Tom Bodett’s Ads Win Top Radio Award

Tom Bodett can’t figure it out. Just a few years ago he was eking out a living as a construction worker and writer, but Friday afternoon the radio campaign that features his folksy voice won the biggest prize in radio advertising.

The radio ad campaign for the Motel 6 chain, best-known for the phrase, “We’ll leave the light on for you,” was awarded the top national radio campaign on the first day of the 29th Clio Awards ceremony in New York. The campaign was created by the Dallas ad firm, the Richards Group.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles production company, Dick Orkin’s Radio Ranch, won three Clios for its radio spots done for several Midwest companies. And the Minneapolis ad firm Fallon McElligott garnered 11 Clios for its print advertisements, including several ads for Rolling Stone magazine. On Monday night, the television Clio awards are to be handed out.

Friday’s winners were selected from more than 3,000 radio entries and 9,000 print entires. A total of 28 radio Clios and 37 print Clios were handed out, said Bill Evans, Clio president.

But Motel 6’s Bodett was not at the posh ceremony. Instead, he was at home with his family near Homer, Alaska, an area where he moved years ago when the construction business was booming. “I don’t swing a hammer for a living anymore,” Bodett said, “but I’m so busy with these ads, the 15-mile drive back and forth to town is getting to be too much.”

Bodett, 33, recently recorded a series of new Motel 6 commercials, and also signed a lengthy contract. As for winning the top Clio award, he said: “I don’t know what to make of it all, but I guess it speaks to the fact that these ads are working.”