Carton Donofrio Partners Wins 4A's National Transformers Contest
Agency's Industry Changing Initiative "StopTheAdness" Captures Attention of Judges and Conference Attendees
| Source: Carton Donofrio Partners
BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire - March 4, 2010) - Carton Donofrio Partners, an integrated
advertising agency in Baltimore, recently won the opportunity to present
its forward-thinking initiative "StopTheAdness" at Transformation 2010, the
4A's leadership and media conference, which was held February 28-March 3,
2010, in San Francisco.
In the age of advertising overload, it's no secret that consumers are fed
up with intrusive advertising that's been bombarding them for decades. To
address this burgeoning problem, Carton Donofrio Partners launched
"StopTheAdness," a new consumer-driven project that aims to change the way
advertising is done thereby making it more effective and less offensive.
The 4A's Board of Directors culled through approximately 100 entries and
selected eight winners to present at the conference. In addition to the
opportunity to present their ideas to more than 1,000 people in the
advertising industry, winners also received roundtrip airfare and one
night's hotel stay.
"We commend Carton Donofrio Partners for their StopTheAdness initiative,"
said Mike Donahue, 4A's executive vice president. "Their creative thinking
and execution resulted in a movement that we believe will help to transform
our industry."
By asking consumers what they want, and offering them
www.StopTheAdness.org, an online laboratory where they can start
conversations, make contributions and provide feedback, Carton Donofrio
Partners is taking a stand against advertising madness and working to
incite change. As part of the movement, Carton Donofrio Partners is also
inviting advertisers, agencies and the media, to sign a pledge promising to
change their behavior.
"The social contract -- the implicit agreement advertisers, marketers, the
media and consumers have shared for years to support a productive exchange
-- has recently been broken," said Ellen Moore, chief operating officer at
Carton Donofrio Partners, who presented StopTheAdness at the national
conference. "With this movement we're focused on learning what we can
collectively do to restore trust and improve advertising for all. We're
thrilled that the 4A's gave us the opportunity to address this important
audience of thought leaders. It was a great honor to be selected along with
seven other industry transformers."
After encouraging conference attendees to "StopTheAdness," Moore received
much applause and feedback citing the need for such an initiative. Since
the presentation, there has been an up swell in traffic to
StopTheAdness.org and a record number of names being added to the pledge.
StopTheAdness was inspired by ethnographic field work conducted in the
summer of 2009 by Carton Donofrio Partners' sister company, Context-Based
Research Group, on behalf of The Associated Press. Context has explored
attitudes about news and advertising as part of a set of ethnographic
studies for The AP since 2007. That research concluded that information
providers should try to build stronger bonds of trust and community with
consumers to deepen their engagement with news and advertising. A copy of
the report will be released soon at www.stoptheadness.org in the stay
informed section.
Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc.
Carton Donofrio Partners is an award-winning advertising agency in
Baltimore. With a vision to change advertising by making it welcome and
invited into customers' lives, they help their clients become more
meaningful to their customers. To do this effectively, they tap their
proprietary global network of anthropologists who study customer
motivations and needs to uncover more relevant insight to inform their
creative, media, digital, and integrated ideas. The agency is a member of
Worldwide Partners, which enables them to work seamlessly with 91
independent agencies in 51 countries around the world. For more
information, visit www.cartondonofrio.com or call 410.576.9000.