NFL player story wins inaugural ADCOLOR award for Duracell, Saatchi & Saatchi

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The YouTube sensation of the 2013 Super Bowl season featuring hearing-impaired Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman has won the first ADCOLOR "Ad of the Year."

Saatchi & Saatchi New York's video story "Trust Your Power" for Duracell was honored at the 8^th Annual ADCOLOR Awards in Los Angeles on September 21, the premier event for recognizing those working in mass media to champion diversity across advertising, marketing, PR, media and entertainment industries. Competition for inaugural ADCOLOR "Ad of the Year" included other creative agencies Droga5, BBDO, and Wieden + Kennedy.

The video drew over 22 million views on You Tube, powered initially by Coleman's story of his struggle with disability and rejection, and gained momentum as the Seahawks advanced and then triumphed at the Super Bowl. The ad was a commercial highlight for Duracell in the $2.6 billion battery business as it sought to keep an edge as the market leader and to be the preferred brand among Millennials.

SaatchiNY CEO Brent Smart said "Emotional storytelling beats a fact every time. This is a huge honor and a testament to Saatchi & Saatchi belief that diverse talent makes our creative work better and more representative of the communities and country we live in."

SaatchiNY's VP, Director of Integrated Production Kedma Brown was also honored as a finalist in the ADCOLOR "ROCK STAR" category.

The award follows SaatchiNY's 7th year of sponsoring the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival and in August presented its "Nothing Is Impossible" Producer's award to a film by an emerging artist. The award represents a continuing commitment to engaging in a dialogue with film makers of color. 

SaatchiNY also works with Streetlights, the Los Angeles organization dedicated to bringing a strong minority workforce to the "behind-the-camera" world of commercial, film and TV production. SaatchiNY's 14+ year partnership with Streetlights ensures that every commercial shoot in the LA area employs at least one Streetlights' production assistant, which in turn helps program graduates meet their eligibility requirements to join the Union. Sheldon Levy, Saatchi EVP, is the longest serving Agency member of the Streetlights board.

Central to SaatchiNY's diversity work is New York company Professional Partnering Solutions founded by Anita Laney. PPS work together across all client businesses in developing supplier diversity strategy. Its goals here are to sustain high standards of performance in all areas of our business and to form long-term partnerships.

SaatchiNY's work with MVAAFF, Streetlights and PPS has previously received recognition by the ADCOLOR Awards in the "Most Valuable Partnership" category.

ADCOLOR is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate and champion diversity in the advertising, marketing, media, PR and entertainment industries. ADCOLOR strives to create a network of outstanding diverse professionals and champions by honoring their accomplishments and leveraging their stories as a road map for others to follow. By highlighting the achievements of African-Americans, American Indian/Native Americans, Asian Pacific-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, members of the LGBT community and diversity and inclusion champions, ADCOLOR aims to inspire the next generation of multicultural professionals.

SAATCHI & SAATCHI NEW YORK is the flagship of the 130-office Saatchi & Saatchi global network, part of Publicis Groupe, the world's third largest communications group.  Saatchi & Saatchi is known for its outstanding creative ideas that generate powerful emotional connections between consumers and products. This is a key element in Lovemarks, Saatchi & Saatchi's unique methodology for elevating the status of brands created to create "loyalty beyond reason" and "inspirational consumers."

SOURCE Saatchi & Saatchi