Once again our regular hosts were absent for this show—always wild things happening in the lives of today’s young professionals. As always, their trusty cohorts were waiting in the wings to keep us running. This time our own Cris Vatalaro joined veteran guest co-host Vinny Tafuro for another great month of adcasting (Yes, I’m verbing us. And while I’m at it, I’m also verbing the word verb). We were lucky enough to crash Tampa’s Gasparilla Film Festival this time, broadcasting live from the beautiful Tampa Theatre.

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is definitely one of our favorite organizations in the area—both for the great things they bring to the city, and the great people they send our way. This time our guests were the lovelies Kari Goetz and Christen Pettitt, and the topic was Avenue Q. They came on to tell us what that means (Hint: It’s a sweet Broadway Show coming to TBPAC) and how Ad 2 can get a great deal on it.
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Next we got to find out what we’d gotten ourselves into, with the Gasparilla Film Festival’s Chad Moore and John Rosser. They told us all about one of Tampa’s great cultural attractions, and tried to forgive us for crashing it (well actually I think they kinda liked us).
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Having gotten our feet wet, we now dove deeper into the Festival’s substance, bringing on some real live independent movie makers. Adam Sigal and Brahman Turner created one of the featured films of the event—a piece called Daydreamer. What followed was some interesting insight into how it all came to be.
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Man, if you like film, this was the show for you. Our next guests were Pete Guzzo and Dan Brienza, who told us about Tampa’s upcoming Weekend Film Workshop. It sounds like a great event for aspiring film-makers, covering all the aspects of making it happen in film. And… action!
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Continuing with our film theme, we brought Erik Cattele and Adam Lenfest of Polycreative on next. Polycreative is a digital media producer in the area, and one of the most prominent members of Tampa’s Digital Media Alliance.
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We did a little something different with our last segment. No film here; just funds. Josh Crum is a Business Development Assoicate for Raymond James Financial, and one of this month’s Rising Stars. He came on to tell us about his work with financial advisors and independent contractors that’s brought him to Rising Star status.
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You know we’re eternally greatful to the sponsors. As always, it simply couldn’t happen if it weren’t for the folks at Tampa Digital Studios, and the help of La Casa Dolce and tbt*. And for this month, “props” to Tampa Theatre and the Gasparilla Film Festival for letting us team up with them.

Until next time, make good choices!

Tonight our regular hosts Jessica McDonald and Carl Vervisch took a break as we welcomed guest hosts Lindsey Norris and Vinny Tafuro in their place. After a one-month holiday hiatus, AdCast came back with a bang—another great show for all things Ad 2 and otherwise.

It’s a new name, a new look, and more for one of Tampa Bay’s most important organizations. Fresh off the unveiling of their complete re-branding roll-out, Tampa Bay & Company sent Senior VP of Marketing Dianne Jacob to tell us all about it. Check out why they did it, how they went about it, and what they’re doing to get it out to the public on this segment.
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Mmmmm Chipotle… next up we had Kimberly Higgins, the official “Chipotle Cheerleader” for Tampa Bay and Orlando. You might recognize her from the amazing turnaround she orchestrated for about 50 students on our most recent Media Tour, or from her Rising Star status of months past. Tonight she let us in on all her crowd-pleasing promotional secrets.
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The Addys are upon us! They seem to come sooner every year for those of us that have to prepare our entries, and a couple of the local authorities on the subject were here to make the announcement this time. Tampa Bay Ad Fed president and Maddux Business Report marketing manager Craig Neuman, along with art director Kate Whatley of PeakBiety Branding + Advertising, came on to give us the low-down on the big show.
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And now for tonight’s Rising Star! A great new addition to our show over the last few months has been the tbt* Rising Star. This time around, we had a lawyer in the house. Nicole Kibert is an Associate Attorney for Carlton Fields, and tonight we found out what she does and how she does it so well.
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As young, opinionated people in the advertising community, we always like to add our insight on the subject. This time it was Vinny and Lindsey telling us about their expectations for the star-studded ads of this year’s Super Bowl. See what they had to say in our latest Advertising Insight.
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We wrapped things up with Ad 2 Roundtable, where we bring on Ad 2′s finest to let us in on the club’s latest. With that said, check it out and find out what you need to know!
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As always, we gotta thank those that made it all possible for us. Tampa Digital Studios ran the show, Tampa Bay Brewing Co. hosted it, and the folks at tbt* and La Casa Dolce sponsored it. Great job to all, and don’t forget my strong encouragement for you all in three simple words—Make good choices.

