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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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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.

In June 2022, MadAveGroup won a Telly Award for "Hang The Wreath," a holiday-themed television campaign we produced to subtly promote our agency.

"We purchased air time on a local TV station, but, as a B-to-B company, we knew the majority of the audience wouldn't need our services," said Chief Creative Officer Scott Greggory. "So, we chose to have a little fun with the concept."

The three 15-second spots pushed viewers to the HangTheWreath.com website where they could read about the cast of the commercials, download a screensaver and vote for the destination of a holiday wreath.

"We targeted the spots at local marketers to draw them to the site and learn what it was all about," said Greggory.

The Telly Awards honor the best work created for television and other video channels. Each year, industry judges review more than 12,000 entries from every state and five continents.

Watch the winning campaign below.
 

Our BusinessVoice team won a 2022 Communicator Award of Excellence for a Humor On Hold production created for Lakeland Auto and Marine in Port Clinton, Ohio. The audio, captured in the video below, is titled “What’s This Sound?”

Communicator Award entries are judged by members of the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. The panel consists of professionals from media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. Members represent major organizations, including Amazon, Conde Nast, Disney, ESPN, GE Digital, Spotify, The Wall Street Journal and Wired.

Credits:

Scott Greggory - Writer / Voiceover
Chris Zaharias - Recording Engineer
Amy Scott - Voiceover

MadAveGroup CEO Jerry Brown opened the 2022 Toledo ADDY Awards ceremony with this message.

If you believe that participation trophies are dangerous, if you think the term “hero” gets tossed around a little too easily these days, if you believe in pushing forward regardless of the obstacles you face, you may identify with Jerry’s take on “Winning.”

Design2Influence (d2i) won three Bronze awards at the 2022 ADDY Awards, presented March 10th by the American Advertising Federation of Toledo. d2i is MadAveGroup’s branding, advertising and design agency.

These are the winning entries.

2021 MadAve Music Fest Poster

Credits: Greg Stawicki, Sr. Designer
Terry Lesniewicz, Chief Branding Officer

Greg worked directly with our CEO Jerry Brown to create the poster for this first annual event. He incorporated Jerry’s love of guitars into the design.

Sylvania School District Rebrand

Credits: Greg Stawicki, Sr. Designer
Terry Lesniewicz, Chief Branding Officer
Michael Seay, Agency Director

Superintendent Dr. Veronica Motley shared her vision for Sylvania Schools with us. It included elevating the district’s brand and building community support, while paying homage to the city’s two high schools. In the logo we created, the arrow pointing upward represents Northview High School, while the arrow pointing downward represents Southview High School. The word “Our” in the logo reminds community members of their importance to the city’s schools. And the tagline - “Excellence Through Opportunity” - honors both the district’s heritage and its future.

Watch the video below. 

Anthony Wayne United Logo Design

Credits: Greg Stawicki, Sr. Designer

Greg has coached a soccer team in the Anthony Wayne school district for many years, so this project had a personal meaning for him.

Twenty-five-year relationships are rare, especially in business. That’s why we’re so proud of this list. It includes the clients we’ve worked with continuously for a quarter of a century or more.

Growing a list like this requires honest communication, strong questioning skills, powerful ideas, creative execution and, most of all, trust.

We’re so thankful for the opportunity to have worked with all the companies you see below for so long. And we’re grateful for the chance to add even more names to this special list in the months and years to come.