Best in Show at ACE Awards
We took home 17 trophies including Best in Show for our Confetti Fridays campaign at the Advertising Club of Edmonton’s 45th Annual ACE Awards, a Studio 54-themed extravaganza at the J.W. Marriott Ice District. The show was for work done in 2023, so is considered the 2023 ACE Awards.
Over 300 entries were submitted to the ACE Awards this year, with the Best in Show award representing the pinnacle of creative excellence among all work entered. This is the second time in the past four years that Berlin has been awarded Best in Show at the ACE Awards.
Launched in Pride Month 2023, Confetti Fridays is a free summer event series created to celebrate diversity and inclusion and restore vibrancy to Edmonton’s downtown. The series was hosted by Michael Phair — Alberta’s first openly gay city councillor and a long-serving 2SLGBTQ+ advocate — in the downtown park named after him. The Downtown Edmonton Community League partnered with Phair to organize and the produce the event series.
“Confetti,” a colorful mural that decorates the park, inspired the name for this initiative. The marketing creative for Confetti Fridays took its cues from the mural, the pride flag, Michael Phair’s personal style, and the exuberant “more is more” aesthetic of the show-stopping drag queens who performed.
Confetti Fridays Case Study Video
“This was a whole team effort,” said Dennis Lenarduzzi, Berlin’s Creative Director. “Every one of the designers here worked on the event posters. We had our social team at every event creating content, and our PR group ensured we got news coverage. Working directly with Michael Phair was a career highlight. He was kind, gracious and absolutely hilarious as can be, and really bought into all the work we created for him. Each week he would come into our boardroom to look at the next week’s creative and go ‘oh this one’s great. I love it!’”
Berlin’s total award haul included 5 ACE Awards (the highest level of recognition) and 12 Distinction Awards.
- ACE Award, Best in Show – Confetti Fridays. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- ACE Award, Design (Judges Nomination) – Confetti Fridays Poster Series. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- ACE Award, Out of Home Poster Series – KDays Spiegeltent, Explore Edmonton, client
- ACE Award, Not-for-Profit Out of Home Poster Single – Confetti Fridays. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- ACE Award, Not-for-Profit Out of Home Poster Series – Confetti Fridays. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- Distinction Award, Design (Judges Nomination) – KDays Spiegeltent. Explore Edmonton, client.
- Distinction Award, Digital Interactive Microsite/Campaign Webpage – A History of Forestry in Alberta. Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta, client.
- Distinction Award, Graphic Design Brochure/Print Collateral – 25 Years of Counting the Rings. Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta, client.
- Distinction Award, Out of Home Series – KDays Spiegeltent. Explore Edmonton, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Advertising Campaign $75,000+. Alberta Forest Products Association, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Advertising Campaign, For Good Campaign – Confetti Fridays. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Microsite/Campaign Webpage. Love Alberta Forests Website. Alberta Forest Products Association, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Social Media Series. Confetti Fridays. Downtown Edmonton Community League, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Annual Report. Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Logo/Wordmark. Road to the Junos. Explore Edmonton, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Broadcast Video Single. Love Alberta Forests. Alberta Forest Products Association, client.
- Distinction Award, Not-for-Profit Broadcast Video Series. Love Alberta Forests. Alberta Forest Products Association, client.
This was our best ever showing at the ACE Awards, which is by far our favourite awards show. The creative community in Edmonton does incredible work every year, and we are lucky to have such a high-quality local awards show to participate in.