Hello folks, another great month has come and gone in Tampa Bay, and along with it another great edition of Ad 2 Tampa Bay’s AdCast. This month’s show, broadcast live from Tampa Bay Brewing Company, was very sporty, which is pretty appropriate for this time of the year. That’s not to mention the area – big happenings all around in the Tampa Bay sports scene.

• We kicked things off with the “homies” as usual. This time it was Cris Vatalaro and Mai Tran coming on to talk about two of Ad 2′s biggest annual events, the Student Media Tour and AdBash. I’m not over-exaggerating when I say that both were extremely successful this year, both for entertainment value and for raising funds for our Public Service client, Wheels for Success. There’s also a nice little highlight reel of AdBash, prepped by Mike Compton and the folks at Tampa Digital Studios: VIEW NOW

• Next on the show we started off our sports theme with America’s favorite past-time. Brian Killingsworth, Director of Marketing and Promotion with the newly re-branded Tampa Bay Rays, was on the show with us. Brian told all about the re-branding efforts, which pretty much spread to every aspect of the team and its interaction with the city. Cheers for all the great community involvement coming out of that organization, and best of luck with the new image. VIEW NOW

• Time to talk about the Lightning and Storm! We don’t have a weather center at AdCast, so that can only mean one thing – We’re talking about more Tampa Bay sports. Brad Lott is the VP of Sales and Marketing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he brought us up to speed on all the defenders of the St. Pete Times Forum. VIEW NOW

• In a world where college bowl games seem to creep out of forgotten corners of the couch, we’re lucky to have one of the best and longest-lasting of these events here in Tampa Bay. Mike Shulze is the Director of Communications + Sponsorships for the Outback Bowl. He gave us the play-by-play on everything from how its promoted to even revealing one of this year’s teams live on the air – That’s right, you heard it here FIRST. VIEW NOW

• The Society for Marketing Professional Services. What does it all mean? As we found out, it’s an organization that focuses on training, networking, and community involvement for those in the fields of construction and engineering. Members Tara Ryan and JR Kozera were live on the air to tell us more about all the great things they do as an organization. VIEW NOW

• What are you doing for the holidays? Let us give you the run-down. Ad 2′s very own Cris Vatalaro went to the trouble of researching, inspecting, deliberating to bring us the biggest and best in upcoming events in Tampa Bay. She even drug in Dan Gorda from 13 Ugly Men to tell us about their next extravagant event this New Years Eve. VIEW NOW

• And of course, there’s our tbt* Rising Star segment. Every week, they crown a lucky individual in Tampa Bay and give them a proper feature in their lovely publication. We went through this month’s winners, and brought one on the show. Sharon Nobles is a realtor with Wingate & Associates, but that’s not all. Find out everything she’s got going on, right here. VIEW NOW

Thanks to everyone that keeps watching the show… all the faithful that stayed with us through my worst wardrobe follies and love us just the same. And I can’t stop raving out our great sponsors – La Casa “Delicious” Dolce, tbt* (something worth reading!) and of course the blood, sweat, and tears of Tampa Digital Studios and their elite production force. Oh and Tampa Bay Brewing Company. You guys rock, and so does your beer.

And in closing, it just wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t keep you to it:
Make Good Choices.

