Pocatello resident Rick Magnuson received the 2017 American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award at the Rockies Awards Show and Banquet in Boise on May 13.
By Courtney Johnson
POCATELLO — Rick Magnuson, the co-owner and managing partner of MSVM Group in Pocatello, has been awarded the 2017 American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award by the Idaho Advertising Federation.
The Pocatello resident received this prestigious award at the Rockies Awards Show and Banquet in Boise on May 13. This annual gala celebrates creativity throughout Idaho’s advertising industry.
Each year the Idaho Advertising Federation presents the AAF Silver Medal Award to an individual who has demonstrated creative excellence, promoted social welfare and has made outstanding contributions to advertising by advancing the industry’s standards.
Magnuson was honored with this award for his leadership in the advertising industry throughout the state and locally that spans more than two decades.
“If you go back to the list of people that have won this award, I have worked with or worked for so many on that list,” said Magnuson. “They are my heroes, my mentors and they are the leaders of our industry. That list is basically the history of the advertising industry in Idaho. I admire and respect those men and women a great deal. So to have the honor to be on that list is something that I am very humbled by.”
Magnuson began his professional career in 1994 at Steele, Stoltz & Associates in Pocatello before launching his own marketing agency with Mike Sanders in 2005. MSVM Group specializes in all facets of marketing communications. It has received national creative recognition for clients in economic development, financial services and health care categories, in addition to multiple IAF Rockies Awards.
Magnuson is past president of the Pocatello Advertising Federation and has served as vice chairman of the IAF Board of Directors since 2011. He graduated in 1992 from Idaho State University, where he currently serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication, Media & Persuasion.
He’s also an adviser to ISU students competing in AAF’s National Student Advertising Competition.
In 2016, the ISU student team won first among competitors from major Northwest universities in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington — a first in school history.
“Getting a chance to teach these students and to see their passion for the business, that’s been really rewarding,” said Magnuson. “It’s been a really high point in my career to get the chance to work with these students and to help coach and advise them.”
Magnuson was surprised that he was nominated for this award. He did not know that he had been nominated until a video slide show began playing and his name was announced at the gala.
“The word I keep coming back to is humbled,” said Magnuson. “To not only be nominated but to win this award is an honor, but I am completely humbled by it. It’s very humbling to be listed among those people I look up to and respect, and who have helped guide my career so much over the years.”
