Blog Post

Coyote Advertising Enters AAF:IE American Advertising Awards 2026

This year, like many years before, Coyote Advertising has entered the Inland Empire’s American Advertising Awards hosted by the American Advertising Federation. The American Advertising Federation hosts these awards for chapters across the country and Coyote Advertising is once again lucky enough to join in this competition again this year.

The American Advertising Federation (AAF) is a nonprofit that includes 35,000 professionals and 4,000 students within its 140+ chapters, with connections to companies like Google, LinkedIn, Meta, Indeed, AT&T, TikTok, Amazon Ads, and 60+ more. Their goal is to help all who are in the advertising industry, allowing all members to network and advance their careers. They wish to fertilize the advertising industry through all the chapters throughout the country, creating a community not only with the wider United States but also for local communities within advertising. As a well established member, Coyote Advertising is still very proud to be a part of the Inland Empire (IE) chapter.

Connecting at a local level, the IE chapter aligns to boost up creativity and academic leaders within the advertising community. The IE chapter has known corporate members such as Spectrum Reach, Ontario International Airport, the YMCA, and a variety of others. This chapter includes professionals from San Bernardino, Riverside, and some of Los Angeles county. Coyote Advertising’s role as academics within this chapter is to connect students to working professionals within this local area. CSUSB has created wonderful graphics and advertisements throughout the years, and through the IE chapter we have been shown to a much larger audience than just those on campus. Academic leaders and students alike are able to show off their professional work, possibly earning recognition all across the country.

The IE American Advertising Awards goal is to recognize and award creativity in the art of advertising within the IE community. The awards that are won at this local level chapter allows for winners to compete at the higher district level. This district level allows students to compete against an even wider array of competitors. Then if they win those as well, students will compete at the national level – the ADDYs. This national level recognition is a great boon to all those who wish to advance their careers in advertising. Additionally, every entry supports not only the AAF but also our local IE chapter in public service, internships, and education.

Ever since Coyote Advertising’s founding in 2010, Coyote Advertising entered these awards and have won over 50 gold, silver, and bronze awards for a variety of competitions throughout the last 15 years. The first ADDY won in 2011 is on display in the Pfau Library basement in room PL032. The piece that won was titled “46BTV.” Coyote Advertising has over 30 awards currently on display, from 2011 onward. Another notable award includes 2018’s gold award in Integrated Media Public Service Campaign, for an event titled “1984 - A Three Part Event.” Additionally, in 2018 Coyote Advertising won bronze for the library’s OneSearch logo – the one we still use today! And, within the last year’s award ceremony, Coyote Advertising won gold once again for Direct Marketing, for last year’s flyer, titled “Coyote Radio and Ad Car Wash Flyer.”

With all works from last year being submitted, I have no doubt that Coyote Advertising will have another wonderful award ceremony during this 2026 award season.

Written by Ryan Sullivan

English Department Intern

Coyote Radio and Advertising Spring 2026

Photo Credit: Jacob Macias

                                                                                              IMAGE CREDIT: KROOKLYN

A few weeks ago, I was able to interview KROOKLYN before their performance during Coyote Lunchtime Live. We all sat down, a little nervous; it was raining outside, so it was very nice of them to come despite the weather.  The first person I saw was Toni, and he was definitely the most confident out of the three of them. Blue was the second to come in, and I could tell she was quite excitable. Lastly, Bronx was a little shy, but my director asked a couple of questions for me, like what his favorite artist was (Arctic Monkeys) and his age, which is 14.

I also found out that they all go by their middle names on stage, which I found interesting. Overall though, they were all very friendly. It was quite smooth and quick to set up though, and we started quickly.

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Genre

Genre is generally hard to nail down truly, thus KROOKLYN decided that alternative was the best way to describe their sound with their currently released songs, but I don’t believe that’s an apt description to what they sound like.

Each of the three members have very different music tastes, and their sound definitely reflects that. Blue and Toni’s favorite song “King,” is described closer to a ballad, and I believe that is coming from Bronx’s jazz influence in the drums and Blue’s influence coming from Paramore’s Hailey Williams. I was quite surprised to hear that Bronx is heavily influenced by emo music and that Toni is influenced by guitarists like John Frusciante and Jimmy Hendricks. Their influence of different genres makes it really surprising that they are able to come together and play the way they do. 

