We earned five ADDY Awards in March 2026, including a Gold Best of Show for Throughike brand identity. A closer look at each piece of recognized work.
Five ADDY wins across five categories
We earned five ADDY Awards in 2025 American Advertising Awards cycle through AAF Southern Illinois, with recognition across brand identity, copywriting, packaging, interactive/web, and out-of-home projects. ADDY Awards are advertising’s largest and most representative competition, recognizing creative excellence at local, district, and national levels.
Five recognized entries represented work from four different client relationships, each at a different stage and in a different category. Wins spanned outdoor gear, luxury skincare, children's e-commerce, and pregnancy-focused skincare — which reflects the range our studio works across, beyond a narrow specialty.
Full list of recognized work:
- Gold ADDY for Best of Show — Throughike brand identity
- Silver ADDY for copywriting — Throughike brand voice
- Silver ADDY for sales promotion / packaging design — Golden Tallow packaging
- Silver ADDY for online / interactive website — RightSide Children's Apparel ecommerce website
- Silver ADDY for out-of-home poster design — Saucy Mama poster campaign
Throughike: Integrated Brand Identity Campaign that earned Best of Show
2025 Gold ADDY for Best of Show went to Throughike brand identity, entered in Integrated Brand Identity Campaign category — a full identity system designed for an outdoor gear company that needed to enter a competitive category with no existing market history behind it.
Throughike needed an established presence before years of recognition could build one naturally. Outdoor gear buyers trust visual recognition, consistency, and a strong point of view. A brand that looks provisional gets treated as provisional, regardless of product quality.
Our identity work included a primary logo mark, brand architecture, color system, typography, and applications across gear tags, packaging surfaces, jacket mockups, bottles, and campaign materials. This engagement also produced brand voice direction, which earned a separate Silver ADDY for copywriting.
Best of Show ranks above any single category award. It is highest single recognition at competition, awarded by AAF Southern Illinois to entry judges considered strongest work of entire cycle across all categories.
Four Silver ADDY wins
Beyond Throughike, three other client relationships produced recognized work across packaging, web, and out-of-home.
Golden Tallow packaging design earned a Silver ADDY in sales promotion and packaging. Golden Tallow is a premium tallow skincare line, and our project combined jar labels, packaging layout, and a full product presentation system with premium, deliberate execution at every customer touchpoint.
RightSide Children's Apparel ecommerce website earned a Silver ADDY in online and interactive. RightSide sells 100% reversible, sensory-friendly shirts designed to help children dress more independently — a specific product requiring its website to explain a nuanced value proposition directly and earn parent trust quickly.
Saucy Mama poster campaign earned a Silver ADDY for out-of-home poster design. Saucy Mama is a pregnancy-focused skincare brand founded by a midwife, and poster work was part of a campaign built around a highly specific audience and product story.
What award-level creative looks like in practice
None of five recognized entries started with 'make something award-winning' as a brief. Each started with a business problem — a new outdoor brand needing credibility before it had history, a skincare line needing premium packaging, an ecommerce brand needing to explain a specific product, or a campaign needing a poster that could move product.
ADDY recognition reflects what happens when creative solves those problems with conviction. Brand identity earning trust in outdoor gear has to survive competitor shelves, hangtags, and digital ad formats simultaneously. Category-winning packaging has to do more than look premium — it has to hold up across every customer moment before, during, and after purchase.
For prospective clients, this recognition counts less as a trophy and more as evidence of creative standards. We work with regional businesses, consumer product brands, nonprofits, contractors, and national accounts. Five ADDY wins show those standards holding up across five distinct assignments.
Frequently asked questions
What is an ADDY Award?
ADDY Awards are advertising industry's largest creative competition, run by American Advertising Federation. Entries are judged at local level, with winners eligible to advance to district and national competition. Awards are given in Gold and Silver across categories including branding, web, print, packaging, out-of-home, and more. Best of Show is highest single recognition at each competition level, awarded to standout entry across all categories.
What work won Best of Show?
Throughike brand identity earned us a 2025 Gold ADDY for Best of Show from AAF Southern Illinois, entered in Integrated Brand Identity Campaign category. Throughike is an outdoor gear company that needed a complete brand identity — logo mark, system, color, type, voice, and launch assets — designed to look established in a competitive category from launch.
Does Palmer Creative Co. only work with large brands?
No. Five award-winning projects spanned four different clients — an outdoor gear startup, a premium tallow skincare line, a niche children's apparel brand, and a pregnancy-focused skincare company. Assignments range from focused identity and packaging projects to ongoing creative partnerships. We also work with regional service businesses, contractors, nonprofits, and colleges.
