If you’re here, you probably know a little bit about Ad 2 Dallas, or our SEO is working as designed. Either way, you might not be as familiar with our partner organization AAF Dallas. For that, we now answer two of the most common questions: why two orgs, and what the heck is the difference?!
In the beginning, there was the Dallas Advertising League, founded just after the turn of the century. Its mission was simple—bring order and professionalism to what was quite literally the wild west of advertising. Dallas was booming, and so was fraudulent advertising taking advantage of locals in the quickly growing city.
The 11 founders were leaders from local advertising and marketing businesses that joined together to create an organization to improve the quality of advertising in Dallas. Their efforts to professionalize and represent our industry with dignity in 1908 then led to the Dallas Advertising League joining the Associated Advertising Clubs of America (AACOA) which is now American Advertising Federation (AAF).
With such a storied history, Dallas’ AAF chapter is proud to be one of Dallas’ oldest operating professional service organizations!
So what makes AAF Dallas different from Ad 2 Dallas?
The answer is simple. Ad 2 Dallas takes the legacy, network, and model of AAF Dallas and packages it up in a way that’s way more accessible to professionals fresh out of school up to age 32. Both AAF and Ad 2 provide opportunities to network, practice leadership, develop and attend events, and give back to the community. Ad 2 makes it much easier to get into the nitty gritty day to day work of the organization earlier in your career.
Most AAF chapters are extremely large and full of experienced professionals. It would be tough to rise through the ranks or even stand out in AAF when you’re fresh out of college or only in the first few years of your career. Thanks to Ad 2, you can earn your chops much faster. You don’t have to compete against more senior experienced professionals for higher and more important roles within the org, and you still get to take advantage of all the great opportunities available through our partnership with AAF. Many Ad 2 members quickly and easily transition to membership and even leadership within AAF once they reach age 32.
If you’re still not convinced, read the benefits of joining a young professional organization here.
While we often have crossover events where members of both orgs attend, Ad 2 has no shortage of its own exclusive events it organizes over the course of a term year. From after work happy hours and our own yearly pro-bono campaign for a local non-profit to our premier event Dallas’ 32 Under 32 Gala, joining Ad 2 will quickly put you in the middle of DFW’s advertising, marketing, and communications industry.
Get Involved With Ad 2 Dallas
Are you ready to join an organization that helps build your career through networking, skill-building workshops, exclusive job boards, events, happy hours, and plenty of leadership opportunities? Then Ad 2 Dallas is the place for you—become a member today!
(Older than 32? We still want you! Check out aafdallas.org for ways you can get involved too.)
