L&S wins 26 American Advertising Awards

Whodunit? More like who-won-it? This year, the South Dakota American Advertising Awards (AAA) threw us a plot twist, hosting a murder mystery for its annual industry celebration. Even though a lot of clues, hints and hardware were handed out, we watched Glass Onion, so solving this riddle was in the bag. Eat your heart out, Benoit Blanc.

After the suspects were questioned and the mystery solved, L&S took home 26 awards, including three Best of Class trophies, a special Judges’ Award, nine gold honors and 13 silvers. Gold winners go on to compete at the District 8 AAAs, with winners at that round advancing to the national level.

Check out the full list of winners below, and congrats to our clients who help us make such effective (and fun) work.

BEST OF CLASS

• South Dakota Tourism
  • Sales & Marketing | Poster Mailer
• South Dakota Lottery
  • Film, Video & Sound | “Time is Money” TV
• South Dakota Office of Highway Safety
  • Public Service | Film, Video & Sound | “Jim Reaper” Video Campaign

JUDGE’S CHOICE

• South Dakota Office of Highway Safety
  • Out of Home | “Deadly Distractions” Sculpture

GOLD WINNERS

• City of Duluth
  • Website | VisitDuluth.com
  • Elements of Advertising | Photography
• South Dakota Lottery
  • Film, Video & Sound | “Time is Money” TV
  • Online/Interactive | Holiday Gamification Rich Media Unit
• South Dakota Office of Highway Safety
  • Social Media | Social Selects
  • Public Service | Film, Video & Sound | “Jim Reaper” Video Campaign
• South Dakota Tourism
  • Sales & Marketing | Poster Mailer
• Teachwell Solutions
  • Branded Video Content | “Ben’s Story”
• Lawrence & Schiller
  • Agency Self-Promotion | South Dakota Tourism RFP Response

SILVER WINNERS

• City of Duluth
  • Campaign | “Love it Like We Do” Brand Identity
  • Online/Interactive | Email Campaign
  • Brochure | Duluth Visitor Guide
• South Dakota Office of Highway Safety
  • Print | Summer Ultraspread
  • Out of Home | “Deadly Distractions” Sculpture
  • Website | DriveSafeSD.com
  • Online/Interactive | Mocktail Email
• South Dakota Tourism
  • Print | “Go Great Places” Magazine Campaign
  • Online/Interactive | Quarterly Insights Emails
  • Online Publication | Annual Report
• Adee Honey Farms
  • Elements of Advertising | Illustration Series
• Sioux Empire United Way
  • Integrated Campaign | “The Power to Change a Story”
• Lawrence & Schiller
  • Agency Self-Promotion | South Dakota Office of Highway Safety RFP Response

Not only did we revel in a night of hardware and homicidal theatrics — we got to celebrate our very own Wade Thurman, 2023 Creative Legacy Award winner. During his more than two decades at L&S, Wade’s created award-winning work for some of the region’s biggest brands including South Dakota Tourism, Taco John’s, First PREMIER Bank and the South Dakota Lottery (all while amassing an admirable desk toy collection).

Over the years, Wade’s grown his talent and evolved from a designer, to an art director, to a gifted motion graphics artist and animator. Needless to say, he’s got a lot of superpowers. And we couldn’t be more grateful to have him on our team. Congratulations, Wade!