The second annual Cascadia Creative Awards from NextNW just wrapped, and while Öpinionated walked away with Best in Show for their brilliant “Tastytrade Genius Loves Company” campaign (plus four other wins), we’re quietly thrilled to see how our Indie Agency News members showed up right alongside them. Twenty-five campaigns from our community took home hardware—from Best in Classification to Bronze—and honestly, the work speaks for itself.
Öpinionated was the big winner of the night with the Best in Show nod, plus three Best in Classification wins for Tastytrade, Drumstick and Panda Express and other golds and silvers to notch nine wins for the evening.
No fanfare needed when Stoltz Marketing Group creates a virtual monument that preserves history with “Beyond the Barbed Wire,” winning gold and Best in Classification, Purpose-Led/Social Impact. These aren’t vanity projects. They’re the kind of thoughtful, human-centered work that makes you remember why you got into this business in the first place.
Drake Cooper cleaned up with four wins, including Best in Classification for their Spokane Colleges rebrand. Their “Fentanyl: All It Takes Is Everything” campaign for Idaho’s Office of Drug Policy earned Silver in Purpose-Led creativity—the kind of work that actually matters.
PB& brought home seven pieces of metal, spanning everything from the Seattle Kraken’s “Hooky For Hockey” integrated program (Gold) to Visit Seattle’s “Unsettled Territory” campaign that managed to tackle tourism and social impact simultaneously. Not easy territory to navigate, but they did it with grace.
TDW+Co proved small budgets don’t mean small ideas with their Alaska Airlines x Hawaiian Airlines SXSW activation, while their “Yuzu Your Vote” voter engagement work showed that dating apps and democracy can actually play nice together.
Some of the most satisfying wins came from campaigns that didn’t need to shout to be heard. Definitely Real earned both Silver and Bronze for social campaigns that felt genuinely social. Foul Mouth Creative turned hair care into brand theater with their Kenra relaunch and nabbed gold for Tin Can. Fortnight Collective made ski resort advertising feel fresh again with multiple wins for “Ski on the Sunny Side.”
Left Hand Agency reminded us that even panda-shaped snacks deserve thoughtful media strategy. And Fiction proved that good design is good design, whether you’re packaging kombucha or building team identities from scratch.
Here’s the complete breakdown of your member wins at the Cascadia Creative Awards:
DEFINITELY REAL (2 wins)
- Bronze: “Sleepy Tom” for Sleepy Tom (Social Campaign)
- Silver: “Pressing Matters” for Pressing Matters (Social Campaign)
DRAKE COOPER (5 wins)
- Best in Classification: “Spokane Colleges / Identity & Brand Design” for Spokane Colleges (Brand Design)
- Gold: “Lakepointe / Identity & Brand Design” for Brookfield Properties (Brand Design)
- Gold: “Spokane Colleges / Identity & Brand Design” for Spokane Colleges (Brand Design)
- Silver: “Fentanyl: All It Takes Is Everything” for Idaho Office of Drug Policy (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
- Silver: “Challenge / The One with the Elk on It” for Challenge (Small Budget | Single (:60 or less))
FORTNIGHT COLLECTIVE (3 wins)
- Gold: “Ski on the Sunny Side” for Sun Valley Ski Resort (Use of Music in TV/video)
- Bronze: “Ski on the Sunny Side” for Sun Valley Ski Resort (Integrated Program)
- Bronze: “Ski on the Sunny Side” for Sun Valley Ski Resort (Small Budget | Campaign)
FOUL MOUTH CREATIVE (2 wins)
- Gold: “Tin Can Brand Launch” for Tin Can (Brand Design)
- Gold: “Kenra Haircare Relaunch Campaign” for Kenra Professional (Big Budget | Campaign)
LEFT HAND AGENCY (1 win)
- Bronze: “Left Hand Agency Hello Panda Media Campaign” for Meiji America: Hello Panda (Creative Use of Media: Small Budget)
ÖPINIONATED (5 unique campaigns, 9 total wins)
- Best in Show: “Tastytrade Genius Loves Company” for Tastytrade (Integrated Program)
- Best in Classification: “Tastytrade Genius Loves Company” for Tastytrade (Integrated Program)
- Gold: “Tastytrade Genius Loves Company” for Tastytrade (Integrated Program)
- Best in Classification: “Drumstick Social” for Drumstick (Social Video | Campaign)
- Gold: “Drumstick Social” for Drumstick (Social Video | Campaign)
- Best in Classification: “Panda Express Lunar New Year” for Panda Express (Long Form Video)
- Gold: “Panda Express Lunar New Year” for Panda Express (Long Form Video)
- Gold: “Adidas You Got This” for Adidas (Big Budget | Campaign)
- Silver: “Calia There’s Beauty In The Burn” for Dick’s Sporting Goods (Big Budget | Single (:60 or less))
PB& (7 wins)
- Gold: “Hooky For Hockey” for Seattle Kraken (Integrated Program)
- Silver: “Pickleball” for Visit Seattle (Experiential Campaign/Consumer Activation)
- Silver: “Banned” for Visit Seattle (Use of Branded Content/Entertainment)
- Silver: “Kraken Countdown Strategy” for N/A (Creative Use of Media: Small Budget)
- Silver: “Countdown Clock” for Seattle Kraken (Use of OOH)
- Gold: “Unsettled Territory” for Visit Seattle (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
- Bronze: “Game Day Experience” for Seattle Kraken (Influencer Campaign)
STOLTZ MARKETING GROUP (3 wins)
- Best in Classification: “Beyond the Barbed Wire Virtual Monument” for Friends of Minidoka (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
- Gold: “Beyond the Barbed Wire Virtual Monument” for Friends of Minidoka (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
- Gold: “Valley Regional Transit – LET’S RIDE BOI.” for Valley Regional Transit (Small Budget | Campaign)
TDW+CO (4 wins)
- Bronze: “Alaska Airlines x Hawaiian Airlines House at SXSW” for Alaska Airlines x Hawaiian Airlines (Experiential Campaign/Consumer Activation)
- Bronze: “Inner Circles” for AdCouncil & FEMA (PSA Campaign)
- Bronze: “Inner Circles” for AdCouncil (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
- Silver: “Yuzu Your Vote” for Match Group – Yuzu (Purpose-Led/Social Impact Creativity)
TOTAL: 30 member wins
- Best in Classification: 2
- Gold: 9
- Silver: 11
- Bronze: 8
Twenty-five campaigns from our community taking home hardware at a regional show? That’s a good night. Congratulations to everyone who brought home metal.
Full winners list is coming soon at the NextNW site.
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Doug Zanger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Indie Agency News. He is also the founder of the Creative Bohemian consultancy, lives in the Pacific Northwest and is insufferable about it.
