Darien Times: Colangelo wins award

Colangelo and its campaign for The Cookhouse restaurant were recently honored at an awards ceremony for its second-place submission in AdPack USA's inaugural Tissue Tactics contest.

Colangelo, a full-service marketing agency in Darien and part of Omnicom Group Inc.'s DAS division, was presented with the world's largest tissue pack, a cash prize and certificate for its winning design concept of the fictitious "Hot Wing Survival Pack"for The Cookhouse.

With this humorous approach, the tissue pack provides"everything you need for a wing emergency." The tissue pack illustrates the levels of spiciness (ranging from "mild" to "scary") of the restaurant's famous chicken wings and how to use the tissues to mop the sweat off diners brows generated by the spicy wings. The distribution strategy invites new customers to come into The Cookhouse and try its wings and barbecue fare.

The contest held Jan.1 through March 31 of this year, challenged marketing professionals all over the United States to design an ad campaign using tissue packs. Hundreds of entries were judged on overall design, creativity and distribution strategies. A panel of advertising, marketing and academic professionals judged the entries in April. Tissue pack marketing, new to the U.S., is a major ad medium in Asia and beyond. Last year $1 billion was spent in Japan on the manufacturing and free distribution of packs to consumers.

"We're very passionate about idea-based" communications and finding exciting, innovative vehicles to connect our clients to their consumers." said Rob Colangelo, president. "Our guys had a lot of fun with AdPack's tissue contest. We've learned a lot about this interesting new medium and a lot about the joys of competitive hot wing consumption. That's a win/win in my book."

"Colangelo's entry was very sharp," said Steve Jacobs, president of AdPack USA. "It was so creative how they promoted the hot wings and at the same time, challenged people to try the different levels of spiciness. We are seeing more and more restaurants change their giveaways due to smoking bans. As a result, they are seeking alternative giveaways to matches, such as tissues"