AAF Roanoke

The American Advertising Federation, Roanoke Chapter, is Roanoke’s only professional organization devoted entirely to the business of advertising. Since 1958, professionals in the areas of graphic design, marketing, TV and radio, photography, printing, web design and more, come together to represent a diversity of companies from our community.

Public Service

Our club places a great emphasis on being a good community steward and giving back in a variety of ways. Our membership is a collection of great advertising and marketing talents, and AAF Roanoke strives to incorporate skills-based volunteering opportunities to our members with award-winning events such as CreateAthon and our Brown Bag Luncheon Series.

Our skills-based public service programs have provided more than 1 million dollars worth of advertising and marketing services to the Roanoke and New River Valleys in the last 5 years.

As part of our public service and education initiatives, AAF Roanoke wants to offer our members, and those who share our mission, opportunities to impact their community directly.

Programs

We strive to ensure that all those who participate in our programs experience professional development. Programs and speakers are selected to appeal to different fields in our industry and bring unique perspectives to our market. In addition to practical and entertaining presentations, programs are designed to foster networking — not only peer-to-peer, but cross-market. For some members, our quality programs are the primary benefit of membership. People have come to appreciate their thought-provoking, high-quality, memorable content — the same qualities required to be successful in the industry.

Education

Professional development for the general membership, through programs and updates through a number of different communication channels, is a core mission of the club. Additionally, the club reaches out to the K-12 and Higher Education community with initiatives such as the Student American Advertising Awards, speakers, portfolio reviews and helping facilitate agency tours.

mosaic One significant initiative is Adscape: Explore the Landscape of Advertising. The purpose of the program, run with the help of college students, is to introduce high school juniors and seniors to the profession, with a specific focus on underrepresented populations. In 2016 the program received a national Mosaic Award from the American Advertising Federation in the multicultural student program category. The club also has been successful in encouraging students in advertising-related fields at area colleges and universities by showcasing their work in the American Advertising Awards competition.

The third audience for the club is advertising education for the Community. Through the years we have fulfilled that mission in a number of ways, including a Roanoke AAF-sponsored session on media planning and buying in collaboration with the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and a monthly Brown Bag series, Digital Media 101, that trained community participants, mostly nonprofits, to incorporate digital media into their marketing.