I suppose I didn’t realize I should have been especially fearful of this month’s episode – dreaded number thirteen. But really it wasn’t bad at all. Remote show this time, from Tampa Bay Brewing Company (next door to Tampa Digital Studios’ new offices in Ybor City). And to further mix things up, Jessica McDonald was out hang-gliding through the Amazon, opening up the coveted co-hostess spot for Ad 2′s own Robin Adkins. And what a show it was…

• First, Cris Vatalaro and Mai Tran were on the show to catch us up on Ad 2 happenings. They discussed AdBash (which is coming up November 9, 6-10pm, and should totally rock, Hollywood-style) and the Student Media Tour (November 8, 9am-6pm – also likely to rock). For details on those events and everything else, you can always check out Ad 2′s website at www.ad2tampabay.org

• Next up, Mike Compton was on the show with Susan Jacobs to announce this year’s Ad 2 Tampa Bay public service client – a great cause called Wheels of Success. Great things to come on that front; Wheels’ has an established identity, a sound plan, and a lot of potential for a great public service campaign for us. Anyone that’s interested in helping out, toss Mike an email as soon as ya can. VIEW NOW

• Unfortunately the head honcho Larry Thompson couldn’t make it out to the show to speak on the Sarasota Design Summit, but that didn’t stop us. At the last second, we pulled a major community player, Mr. Peter Kageyama, President of Creative Tampa Bay and partner with Sextant Marketing. We had plenty to learn about the Design Summit, and honestly his talk changed my perspective on the whole thing. SDS is a new approach to the “design” conference, inviting people that aren’t designers to find out why it’s so important. VIEW NOW

• The next segment was a great learning experience for me, considering I didn’t know what the Film Commission was until Lindsey Norris came onto the show to tell us about it. It’s not really what I thought at all – these are the people responsible for the luring, caring, and feeding of any and all film production outfits visiting Tampa Bay. VIEW NOW

• It wasn’t our first segment on advertising to the Hispanic community, and at the rate the population is growing, it won’t be our last. This time we had a very tuned-in guest, live on the air with us. Pedro Perez has been working in the industry for 14 years, and came on to talk about his company Nuevo Advertising and how they reach out to such a diverse audience. VIEW NOW

• The Night of the Iguana. It just sounds fun. Sure enough, the details Melinda Dale revealed to us made it sound even moreso. This is a charity event for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, founded and firmly supported by Tampa’s own Green Iguana restaurant, and it’s going on November 16 from 7:30-11:30pm. VIEW NOW

• Was it all for the illiteration? The phrase VIEW NOW

• We wrapped things up with another edition of tbt* Rising Stars. I’m really glad we’re doing this segment; it does what we always wanted to do with “Young Professional of the Month,” but uses tbt*’s reach and resources to really pick out the best of the best. Then we get to have them on the show; keep an eye out for this being a really fun segment as this relationship moves on. This time we had Patrick Donlan of EdgeRock Technology Partners; great story there. VIEW NOW

And that’s how we did it. Robin did a great job in her first attempt at hosting, especially considering she thought we’d have a teleprompter on the set (sorry Robin we’re not all high-tech like that). The venue was quite honestly pretty tough to deal with as we were going along… I mean seriously, since when do so many people go to the bar on a Wednesday… but regardless, it all came out well. The clips look great, Tampa Digital Studios’ team did great, and our sponsors are just generally great for the things they do for us (La Casa Dolce, tbt*, and TDS of course).

Let’s do it again next month!
Make Good Choices.

Episode twelve. We’re now one full year older and wiser than we were at the humble beginnings of this whole “AdCast” thing. My, how far we’ve come. Well this show was another winner, with another great selection of guests.