Song Process

Each of the three members of KROOKLYN have their own roles: Blue, the lead vocalist, bassist, guitarist (if needed) and editor; Toni, the back-up vocalist and lead guitar; and Bronx, the drummer. Although they all put in great effort within the band, it was clear that Blue was the main pusher of the work. 

Blue starts the song process, but relies heavily on both Toni and Bronx to truly fill out the sound of their work; she really respects how well they play their respective instruments, so she usually starts with a vague outline of what she wants, including lyrics, baseline chords, and vibes. During practice, the true collaborative effort comes through. They will cycle through a bunch of sounds and chords to find what sounds best. They describe their practices as laid back, allowing the sound to come together on its own instrument by instrument. As Toni described, sometimes their songwriting effort comes very easily within this relaxing atmosphere, allowing songs to come alive in minutes. They do their best to build on what they have until they find something that they like, then playing it live when they believe it to the best that they can get.

Recording, of course, is a different process. I asked about it, since I don’t have much experience with the process of recording myself. It was interesting to find out that KROOKLYN has their own editing studio! They outlined their process with Blue and Toni starting with a demo with no drums, then Bronx will practice with the drums until he gets used to the rhythm. Once the drums are recorded and in, they will add in all other instruments on top of Bronx’s drums, then Blue will edit it together within their editing studio until they believe it polished enough to be released.

Their Story

For context, Blue and Bronx are siblings with a five year age difference, with Blue being the older one. Blue, in high school, really wanted to be a part of a band. Both she and Bronx knew how to play instruments, so they decided to start playing together. They were able to get a gig of just the two of them, but they realized something in their was… missing. Despite feeling this way, it was clear to both Blue and Bronx that they enjoyed playing live.

This missing feeling stayed, so Blue began to ask her classmates. However, it became apparent that her classmates wouldn’t want to join their band because they were either too shy or unwilling to play in their experimental genre, so she signed up to play at a school talent show. 

At auditions, Blue met Toni again; Toni was actually an old friend of Blue’s from her sophomore year, his freshman year, having met because they were classmates in the same P.E. class. After auditions at this talent show, Blue pulled Toni aside and asked if he wanted to join her and Bronx’s band. To her surprise, Toni was available and willing to join, even though they had a gig not even a week later. Luckily, their new band member, Toni, wanted to participate. Once they did this performance, they knew they had exactly who they needed to truly fill out their sound.

Now with got the full sound they’ve been looking for, what about the name? Their original name was “Crooklyn And The Science Kids:” a joke name suggested by Blue and Bronx’s father, but this wasn’t his original idea. It begins with young Blue having some imaginary friends; these imaginary friends all went to a place Blue called “science school,” so Blue would call them “the science kids.” Unbelievably, these imaginary friends began bullying her – calling her Crooklyn! Later, when the band formed, “Crooklyn And The Science Kids” stuck. Both Bronx and Toni were very science-oriented so it fit. Thus, they kept the name for quite a while, but as they got bigger and bigger gigs, they noticed other people didn’t take them seriously.

Having “Kids” in the name of their band gave the aura of childishness, especially with such a young member, people began to assume that their band was meant for kid audiences. Additionally, saying it on stage was difficult and wordy, and I’ll admit, it did sound like an educational children’s band rather than an alternative band. After realizing that their name was holding them back, they decided to change it to KROOKLYN. A much better name, in my opinion. It still keeps the origins of “Crooklyn And The Science Kids,” while having a suave feel.

Now they hope to get bigger and better. Their next show is at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on Sunset boulevard. Over the next year, their goal is to get a significantly larger audience and discography.

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Overall, the interview was intriguing, and I enjoyed talking to the three of them. It was quite the honor to be their first interviewer, and here’s hoping for their success! Check out their music, and I hope you went to go see them at Coyote Lunchtime Live!

Written by Ryan Sullivan

English Department Intern

Coyote Radio and Advertising 2026

                    IMAGE CREDIT: KROOKLYN, Osteology EP Cover