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MadAveGroup agencies won two bronze awards at the 2016 ADDY Awards, presented February 25th by AAF / Toledo.

Our advertising and design agency, d2i, won in the Brochure category for work they created for Reichle Klein Group. Terry Lesniewicz and Jack Bollinger teamed up to produce the winning entry, seen at left.

Our SensoryMax team earned a bronze award as well for a video called "Toledo: It Matters Where You Make It." Michael Seay served as the project's producer and director. Watch it below.  

Can you imagine another company within your industry sending new business your way?

That's what happened to our On Hold Marketing agency BusinessVoice in late January 2016.

Arrowwood Lodge is a vacation destination in central Minnesota. Carolyn Bare is the location's General Manager.

When Carolyn began looking for an On Hold Marketing provider, she was searching for a company that could deliver an "out-of-the-box On Hold experience. Our [previous] on hold messaging was very ordinary; not at all what we wanted," she wrote. "We wanted something that would help guests remember us."

The first company Carolyn contacted produced a custom demo for Arrowwood, but it left her wanting more. That's when the company realized that they might have trouble fulfilling Arrowwood's desire for unique and creative On Hold Marketing.

So, they graciously suggested to Carolyn that she call BusinessVoice.

Within days, Arrowwood was a BusinessVoice client and our Creative team was on the job.

"We developed a concept that allows callers to hear someone flipping through TV channels," said Andrea Poteet, lead writer on the project. "The quick clips of the shows include humorous references to Arrowwood Lodge."

(Listen to the finished production in the video above.)

"This production absolutely fulfilled what we were looking for," wrote Carolyn. "We asked for something original, and you went above and beyond."

What did Carolyn like most about the work? "It was something that we had not heard before. We gave you free reign to do something unusual and fun, and you hit the nail on the head!"

"This is a great example of how BusinessVoice is different from others in the On Hold Marketing world," said BusinessVoice Director Steve Evert. "We believe your On Hold Marketing should receive the same type of attention and consideration that your digital and broadcast marketing do. In fact, we think that the impressions you make on hold are more important than those you may make with many forms of outbound marketing."

To learn more about that philosophy or discuss your marketing needs, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 419/724-7311.

Visit the Humor On Hold page at BusinessVoice.com.

In the digital age, does print advertising still work?

That's the question that writer Denise Koeth put to MadAveGroup's Chief Creative Officer Scott Greggory.

Koeth's article appears in November's special Purchasing Guide supplement to Tire Review magazine. (Scroll down to read the plain text.)

Building a Media Plan

By Denise Koeth, Senior Contributing Editor

When it comes to advertising, strategies are endless, mediums are constantly changing and advice is often conflicting.

Doing something is better than nothing – results are results, even if they are lackluster – but funneling a shop's dollars into an ineffective ad campaign is a mistake no one wants to repeat.

To take some of the guesswork out of planning your media buy, we talked to several marketing experts and tire dealers to boil down the basics of four popular advertising mediums.

Some Print Still Works

Print advertising still holds an effective place in the majority of tire dealers' markets – but the right channels and strategies must be used. For example, phone books like Yellow Pages are a thing of the past.

"Display ads in telephone books are so expensive; because they're not targeted to your specific audience in your part of town, they can be very wasteful, too," says Scott Greggory, chief creative officer of Madison Avenue Marketing Group. "We work with tire dealers who have good luck with ValPak direct mail coupons. We've also used sponsored maps, postcards and a few other direct mail pieces to target families with multiple vehicles."

Because he says phone books are closed 99.9% of the time (or more), Bruce Bryan, president of B2C Enterprises, advises that print ads in publications that have solid circulation, are priced right, and are timely are a much better choice.

"Gone are the days when dealers had to list every single tire size and price in the sports section," Bryan says. "A display ad that interrupts and gets the attention of the reader will accomplish the same results or better. Then, provide the address to a responsive website where shoppers can find all the information they need on a smartphone."

"To find out if newspaper or direct mail works for you, test it, measure the results, and then repeat, changing one aspect of the ad (the offer, the price, the image, etc.)," Greggory advises. "That will help you see which version of your ad performs best. Be prepared to commit to the channel, though. Running just an ad or two is not likely to produce great results."

To gauge the effectiveness of a print campaign, always include a coupon with your ad to spur sales, then track the coupon's redemption, according to Rod Frysinger, brand consultant for Madison Avenue Marketing Group.

Stand out from the print crowd by presenting readers with a simple, clear and compelling idea or offer that lets them know why they should do business with you, Greggory notes.

