Let's go viral in November.

Presenter Mackenzie Meyer will discuss the balancing act of creating a structured social media strategy, while also playing into trends, memes, and other "viral" moments that the internet is constantly creating. Whether you're a big brand or small business, leaning into trends can help increase your reach and following ... just as long as you have the content strategy to back it up!

Mackenzie's Bio:

Mackenzie Meyer is the founder of 4M Marketing, a marketing agency dedicated to creating impactful social media and digital marketing strategies. With over a decade of marketing industry experience, Mackenzie has developed and implemented results-driven strategies for entrepreneurs and small businesses to national brands like Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, and Hershey's.

Bonus Event!

Here’s your chance to learn from a frequent awards competition judge about what he looks for when choosing winners, the mistakes entrants make that hurt their chances, and the secrets that can make your entry stand out during the judging process. Ask him anything you want. Make recommendations. Yell at him. Well … maybe don’t yell at him.

If you’ve ever wondered what goes through a judge’s head during the judging process, this is your chance to find out. Who knows? This may help you win an ADDY.

About Kevin Fullerton
Principal/Creative Director // Springboard Creative

Kevin Fullerton is an award-winning designer and creative director based in Kansas City. He judges creative shows across the nation and helps run award competitions at the local, district and national level. Kevin even helped rewrite the rules and revamp the categories for the American Advertising Awards. So, yeah, you’ve probably cussed about him at some point.

Kevin is heavily involved in the American Advertising Federation and most recently served as the Central Region chairman. Before that, he was District 9 governor, AAF-Kansas City president and served on the National American Advertising Awards Committee. Recently Kevin was recognized as AAF-Kansas City’s Advertising Professional of the Year. He also does a bunch of things not related to AAF, they just aren’t as interesting.

How do you improve the customer experience?

In today’s competitive environment, brands of all types are faced with the challenge to provide a better and more consistent customer experience across digital and non-digital channels. Whether you're a marketing agency or an in-house department, Greg's talk will give you the tools to meet your clients' and stakeholders' needs for consistent results.

This means that companies must build a foundation for the future of customer relationships or lose relevancy in a crowded marketplace. Doing this, however, is not without its challenges. While many companies engage in digital transformations to modernize and anticipate future changes, these efforts are often fraught with delays, budget overruns, and many fail to deliver the results promised.

Greg's Bio:

Greg Kihlström is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, and serves as an advisor and consultant to top companies on marketing technology, marketing operations, and digital transformation initiatives. He has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, FedEx, HP, Marriott, Nationwide, Victoria’s Secret, and Toyota.

Greg has written over 20 books on marketing and marketing technology, executive produces 5 business and marketing-related podcasts, including the award-winning The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström.

Join us for the AAF-SD September program to be part of this insightful conversation about culture and design with speaker Nikki Villagomez.

Her presentation will discuss how culture affects typography and the decision-making process in everyday life. In a side-by-side exploration Nikki will use typographic pictures taken throughout her travels alongside photos from South Dakota (manhole covers, neon signs, ghost signs, hand lettering, historic signs, etc.) to discuss the comparisons (and contrasts) in type choices.

Nikki's Bio:

Nikki Villagomez is a nationally recognized speaker on typography. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a BFA in Graphic Design. After working as a designer in New York City, she moved to her home state of South Carolina where she became a fulltime freelancer. Nikki is the founder and former president of the South Carolina chapter of AIGA. She has been an educator teaching Graphic Design and Typography at the University of South Carolina and the University of Akron. Currently, Nikki lives in Charlotte, NC and serves as Chief Marketing Officer for BRC, a CPA and advisory firm.

Whether you’re not sure where to start or you’re a seasoned social media professional looking to elevate your brand’s online presence, this session will focus on actionable ways to bring your strategy into 2024. We’ll cover the rise in short-form video (TikTok, Instagram Reels, etc.), the creator economy, social commerce and more.

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Maren is a brand and content marketer with experience leading social strategy for brands like Starbucks, The North Face and KeVita. She has been working in social media since the birth of Instagram, building and managing digital communities that drive brand loyalty. She grew up in The Dakotas and started her career at an ad agency in Fargo, ND. She now lives in Oregon where you can find her in mountains: hiking, skiing and spending time with her pups.

Wanna see the future? Look in the mirror. In a time where innovation is critical to help brands and agencies deliver, it’s important to remember that the most critical factor when it comes to creative technology is people. Humanity and empathy are the cornerstone for modern makers, and serve as the foundation of methodologies like design thinking and user-centered design. In this presentation, we explore approaches, examples and best practices for ensuring we see ourselves in our work, especially if we want to keep driving innovation.