LOMBARD, Ill. -- White Hen has been named a 2005 Silver Microphone Awards National Finalist for its Living in the Hen radio campaign. These awarded spots, including "Internet Install," "Painters" and "Meet the In-Laws," promote the one-stop-shop feature of the revamped stores with characters who have actually moved into the store because everything they need is there.
"The Living in the Hen campaign helped White Hen communicate the reimaging of its stores and the updating of its product offering in 2005. We focused on updating our stores inside and out. [image-nocss] This campaign told our customers about those changes in a fun and quirky manner. White Hen has been in Chicago for 40 years, but we have made it relevant for Chicagoans of-the-now and in-the-know," said Ari Frank, marketing and advertising manager for White Hen.
A panel of judges, representing all aspects of the broadcast and advertising industry rated each entry. Four finalists from each category entered a second round of judging to determine the national winner in each category.
White Hen's category was retail stores. The national winners and national finalists were among the best radio commercials, audio programs and websites produced within the United States in the last year.
Lombard, Ill.-based White Hen Pantry Inc. is a major franchised chain of convenience stores serving Chicago and greater Boston. It is predominantly franchisee-owned and operated with more than 265 stores.
The Silver Microphone Awards were begun in 1985 and 2004 was the 20th year, founder Jack Smith told CSP Daily News. The purpose of the awards is to allow the creators of local and regional commercials to compete with similar work on a national basis, but not against national commercials. In competition such as the District Addys, the awards are almost always won by large national accounts with huge budgets. The Silver Microphone Award competition is for the equally creative people who do outstanding work with limited budgets.
In 2004 there were 801 entries in the 65 categories. The entries came from 248 companies representing small and large agencies, audio production companies and radio stations from throughout the United States.
There are 65 categories for commercials and audio programs and websites. Each entry is judged by a panel of judges for creativity, production value, talent and overall effectiveness. The top-rated spots (usually about four to six per category) go into a second round of judging with a different panel of judges to choose a winner in each category. There is one National Best of Show award given to the highest rated entry in the competition.
The Silver Microphone Awards offer a direct competition between spots as opposed to some award programs that judge entries against a standard and not against each other. The Silver Microphone Awards also give free awards to winners, whereas winners of other award programs have to pay for their awards.
Jack Smith first started the Silver Microphone Awards for radio commercials in 1985. He is the owner of an advertising agency in Waco, Texas, and teaches copywriting at Baylor University. The Waco Ad Club (a long-established club with about 100 members) provides the initial round of judging as a fund raiser for the club. Judges from out of town are brought in for the final round of judging. Usually there are entries from each state and from all sizes of companies. The competition is open to the more than 40,000 advertising agencies, audio production studios and radio stations in the United States.
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