"That typically means using a lot of white space. Most of the time, newspapers and coupon circulars are so jammed with ad copy and images that nothing really stands out to readers," he says.

Conserve your ad dollars by looking into co-op opportunities with the brands your shop sells, says Greggory, adding it may help to hire pros to design and write ads that are more effective.

"A lousy ad will waste your money, but a great ad campaign can generate revenue for months or years to come."

Bryan says there is almost no need to buy a full-page ad in a newspaper. "A 3/4- or 1/2-page ad has a similar recognition value and will cost much, much less. Run ads early in the week; they're often less expensive than those that run late in the week."

In late October, our Digital Marketing agency won a 2015 MarCom Creative Award, and our On Hold Marketing agency BusinessVoice earned three.

The MarCom Awards are presented each year to recognize excellence in the concept, writing and design of print, visual, audio and online marketing and communication materials.

Here's the breakdown:

• Gold Award - NAPA Auto Parts / Real Deal On Hold Marketing

• Gold Award - Binkelman On Hold Marketing / Stream of Consciousness

• Honorable Mention - Binkelman On Hold Marketing / Interviews

• Honorable Mention - The Spirit Services Blog

We developed humorous content for all four winning entries.

MadAveGroup Creative Consultant Andrea Poteet conceived and wrote the copy for the NAPA On Hold Marketing.

Chief Creative Officer Scott Greggory wrote the Binkelman OHM copy and created the copy and images for the Spirit Services blog.

Listen to our winning On Hold Marketing in the videos below.

NAPA Auto Parts - Real Deal 

Binkelman Corp. - Interviews

 Binkelman Corp. - Stream of Consciousness 

• Logo Design / Identity Packages
• Advertising
• Branding / Integration

Bearing Distributors Inc. (BDI) had a need: attract more qualified job candidates; people who would grow with the company and become BDI's next generation of leaders.

So, they came to us.

We told their story through video.

"BDI wanted to differentiate themselves from other employers, convey the personality of their organization and show who they are," said MadAveGroup's Michael Seay. "The video series that we created for them captured that. It gives potential employees a chance to feel engaged with BDI."

Kim Burk agrees. She's a Human Resource Generalist at BDI. "The videos are great," she said. "We've heard very positive comments from both internal staff and job candidates."

The series includes a company overview, as well as videos about specific positions that the company needs to fill.

"Many recruitment platforms are now accepting video, usually at no additional cost. So, it's a great tool to engage candidates and add personality to your company."

Watch a few of the BDI videos we produced below. 

BDI Corporate Overview

BDI Inside Sales / Warehouse 

Unique, personal insight about the marketing and creative industries, presented by seasoned professionals. That's what Shop Talk is all about.

The first season of this monthly program featured writers and designers, agency owners, a Hollywood filmmaker, a former newscaster, a voiceover talent, a college professor and others. (See the poster of our guests below.) 

Each of those speakers drew from their successful careers to provide valuable advice for both our live audience and online viewers. (Watch several Shop Talk videos here.)

And now, season two of Shop Talk has begun.

We invite you to attend any or all of the sessions. They begin at noon, typically on the fourth Thursday of each month. November's Shop Talk is held on the second Thursday, and there is no presentation in December.

The location: The Mad Ave Collective at 1600 Madison Avenue, Floor 2 in UpTown Toledo. There's plenty of free parking at Madison and 17th, and free light grazing is provided by All Crumbs Artisan Bakery.

Walk-ins are certainly welcome, but if you can, please let us know you're coming. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 419/724-7345.

Check The Collective's calendar for upcoming speakers and topics.

Hope to see you at Shop Talk.

Think about the months after you graduated from college.

What if you could've had a personal mentor to teach you about the "real world" you were about to enter?

Someone who had worked for decades in your chosen field.

Someone who provided valuable insight that you could not have learned in a classroom.

Someone who gave you an advantage when looking for a job.

The Keep Toledo Creative Scholarship Program was established to do all of that: give aspiring creatives the additional knowledge and experience they need to distinguish themselves and help them succeed.

In the video above, several KTC mentors and students talk about the need for the scholarship program and what it's brought to their lives.

For more details on Keep Toledo Creative and the scholarship program, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 419/724-7345.

The MadAveGroup's demo reel is a fast-paced overview of several of the videos we've produced. 

The projects include recruitment videos, an online welcome video, humorous instructional videos, even a music video, as well as tradeshow and promotional videos. 

With our in-house writers, directors, videographers, editors, musicians and voiceover talent, we can create the videos you need for a variety of environments, including television, your website, social channels, and on-site / in-store applications.  

For more details, call 419/473-9000.