list of honorees can be found on the Idaho Business Review’s site.

Drake Cooper makes Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work list…again

For those who may not have yet heard, Boise’s Drake Cooper has landed on Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work list for the fourth straight year, coming in at #2 for 2015.

Jamie Cooper, CEO at Drake Cooper, wrote up his thoughts on the recognition here.

Congratulations to everyone.

Recurring recognition for Advantage Advertising

For the fifth time in the past four years, Lewiston’s Advantage Advertising has been recognized by Bleacher Report for their football marketing work on behalf of their clients. The agency’s poster designs for the University of Idaho Vandals and University of Wyoming Cowboys placed at number 5 and number 13 respectively.

“Now Idaho can also lay claim to having one of the best schedule posters for 2015, one that creatively uses its state’s unique shape as a way to highlight its best players,” commented Feature Columnist Brian Pedersen on BleacherReport.com in ranking Idaho at #5. The Idaho poster can be viewed here.

“Wyoming had last year’s top-ranked schedule poster, and the Cowboys have another good one for 2015…It’s a great mix that is closely associated with the Cowboys, and to drive this home there are actual cowboys with lassos riding out from the prairie,” he commented on the #13 Wyoming ranking. The Wyoming poster can be viewed here.

The 2015 poster designs, created by Advantage’s Lead Designer Nathan Allen, mark the fifth time in the past four years that Advantage Advertising has been ranked nationally by Bleacher Report. All 50 ranked 2015 posters can be viewed here.

Last year, the agency’s design for the University of Wyoming Cowboy football poster was ranked #1 nationally. Previously, the agency’s designs for the University of Idaho Vandals ranked at #4 in 2012, and the Wyoming Cowboys ranked #17 in 2013.

Advantage Advertising has served as agency of record for U of I Athletics since 1995 and for the U of W Athletics since 2012, and was recently selected by the Colorado State University Athletic Department to develop its new marketing programs.

Oliver Russell Named as “Best in World for Workers”

2015 Best for the World for Workers

From our friends at Oliver Russell:

Brand marketing firm Oliver Russell was recognized recently for creating the most positive overall employee impact by the nonprofit B Lab with the release of its fourth annual ‘B Corp Best for Workers’ list. The ‘B Corp Best for Workers’ list honors businesses that earned a worker score in the top 10% of more than 1,200 Certified B Corporations from over 120 industries on the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive assessment of a company’s impact on its workers, community, and the environment.

The B Corp “Best for Worker” list sets the gold standard for high-impact companies and demonstrates any type of company can use business as a force for good. In the workers category, Oliver Russell is one of 98 companies from 13 countries and 31 industries to be so recognized. Additional 2015 Best For Workers honorees include Cooperative Home Care Associates, a worker-owned cooperative based in the Bronx, Venezuelan biotechnology firm ETAVENCA, America’s oldest flour brand King Arthur Flour and Kansas-based MAX Insurance. Thirty-five percent of honorees are based outside the US, with companies operating in emerging markets such as Brazil, Ghana, and Venezuela.

A full list of this year’s honorees can be found at bestfortheworld.bcorporation.net. And an expanded version of this news release can be found as a blog on the Oliver Russell website.

“Many companies pay lip service to the shopworn adage, ‘people are our most valuable asset’,” said Russ Stoddard, Oliver Russell founder and president. “We decided to make this a competitive advantage – to invest significantly in our employees—and we’re gratified for this recognition as it shows we’re on the right track.”

“Today’s honorees inspire all companies to compete not only to be best in the world, but best for the world,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder of B Lab, the nonprofit organization that certifies B Corporations and governs the independent third party standard used to generate the comparable assessment of corporate impact.

B Lab simultaneously released separate lists recognizing the companies ‘Best for the World’ (overall impact), ‘Best for Community’ (community impact), and ‘Best for the Environment’ (environmental impact) which can be found at bestfortheworld.bcorporation.net. A total of 350 companies were named 2015 Best For the World Honorees, including Natura, d.light designsRoshan, New Belgium Brewery, Method Products, and Seventh Generation.

Each honored company is a Certified B Corporation. These companies use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems and have met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today there are more than 1,200 Certified B Corporations, across 121 industries and 38 countries, unified by one common goal: to redefine success in business. Any company can measure and manage social and environmental impact performance at bimpactassessment.net.

About Oliver Russell

Oliver Russell, a Boise-based brand-marketing firm founded in 1991, builds brands for purpose-driven companies and causes. The company counts Hewlett-Packard, Allegro Coffee/Whole Foods Market, and Mountain Health Co-op among its clients. It is a certified B Corporation, part of a growing movement of companies that believe in using the power of business to help solve social and environmental issues. Since the company’s founding, Oliver Russell has donated more than $1.8 million in cash and resources via social impact grants to nonprofit causes and social enterprises. More information about these Social Impact Grants can be found here.

About B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good.  Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world and society will enjoy prosperity for all for the long term.  B Lab drives this systemic change by: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing benefit corporation legislation to give business leaders the freedom to create value for society as well as shareholders; 3) helping businesses measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance with the free B Impact Assessment; 4) driving capital to impact investments through use of its B Analytics and GIIRS Ratings platform.