Chicago’s very own success STORY will be honored with the 2014 Commitment to Excellence Award for Television Commercials by the 50th Chicago International Film Festival – one of only two Chicago production companies to have been so honored.
The award will be presented at the Television Awards ceremony April 10, at the Radisson Blu Hotel, where all winners will be announced. The evening will be hosted by CBS/2 Jay Levie and media consultant/journalist Mary Ann Childers.
STORY was chosen for the honor by a local selection committee, based on the criteria of a company’s reputation and its consistently high quality of work, notes Vivian Teng, the Festival’s managing director.
“STORY is honored and gratified to be given this honor from the Chicago International Film Festival,” says founder/executive producer Mark Androw, who with EP/partner Cliff Grant leads the 28-year old production house.
“We owe our success to our wonderful directors and production people, and to our many great clients who have entrusted their advertising with us.”
With offices in Chicago’s River West and Santa Monica, multi- award-winning STORY is one of the few commercial producers with a true national presence and capabilities. It offers a star studded and eclectic roster of 10 directors, most of whom based located in LA.
An international presence was recently added with Shanghai-based director, William Dhawan, who grew up in Canada and speaks perfect English, notes Androw.
“We give advertising agencies what they want: high caliber directors with local accessibility,“ says Androw. “Judging by the amount of work we succeed in winning, we answer an urgent need.”
Recent work includes spots for JC Penney and JBL Audio/Doner-Detroit; Buick, Kellogg’s and Allstate/Leo Burnett; Bissell vacuum cleaners/Cramer-Krasselt and S.C. Johnson products/O&M – all among their repeat clientele.
Over the 19 years of the festival’s television awards (called the Hugos), winners like Joe Pytka, Hungry Man, Smuggler and MJZ were LA or New York based. That succession was broken in 2012 when Optimus received the Commitment to Excellence Award.
Awards ceremony tickets are $100 and may be purchased here.