• We started things off with the general Ad 2 business. Cris Vatalaro and Mai Tran were on the show to update us on the AdBash plans: Let it be known, we’re doing it on November 9th at Hyde Park Cafe, 6-10pm. Next, Vinny Tafuro and Mike Compton brought us up to speed on our public service campaign… we’ve narrowed it down to the final three, and we’re definitely still open to volunteers that want to handle the creative and account duties with our yet-to-be-named selection. VIEW NOW (MORE)(EVEN MORE)

• We had a couple new faces from Big Cat Rescue with us next. This time it was Jessica Allen and Jennifer Bush there to tell us about this year’s (already sold out!) October 12 Fur Ball and, of course, all the other great things they do over there at Big Cat Rescue. VIEW NOW

• Nancy Kipnis is the PR Director for ARTE 2007, a major event celebrating the culture of the Americas in venues throughout St. Petersburg. As she said, ARTE really allows you to go in and basically create your own experience, offering “a la carte” events all around the area from November 2-16. VIEW NOW

• Greg Rollett handles the Marketing and Communications duties for a big ‘ol rock show in Orlando with a great cause. It’s called Rock for Hunger, and as its straight-forward name implies, it’s a collection of bands rocking out to aid the homeless and hungry in the community. It’s going on this November 10, and they’re looking for volunteers (and of course attendees) to make it all as great as it can be. VIEW NOW

• John Rosser is the Executive Director for the Gasparilla Film Festival. With the festival several months away, you might be wondering what he was here to discuss. The festival actually holds other events throughout the year, including the big Children’s Day in Hyde Park Village this November 18. VIEW NOW

• Big new segment on the show this time around. It’s called tbt* Rising Stars, and it highlights some of the most prominent and accomplished up-and-coming young professionals in the Tampa Bay Area. We didn’t have any of their selections on the air (as we will in the future), but we were able to talk briefly about who made the cut. VIEW NOW

• This month’s Advertising Insight covered a pretty broad topic, and I’d say we covered it pretty well. It’s called The Future of Television and Advertising, and we talk about some major issues facing TV today and in days to come. For instance, how will TV advertising survive if everyone TIVO’s their way through the commericals? And what about people buying TV shows off iTunes? Or *gasp* watching them on YouTube. What’s it all going to come to? VIEW NOW

So that was how twelve episodes came to a close. I enjoyed the show… hey when DON’T I? Thanks as always to our great sponsors. La Casa Dolce sets us up with some absolutely decadent panini and gelatto in the green room – which I would devour as quickly even if I wasn’t starving after the show. Tampa Digital Studios is of course the excellent production facility that puts the lights and cameras on us (our guests of course provide the action!) and I should add they do a stellar job of it. Then there’s our newest sponsor, a publication we all know and love in the Tampa Bay area… yes of course it’s tbt*. And to close it out, of course, I love all of you who watch, and especially those who come to our green show to watch live (everyone should, it’s FREE and did I mention the food is amazing??)

You know how I end things off…
Make Good Choices, folks.

Eleven Episodes. Yes that means next month is our one-year anniversary, folks! No special plans as of yet; just another sweet show of myself and my co-host Jessica McDonald rocking the young professional scene in Tampa Bay. But enough about the future. How about that show tonight?

• Gilberto “Gil” Sanchez was one of the first guests on AdCast, appearing on our first show last September. But his resume does not end there (which I suppose is good for his sake). He owns his own practice – Sanchez and Associates, is the co-founder and a driving member of the Hispanic Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs group of Tampa Bay, and teaches young professionals around the area about how to start their own business. He came on to talk about all that, as well as his *free* lecture series on starting your own business, which starts tomorrow night at 6pm. For more info, check out www.sanchezlawoffices.com.

• Katrina Priore is the Assistant Publisher and Partner Relations extraordinaire for Create Magazine. She joined us to talk mainly about the Create Awards, a mega-huge competition that’s underway right now, and also a number of other exciting happenings surrounding the magazine. For more information on everything Create, see the website at www.createmagazine.com.

• Scott Talcott is the Executive Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Their group is hosting a big event to keep fans and philanthropists alike busy during the Buccaneers’ away game at Seattle. That day, the CFF will host a gourmet tailgate and 4×4 truck show at Raymond James Stadium, also featuring Scott’s fellow guests Cory Frisco and Michael Lokey of the Baja 1000 team. Information on that event can be found at the official CFF site.

