The best logos, newspaper advertisements and radio commercials in the D.C. area were among the accomplishments recognized at the 2007 M Awards, given by the local chapter of the American Marketing Association.
Falls Church-based JDG Communications Inc. was named Marketer of the Year for its campaign for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Its work for the American Red Cross and the American Psychological Association also was recognized.
JDG Chief Executive Officer Len Johnson said he believed the small business campaign was chosen because it took advantage of both traditional and new media channels. JDG also received the honor in 2005.
The entrepreneurial company College Hunks Hauling Junk took home three prizes, for corporate identity, best marketing Web site and a marketing campaign on a “shoestring budget.”
College Hunks president Nick Friedman, whose trash hauling business has grown to a million dollar enterprise in less than two years, said the company spends between 5 percent and 6 percent of its finances on marketing, and had just $30,000 to launch its initial campaign.
The group’s winning Web site features a College Hunks Haul of Fame.
The company is studying new ideas, such as a possible junk Olympics for charity, a contest in which junk haulers would compete and donate the money to charity, Friedman said.
“I always tell people our main business is not trash hauling, it’s marketing and customer service,” said Friedman, whose company is now franchising its business outside D.C.
Rosenthal Partners of Bethesda took home four trophies as well. Other winners were O’Keefe and Company, Sage Communications, National Geographic, Fed Choice FCU, Approva Corp., Erickson Barnett, Brand Resources Group, MacMannes Inc., Imre Communications, Airlines Reporting Corp., Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, Henninger Media Services, RCN Public Relations and the United Negro College Fund.
Bruce J Himelstein, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, was given the group’s 2007 AMA-DC Hall of Fame Award.
