ORLANDO, Fla. — Competing against 52,000 award entries, Middleton Lawn & Pest Control and its agency of record PUSH, have again been awarded for their creative excellence for a recent advertising campaign, winning nine Fourth District ADDY® Awards by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).
The second level of a three-tier national creative competition, including the entire state of Florida and the Caribbean, the American Advertising Federation ADDY awards are given each year to work that demonstrates the best of advertising, which are judged by the top creative and strategic leaders in the advertising industry.
The award-winning work, the “It’s the Frog” campaign, is a fully integrated brand campaign that includes six animated television spots featuring an animated version of Middleton’s signature green frog as it eliminates a different household or lawn nuisance through comedic attention-getting stunts.
“Creatively, the ‘It’s the Frog’ campaign is unlike any advertising our industry has ever seen,” said Greg Clendenin, president and CEO of Middleton Lawn & Pest Control. “The campaign used unique animation in bringing the signature frog to life and in delivering the valuable service features, while using humor to bring both elements together.”
For the production of the commercials, real cockroaches, ants and other pests were photographed and animated, layered onto images of specially built live sets and incorporated with character voiceovers and Middleton’s iconic frog.
In “Extra Crispy,” the talking frog exterminates annoying fire ants with a magnifying glass, and in “Buck Rogers,” the talking frog destroys a smug cockroach with a ray gun. To maintain a consistent message, radio advertising mirrored each individual television ad throughout the campaign.