• We had a tag-team of big-time area event planners on to talk about some upcoming shindigs for the Tampa Theatre. Brooke Palmer of RSBP Events and Tracy Jones of the TBT* discussed their upcoming bashes. Respectively, Brooke is involved in planning “How the West was Wine,” a western themed wine tasting, and Tracy is working on “Fast Times at Tampa Theatre,” a real deal ’80s party. They also both teased me because apparently I was only 8 years old when the ’80s ended. My bad. Also, I learned that the asterisk in TBT* is silent. Who knew?

• This month’s Advertising Insight was Movie Marketing 101. Our main focus was the big push for Simpsons: Movie, one of the most anticipated films of the year. As we pointed out, they really did it right. From the reverse product placement with 7-11, to the BK partnership and www.simpsonizeme.com, their marketing efforts were huge and it paid dividends. Also of note was Transformers and the GM tie-in that energized a whole generation of youth to fall in love with American-made cars. (yes that’s a native Detroiter talking.)

That was the long and short of it. Big props to our sponsors La Casa Dolce and Tampa Digital Studios, and a special kudos to David Hampton for a job well done on the brand-spankin’-new production station. Hang tight until Monday, and we’ll have a newsletter out with links to all of these segments. That’s right, you can watch “on demand,” as the cable channels love to say.

Until next time,
Make Good Choices.

Big, big show on AdCast tonight. I think I was sort of floating in the surreality of it all; it was quite a lineup of big-name guests…

• Boxing champion. Movie star. Entrepreneur. Tonight, Antonio Tarver, the “Magic Man” himself, added the sought-after role of “AdCast guest” to his resume. Tarver, former light-heavyweight champion of the world and co-star of Rocky Balboa, joined us for a lengthy segment to discuss his recent accomplishments and goals both inside and outside the ring, including a possible big-name fight in Tampa Bay.

• A man with a hand in one of the most sacred events in America joined us as well tonight. Reid Sigmon is the Executive Director of the 2009 Super Bowl Tampa Bay Host Committee. Reid joined us to discuss how he got to such a great responsibility, and talked about some of the events that he will be involved in planning around the event.

• Go Rays! Darcy “D-Ray” Raymond, the man with what may be the most convenient nickname of all time, is the VP of Branding and Fan Experience for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Darcy spoke of the various thematic, event-based, and other marketing efforts the organization has made to “put butts in the seats” at The Trop’.

• Jimmy Mela, Owner of Vintage Wine & Cellars, also fulfills a spot on the committee of one of “the top ten beer festivals in the country.” Now twelve years in the making, Mela’s involvement with Lowry Park Zoo’s WaZoo event brings over $125,000 to the (non-profit) zoo annually. He talked with us about how it all started, what to expect, and where to get tickets to the August 4 event.

• Mike Compton came on the show with big news. Tampa Digital Studios is moving to Centro Ybor, and he filled us in on all the details of the big move. Tampa Digital is our gracious host and collaborator in putting on AdCast, so this move is really exciting to us as hosts and as an organization. Can’t wait for the new digs!

As always, thanks to everyone who helps make AdCast possible, from the sponsors to the many people in Ad 2 and TDS that make it happen. We’re already busily working at putting together next month’s show; this one is going to be a tough act to follow!

I was especially happy this evening, as the show was all about some things near and dear to my heart—art, design, and (as always) advertising. For a variety of possible reasons (as I elaborated on throughout the show) Jessica was unable to join us this time, so Vinny Tafuro filled in as guest co-host.

First to join us in the studio were a couple of our fellow Ad 2 members. Jeff Morrow was on for an update of our public service campaign, and a big Ad 2 leadership announcement came from Mai Tran… check out the show to find out what she told us!

Our next guest was a young professional who spans the spectrum of art and advertising in her various pursuits—art director, painter, and creative extraordinaire Kate Whatley of PeakBiety Branding + Advertising. We discussed all the issues a young creative in the industry tends to face, most of all how to maintain the creative spark and stay afloat in the crazy world of advertising.

