Lopez Negrete Communications takes Top Gold At Annual AAF-Houston ADDY Award Show.

The night was full of glitz and glamour with a dash of irreverence and sentimentalism, as Houston’s advertising community gathered to celebrate its best work at the 48th American Advertising Federation-Houston’s ADDY® award show. But the night belonged to Lopez Negrete Communications, Inc., and to the family of a beloved adman and Lopez Negrete colleague, Brett Elliott, who tragically passed away last March.

Nominated for 68 awards this year, success is no stranger to the second-largest independently owned Hispanic advertising agency in the country. The total take-home tally included 21 Gold ADDYs, 17 Silver and 26 Citations of Excellence. Lopez Negrete’s Gold ADDYs were awarded for work accomplished for nearly every major client the agency has, including nine for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, three for Bank of America, three for Lopez Negrete Communications, and one each for MillerCoors, Kraft Foods, Maseca, Sonic Drive-Ins, Blue Leaf and Walmart.

The agency had an especially strong showing in the interactive and digital categories, particularly for the work created for Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s 7UP and Dr Pepper Hispanic campaigns, as well as for its own corporate website. “Over the past year, we have seen clients embrace the fact that today’s consumers are hungry for 360º initiatives that go far beyond the 30-second-spot and include digital, experiential, retailtainment and embedded content. As a result, our interactive/digital, promotions and event marketing units have worked collaboratively to create exciting – and award-winning work,” explained Alex López Negrete, president, CEO and chief creative officer of his namesake agency.

Brett Elliott, who was senior copywriter with Lopez Negrete, was honored with the Silver Medal Award by AAF-Houston, a recognition bestowed upon a select few in the industry for their contributions to the craft as well as for the their community involvement and representation of the industry. Elliott was a deserving candidate for the honor, having served as a board chair at AAF-Houston and for countless other committees, and for being completely devoted to his craft. Alex López Negrete was awarded the Silver Medal in 2005.

“It was an important night for the agency, indeed. And, while the wins are magnificent, we tempered the festivities with a well-deserved remembrance and recognition of our close friend Brett,” said honors. Actually, he was a perennial volunteer to the committee who puts on the ADDY show. What the Silver Medal does is serve as an appropriate homage to the kindest, funniest, most extraordinarily talented and definitely most missed man the advertising business has ever known. It is fitting that the last piece of work that Brett worked on was awarded a Gold ADDY on this evening.”