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Once again, Humor On Hold from BusinessVoice took one of the top honors at the MarCom Awards.

Our production called “Facial Recognition” earned a 2023 Platinum MarCom Award in the Audio/Radio category. We created it for D&F Plumbing, Heating and Cooling in Portland, Oregon.

We also won a pair of Honorable Mention awards for our work on behalf of Downey PHCE in Bowling Green, Ohio and Lakeland Auto and Marine in Port Clinton, Ohio.

The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communication professionals. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, public relations firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

Listen to the winning entries below.

The best marketing content differentiates your brand. It’s memorable, unique and draws your audience closer, instead of pushing them away.

That’s a good description of Humor On Hold. And since our BusinessVoice team applies humor to the negative experience of holding, we provide the added benefit of elevating that encounter.

Countless callers and clients agree. Even our fellow marketing professionals acknowledge the impact of Humor On Hold. At the 2023 MARCE Awards ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland, we received the Judge’s Choice Award.

The judge wrote:

"That was hysterical! I've got tears in my eyes I was laughing so much. The voices were spot on. They were so serious about what they were saying, which made it even funnier. I called my family to play it for them over the phone!"

Imagine treating your callers to THAT type of surprise - while they’re ON HOLD!

Contact us for more details on Humor On Hold and listen to the MARCE-Award-winning production above.

"As usual, I thought it would be great to poke a little fun at ourselves, this time within the context of a father/son relationship," said Scott Greggory. He wrote the script and appears on camera. Jacob Stutz served as videographer and editor. 

"My philosophy is to entertain first and inform second. It's an 'audience-first approach' that I recommend often to encourage building relationships with prospective buyers."

The humorous piece was released on the BusinessVoice social channels a few days before Father's Day 2022. It won a 2023 Silver Telly Award in the category of "Social Video - Craft - Use of Humor."

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Once again, Humor On Hold from BusinessVoice made a big impression on the Communicator Awards judges. Work from our Caller Experience Marketing agency earned three trophies at the 2023 competition.

Gold Award
Client: Lakeland Auto and Marine
Writer: Scott Greggory 

Gold Award
Client: Binkelman Corp.
Writer: Scott Greggory 

Silver Award
Client: Downey Plumbing
Writers: Cassandra Evans & Scott Greggory 

The brochure we designed for SensoryMax, our Sensory Marketing agency, won a Silver Award at The 2023 Print Excellence Awards. The event is presented by Graphic Media Alliance, a trade organization that serves printers in Ohio, Michigan and Northern Kentucky.

Design Director Greg Stawicki created the look of the winning piece. Creative Consultant Cassandra Evans wrote the copy.

The printer, H.O.T. Graphic Services, entered the brochure into the competition.

Stawicki worked with H.O.T. Account Executive Greg Reece to determine how the brochure would be printed. "We used a four-color process and overall UV gloss on the first pass," wrote Reece. "On the second pass, we used a spot DULL varnish on all eight pages."

Graphic Media Alliance presents The Print Excellence Awards each year to provide members with an opportunity to showcase their craft and technical skills.

For the second consecutive year, Toledo City Paper readers have voted MadAveGroup as the area’s “Best Advertising Agency.”

According to the paper’s website, readers cast more than 500,000 votes to acknowledge their favorite local businesses in 200+ categories.

“This is a nice honor,” said MadAveGroup CEO Jerry Brown. “Marketing and ad agencies don’t typically enjoy a high profile in most communities, so it’s quite a compliment that we have such a good reputation around town.”

MadAveGroup has now won the “Best” award in Toledo City Paper’s 2021 and 2022 readers’ polls. The paper announced this year’s winners in its March 2023 issue.

Toledo City Paper first went to press in 1997.

In January 2023, we were named a Top Workplace for the fourth year in a row by The Toledo Blade and their partner Energage, a national company that specializes in employee engagement.

Top Workplace winners are selected based on employee feedback. Energage uses its proprietary survey to measure 15 culture drivers essential to an organization’s success. The survey was developed after 16 years of culture research and with the input of 27 million employees from more than 70,000 organizations.

“Our unique culture is absolutely one of the keys to our success,” said MadAveGroup CEO Jerry Brown. “We place a high priority on the individual, ongoing training and authentic communication with our clients.”

“Earning a Top Workplaces award is a badge of honor for companies, especially because it comes authentically from their employees,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “In today's market, leaders must ensure they’re allowing employees to have a voice and be heard. Top Workplaces do that and it pays dividends.”

See more reasons to join the MadAveGroup team. 

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MadAveGroup Named a Top Workplace for 2021
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No one wants to wait on hold after calling a business. Yet, each day, companies all across the country force their valuable callers into a void of on hold silence. Or they make their customers and prospects listen to the same 60-second loop of music, interrupted only by the redundant and pointless reminder that “your call is important to us.”

That’s no way to treat the people who keep you in business.

BusinessVoice is our Caller Experience Marketing agency. Since 1989, that team has been dedicated to providing information callers can use to make smarter buying decisions. In other words, they serve their clients by serving their clients' callers.

One of the other ways BusinessVoice elevates the caller experience is by creating custom Humor On Hold. Take a listen to the four examples below. All were winners of a 2022 MarCom Award.

Video 1: Lakeland Auto and Marine won the Platinum award.
Video 2: Downey PHCE won a Gold award.
Video 3: Binkelman Corporation won a Gold award.
Video 4: Wellington Implement won an honorable mention.

To put Humor On Hold to work for your brand, call 800/473-9005 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

"It's all about creating marketing content that people WANT to hear, even when it's in a traditionally negative environment."

That's how Chief Creative Officer Scott Greggory describes Humor On Hold, the unique service provided by BusinessVoice, our Caller Experience Marketing agency.

"Nobody wants to be put on hold after calling a company, but if we can make the experience surprisingly funny, while still imparting useful information, both the caller and our client win."

And, once again, BusinessVoice has been named a winner for creative excellence. The agency received two honors during the 2022 MARCE Awards ceremony, presented September 19th by The Experience Marketing Association (EMA).

Our Humor On Hold for Wellington Implement earned the trophy for the Most Entertaining On Hold Marketing production, as well as a Judge's Choice award.

One judge wrote that "This is very entertaining. The situations really enhance the brand." Another judge noted that our work "made me want to listen to the next message all the way through."

Creative Consultant Daniel DiManna and Scott Greggory co-wrote the copy. Josh Jump served as recording engineer.

If you're considering a new approach with your marketing content, talk with our team about using humor in your videos, website, social channels and On Hold Marketing.