Carmichael Lynch took home “Best in Show” for our National Geographic King Tut consumer magazine campaign at this year’s The Show award ceremony. In addition, Carmichael Lynch received 55 total pins, which included the highest number of golds (16) and silvers (17). “It was a historic night for the agency and an honor to be regarded so highly among the best agencies in our world-class creative community,” said Dave Damman, chief creative officer of Carmichael Lynch. The Show took place this past Friday at Mill City Nights.

Carmichael Lynch art director Phil Jones is one of just 34 creative people worldwide to win this year's prestigious Young Guns Award from the Art Director's Club of New York. ADC Young Guns is the industry’s only international, portfolio-based awards competition, and recognizes today’s vanguard of creative professionals under the age of 30. The 2012 competition was the smallest, most fiercely judged Young Guns class in history, drawing entries from 21 countries around the world.

A jury of past Young Guns winners selected Jones’ design work. The six projects chosen from his portfolio for display at a recent New York Gallery showing were: Stampler, Wake, Mr. Tee, Bug Memorials, Censorship Towel and Piñata Anatomy.

Three of the winning Young Guns entries were projects Jones created for the Carmichael Collective, an ongoing project from Carmichael Lynch that celebrates creativity for creativity’s sake. Bug Memorials, Censorship Towel and Piñata Anatomy have been seen across the world and have generated over 84 million media impressions. “The main takeaway from the Carmichael Collective has been our understanding of how to successfully spread relatively inexpensive, quick-turn projects throughout the connected, social media world,” said Dave Damman, chief creative officer at Carmichael Lynch. “More and more of our clients are looking for this kind of high concept yet low budget work and we're proud to have people like Phil who can make it happen.”

“The Carmichael Collective allows me to experiment with different processes and techniques, which I can learn from and apply to our current clients,” said Jones. “I wasn’t formally trained to do any of this, it just happened from trying and often times failing. I’ve learned in order to strive in this industry, you can’t allow fear of failure limit your creativity.”

Carmichael Lynch today announced Betsy Burgeson as its consumer engagement operations director. Previously, Burgeson was the VP director of media at Martin Williams, where she served as a vital leader across a portfolio of brands.

Burgeson is charged with media planning and buying activities primarily on the Subaru account. Her passion for ideas will help develop and implement even more mind-blowing integrations for the client. Burgeson will report to Carmichael Lynch director of consumer engagement, Joe Germscheid.

"For years, Betsy has set the gold standard in creative media planning and execution,” said Germscheid. “Her extensive experience ranges from planning involvement in broadcast integrations to stadium naming rights negotiations. She'll be a terrific new asset for our clients and agency.”

During her 27-year stint at Martin Williams, Burgeson helped strengthen and reinvent brands such as Lincoln Financial Group, LL Bean, Syngenta and Raymond James.

The 2012 election is drawing near. While President Obama has a strong hold on traditional blue states like California and Illinois and Mitt Romney will likely secure the American Panhandle, Sasquatch has clinched a more elusive vote, that of our nation's woodland creatures. Not only is the majority of the snacking population supporting the popular Jack Link's advertising icon, but also his furry friends. Tiny "Sasquatch for President" campaign signs have been popping up everywhere from robin nests to beaver dams. The animals obviously have their minds made up. Do you?

Become a Sasquatch supporter and download the Sasquatch for President screensavers here: Sasquatch for President

And don't forget to vote!

New media technology has made citizen journalism more prevalent worldwide. Citizens are often reporting breaking news faster than traditional media reporters. To mark the anniversary of the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius and promote the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s upcoming exhibition, A Day in Pompeii, Carmichael Lynch launched a social media campaign and website that allowed people around the world to experience the last 24 hours of the ancient city of Pompeii.

On Aug. 24, through Twitter updates from the only eyewitness, Pliny the Elder, followers could receive an hour-by-hour account of the destruction. The website allowed visitors to explore the same streets Pliny the Elder did nearly 2,000 years ago. Throughout the experience, fans could discover artifacts from the exhibition, A Day in Pompeii, in their natural environment.

By recounting Pliny’s tragic experience using Twitter as a disaster-reporting tool, the historical event became a modern and timely way to excite the public. Pliny’s 4,630 Twitter followers would RT his posts, ask him for information and urge him to flee. The website, www.dayinpompeii.com, has had 16,311 visits and 29,648 page views over the last four days. Pliny’s Twitter coverage received national and global attention in the press including The Huffington Post, NBC News, MailOnline UK and FOX News generating over 62 million media impressions.