Meet Our Judges
The Austin AdFed selects a panel of creative powerhouses from across the country to judge the work each year. Their votes determine if your work moves on to the AAF District 10 ADDY competition.
Robert Clifton, Jr.
Creative Director
Campbell Mithun
Minneapolis, MN
A grad of the prestigious Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Robert has held creative director positions at Leo Burnett and Burrell Communications, both in Chicago. He has worked on everything from Kellogg’s to Western Union to Coca-Cola, with the bulk of his career spent on Nintendo, Reebok and McDonald’s.
Since 2007, Robert has been Executive Creative Director at Campbell-Mithun in Minneapolis.
While he can claim all the industry accolades for creativity (The Addys, Communication Arts, Mobius, One Show and Shots, as well as featured on Fox News) Robert’s work has also garnered awards for being effective, with a Sony spot that won the Gold Breezy from the Direct Marketing Association, an international Big Mac spot that saw sales shoot up around the globe (18% in China). Plus Pop-Tarts work that broke the ASI record at Kellogg’s and the highest ASI score in the history of Land O’ Lakes.
Most recently Robert has helped both Famous Footwear and Land O’ Lakes get rare publicity for advertising creativity from both Adweek and AdAge.
David DeRoma
Sr. Art DirectorCP+B
Boulder, CO
It’s no secret that David always thought he’d be a professional soccer player or famous rock star. Still does. But somehow, He’s gotten distracted by such careers as glassblowing and advertising. He’s worked alongside glass artists like Dale Chihuly, William Morris and Lino Tagliapietra.
He’s also found himself creating award-winning ad campaigns at agencies like Olson + Co Minneapolis, Y&R Chicago, Leo Burnett Chicago, and Crispin Porter & Bogusky, for accounts like Burger King, Microsoft, Volkswagen, WD-40, Nintendo, Allstate, Starbucks and Jim Beam.
Currently, David lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Sweet Mags, their son Bodhi, his dog Oscar, her cat Macchia, and a reef tank full of exotic sea creatures.
Matt Ian
Creative Director
BBH New York
New York, NY
After graduating in 1996 from The Art Center in Pasadena, Matt immediately began work as a Jr. Art Director for Lambesis. There he worked on the prestigious youth and fashion brands Airwalk, Morey Bodyboards and Bebe. But after a year or so, Matt found himself outgrowing (i.e. getting fired from) the little San Diego shop. He also found he was a pretty mediocre designer and decided he should perhaps leave art direction to those with more qualified eyeballs.
After switching to copywriting, Matt went to TBWA Chiat/Day in New York City, crafting campaigns for Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal, Circuit City, Equinox Fitness Centers and The Whitney Museum Of Modern Art. And from there, he headed across town to Ogilvy&Mather to help revitalize the megabrand Motorola.
Matt has been at BBH now for almost eight years, during which time he has written innovative and distinguished campaigns for brands like Johnnie Walker, Levis, Axe and Smirnoff Raw Tea (Tea Partay).
Today, along with his partner Amee Shah, Matt is a Group CD, running Sprite’s North America and global accounts.
With these campaigns, and others, Matt has earned top honors from virtually all major industry award shows along with having many of his ads discussed, critiqued, celebrated and occasionally ridiculed in the press by The New York Times, Fortune, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Herald, CNN, Good Morning America, and MSNBC (to name a few).
Kevin Lynch
SVP., Creative Lead
Proximity Chicago
Chicago, IL
Kevin graduated from Michigan State in 1989, and has built an award-winning copywriting portfolio at agencies such as McConnaughy Stein Schmidt Brown, Chicago; Roche Macaulay, Toronto; and DDB Chicago, on top brands such as Jeep, Reebok, Corona, BMW, Walgreens, IKEA Germany, Anheuser-Busch, and Circuit City.
In 2001, he co-founded Hadrian’s Wall, a respected Chicago creative boutique, with the simple goal, “Do good work for people you like.” Those people included Harvard Business Review, National Geographic Channel, the Illinois Department of Public Health, Hewitt, DePaul University, Tsingtao and Steve Ford Music and others.
Kevin and his partner sold Hadrian’s Wall to MDC Partners and Toronto’s zig in 2006. He co-managed zig’s Chicago office, serving as CD and occasional copywriter for Elysian Hotels & Resorts, National Geographic Channel, Playboy, Brookfield Zoo, Lithia Motors, and projects for Molson, Toshiba, and Microsoft.
In 2009, Kevin joined Proximity Chicago, EnergyBBDO’s digital sibling agency, serving as Creative Lead on clients like Hyatt, Illinois Lottery, Bayer, State Farm, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Kevin has been recognized by – as well as judged – industry award shows such as Communication Arts and the One Show.