If you sit around your dingy apartment saying “There’s nothing to do in Tampa Bay,” you obviously don’t subscribe to Eric Sturm’s weekly email. “Weekly Options of Tampa Bay” is just one of Eric’s many pursuits aimed at informing the community. He came on to tell us about his new book “Access Tampa Bay” and more.

If you’ve talked with me about what I do, you’ve probably heard me mention Graphic Design Meetup once or twice. Tampa bay GDMU is another one of Tampa’s exciting professional networks, this one (as the title would indicate) aimed specifically at graphic designers in the area. But don’t take my word for it; we brought on the long-standing President of the group Brianne King to tell all our viewers why they should check it out.

Film on the internet can mean all sorts of things. Vinny and I took a look at the various types of executions floating around the web today, from viral video to internet-only movie releases.

To wrap things up, we went over all the upcoming events in Ad 2 and around Tampa Bay. Not much to say about that, but it was amusing as always.

There you have it; another grand episode of AdCast goes out to the vast matrix of the internet. I had a blast with this one. Big thanks to Vinny for filling in this month; you’d think he does this kind of stuff all the time. Thanks as well to our sponsors Tampa Digital Studios and La Casa Dolce, because they DO do this all the time.

Oh. And whatever you do, make good choices.

Tonight’s broadcast was live from the historic Don Vicente Inn in Tampa’s Ybor City, in conjunction with the annual Ad 2 Media and Merchandise Auction. Beautiful place—many thanks to the management for setting everything up for us.

First we brought on Vinny Tafuro and Jeff Morrow to get us up to speed on all things Ad 2. The Media Auction taking place around us was of course a big topic, as was our current public service client, Suncoast Voices for Children. The auction is a great event, both for the bidders, who get a huge deal on all kinds of advertising products and services, and for our public service client, as all the funds go to help toward our efforts to help them shine. Find out more about the event, and why SV4C was this year’s clear choice for public service.

Next we brought on Sharon Rose, artist and owner of a place called the Mermaid’s Slipper. Sharon told us about her work, and her busy little shop right in Ybor City. Wait, how can a mermaid wear a slipper? We may or may not have found out… have a look at the segment to find out.

So what’s the “business” with Ybor City? If anything, Tom Keating would know. We had Tom, member of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, on the show next. He had great things to say about Ybor’s future, and why it’s going to be pulling more young professionals into its gates.

Wait, what’s the deal with this place? Next we had a member of the Don Vicente’s staff on to tell us more about the historic Inn, from the historic past to the changes of today.

Next we had our first non-human guest on the show. Thanks to the folks from Gaspar’s Grotto for bringing a famous feline on with them—the bar’s resident cat came on to tangle our wires a bit. We learned about the history of this great bar and grille in the middle of 7th Avenue.

Candace Cusseaux and Erin Richey both play a big part in Emerge, one of our fellow big-time Tampa young professional groups. Emerge is huge, actually, and their annual event Emergence is arguably even bigger. They came on to tell us all about its history, and what to expect this time around.

Saint Petersburg is honored to be host to the Salvador Dali Museum, possibly the most extensive collection of the artist’s work in the world. James Raulerson is a member of Zodiac, their own young professionals organization, and he came on to tell us all about a big event in their near future. It’s called “Cover Me,” and it’s a silent art auction that benefits the museum. Artists will present works inspired by Dali and their favorite classic album covers, along with DJs and martinis—sounds like an awesome event.

What more appropriate segment to talk about in a place called Don Vicente than the Hispanic market? Jess and I went over the do’s and don’t's of talking to the fastest-growing portion of the United States population in this month’s Advertising Insight.

Thanks to the Don Vicente Inn and all of our wonderful guests, and a big thanks to Tampa Digital Studios for all the special effort that went into our first on-location broadcast. And finally, thanks to you for being our loyal viewers and fans — until next time, make good choices.