This public awareness piece was for Utah’s End Meth Now campaign. Sarah McLachlan thought it was such a powerful and important message that she donated the music.

Addiction’s goal is to kill. Our goal is to beat addiction. We know it can be done.

We also want to be proud of the work we do.  We try and make sure that every project is of the scale and scope that we’re excited to bring it home; share it with family and friends.

Every year, we share our best work on another level, the American Advertising Federation awards for creativity.  And, of course, we win some, we lose some.

Among the awards won this year, were two radio spots created for Utah Symphony | Utah Opera.  Though both arts organizations are a vital and venerable part of the Utah community, each promotes their concerts to season ticket holders and new audiences.

“Shostakovich” for the Utah Symphony and “La Boheme” for the Utah Opera, were selected as Silver Award winners.

Both were created by RIESTER Creative Director, Jeff Bagley.   Jeff’s approach for Shostakovich was not only to enhance the image of the company and engage the symphony-goer, but approach it differently, so it would break through the clutter of commercial messages aired daily.  The approach was to have the composers speak of their work and invite the audience, in their own unique way, in the voice of their country of origin.

For the Utah Opera, Jeff used  sports announcers to relate “La Boheme,” in startling contrast to the way in which opera is usually described.

We thank Utah Symphony | Utah Opera for their trust and congratulate Jeff Bagley and the RIESTER creative team for their great work.

The two award winning ads:

Put great activities and food together and you are bound to have an amazing day. In fact, we figured that for every activity in Park City, there must be the perfect food pairing. That was the premise behind a series of new commercials we created for the Park City Area Restaurant Association featuring the mayor of Park City, Dana Williams.

Mayor Williams is now in his third year of being featured in the Restaurant Association’s commercials. He is the perfect spokesperson–a fun-loving former hippie, rock-band-playing boomer turned mayor. We could not have casted anyone better out of Hollywood.

The 15-second ads take you on a tour of Park City’s more popular spring, summer and fall activities from mountain bike riding to one of the most popular rodeos in Utah. It’s all in good fun and wets your appetite for a great time and great food in Park City.

On Labor Day, Boise State University will leverage its phenomenal success on the football field to communicate to a national audience its equally impressive accomplishments in academics. A new television commercial that harnesses the innovative spirit of the school debuts on opening-game day, and will broadcast when the high-profile Boise State Broncos hit the field.

“If you’re going to appear on the national stage, you’d better have good stage-hands that know the ropes.” That is the theatrical analogy Frank Zang, communications director of Boise State University, uses to describe his reliance on RIESTER’s experience when it comes to showcasing his school’s attractions on a 30-second TV commercial.  The commercial will air nationally throughout the football season beginning with the Boise State-Virginia Tech game on ESPN this Labor Day, Sept. 6.

In this instance, Zang’s seasoned “stage-hands” are in the form of the creative team from RIESTER, a communications firm with offices in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Phoenix. The team was led by Jeff Bagley, creative director of RIESTER’s Salt Lake City office.  Bagley has produced six Super Bowl commercials for Intel and Iomega.

“Those are pretty impressive credentials,” says Zang, of Bagley’s Super Bowl experience. “That gives us a lot of confidence in knowing our institutional commercial has been produced by creative folks who know how to create compelling, enlightening and informative messages that will resonate with a national audience.”

“Boise State University is truly unique” said RIESTER CEO Tim Riester, “From their football team to their research labs they have a winning culture.”

The commercial highlights innovation at Boise State, both on and off the football field. The ad begins with the line “Great ideas don’t fall from the sky, they come from people . . . .” A young boy, filled with hope and potential throws an orange paper airplane from the stands at Boise State’s stadium. Images representing innovative academic work happening at Boise State appear next. The paper airplane eventually lands on the blue turf of the Bronco’s field at the feet of a man. The camera pulls back and the man is revealed to be Coach Chris Petersen revealing the tagline: “Innovate at Boise State.”

“Boise State is innovating in so many fields, from the science labs right down to their iconic blue football field,” says Bagley. “All of this is conveyed in the commercial.”

RIESTER and Cosmic Pictures of Salt Lake City donated all of the services to create this commercial. The new spot is based on a true story of a child who received a pair of glasses. She then went outside and for the first time in her life saw that trees have leaves.

We hope the telling of this story will generate additional donations so more kids can see to read, learn and enjoy their world.

Learn more about Eye Care for Kids.

RIESTER is honored to work with Pacific Power, and we especially enjoyed helping to create this video to celebrate their first 100 years.

How we generate the power that is vital to our lives is one of the top green issues of our times, an issue where Pacific Power is leading the way.

As you sit back and enjoy, keep in mind all of the people behind the scenes that bring power to you.

Pacific Power, is a division of PacifiCorp and part of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company.

Experience Buffalo Bill’s Cody, Wyoming. The wildest way in to Yellowstone.

Visit other posts at RIESTER related to Cody, Wyoming/Yellowstone.

Watching the Olympics this past weekend reminded me of some interesting contrasts to Super Bowl ads. Super Bowl ads use big, over-the-top humor. The Super Bowl is a time for extreme advertising. If the ads are going to work, there is often just one chance to get it right.

Olympic ads are a different breed. The spots are repeated frequently over the two weeks of the games. Olympic ads are more emotional, patriotic and heartwarming. There is a bigger emphasis on children, the pursuit of dreams and dedication to difficult goals.

The following two Olympic ads stood out to me as a job well done: