Fun Stuff

We asked a few of our staff members to describe their favorite work-related event of 2022. Here are some of their replies.

Van Gogh in America - On October 20th, 21 MadAveGroup team members took a chartered bus to the Detroit Institute of Arts to see this 74-work exhibit.

Daniel DiManna / Creative Consultant: “Standing only inches away from some of the most iconic paintings in history was a powerful experience. There’s a marked difference between looking at art on a postcard or calendar and actually seeing the brushstrokes up close. Seeing so many of Van Gogh’s paintings in person added to my understanding of his work, and changed my perception of my own creative work. I’ll always be thankful to MadAveGroup for giving me the opportunity to be in the presence of that kind of greatness.”

 

American Advertising Federation Leadership - Along with serving as the Governor of AAF’s Fifth District, our own Michael Seay sits on the organization’s national board.

Michael Seay / Director: “In March, I played host to AAF’s Fifth District National Student Advertising Competition, held right here in Toledo. The event drew about 250 participants from 11 colleges and universities throughout Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. In June, I attended the AAF National Conference in Nashville. And in November, I was in New York City for AAF’s quarterly meeting, where we review initiatives and analyze the state of the advertising industry.”

 

Headless Tech Rollout - In February, our TouchStone Digital team launched their first headless WordPress website.

Joe Hochgreve / Senior Web Developer: “We created the new website for our SensoryMax agency using Headless WordPress technology. Headless is an exciting advancement that allows us to increase a website’s speed by more than 100%, improve on-page animation features and increase SEO potential. Since that initial launch, we’ve been able to improve on the technology further. Then, we created Headless websites for VacationLand Federal Credit Union, Gordon Lumber and AudioHelp Hearing.”

 

Headless Tech Presentation - There was a lot of buzz about Headless WordPress around our shop in 2022. Don and Joe were happy to spread the good news to others, too.

Don Miller / Director, TouchStone Digital Marketing: “In June, we presented our Headless talk to members of the local WP community. Then, in July, we shared it at the Nebraska.Code conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. I gave an overview of the importance of Headless WordPress and Joe discussed the technical side and implementation process.” 

Aaron Draplin Visit - AAF Toledo brought this nationally known designer to town to lead an all-day workshop. Later that night, he presented to a full house in the MadAveGroup Social Club.

Scott Greggory / Chief Creative Officer: “I’ve been following Aaron for many years. I identify with his independent spirit. I love that he does work that matters deeply to him and that he honors his influences with every project. Aaron and I share a love of old things, including ephemera - paper items created for a specific purpose, but not intended to have a long life. For instance, like me, he sees the beauty in the promotional memo books that were distributed to farmers in the first half of the 20th century, and he’s preserving his collection in this amazing online gallery.”

We asked a few of our staff members to step outside of their normal skill sets for a while and capture images of our hometown of Toledo, Ohio. 

Check out their photos below.

Want to live in our great city and work at MadAveGroup? Find details here.

 

Bob Seybold

 

Lindsay Gebhart

 

Kara Koepfer

 

Daniel DiManna

 

Scott Greggory

 

We had fun with this three-spot TV campaign for MadAveGroup. 

The goal: drive curious viewers to the humorous HangTheWreath.com website where they could vote for #TeamDoor or #TeamWall, send us comments, download screensavers and meet the cast of the commercials.

At the bottom of the site, we reveal that MadAveGroup is beind the cryptic commercials. If visitors appreciate that we drew them to the site, they might engage our agency to create similarly effective content for their companies. 

Watch all three 15-second spots below and then visit HangTheWreath.com. 

UPDATE: This campaign won a 2022 Telly Award. Read the story. 
 

Have you ever wondered what happens when a videographer goes rogue in the editing suite?

Probably not.

But this video will give you a taste of the level of terror that can ensue. 
 

We're always encouraging our copywriters to "refill their creative tanks" by exploring art, music and nature and by experimenting with different types of creative expression.

On November 10, 2021, they spent some time at the Gathered Glassblowing Studio in our hometown of Toledo, Ohio. Thanks to Mike and his team for the great experience.

 

On June 12th, 2021, friends of MadAveGroup joined us in our on-site social club for a night of food, drinks and live music. We're hoping to grow the MadAve Music Fest into a larger outdoor event. Until then, enjoy the video below. 

 

BusinessVoice, our Caller Experience Marketing agency, has been using humor to entertain and inform callers on hold for decades.

So, when long-time BusinessVoice client Binkelman Corporation asked us to apply a funny sensibility to their corporate videos, they knew what they were getting into.

We produced four quick videos for the industrial parts supplier, touching on their general capabilities, hose products, recruitment efforts, and the future of their customers’ industries. Take a look below.

 

Exercising creativity in one form often inspires creativity in other forms. That's one of the reasons for the MadAveGroup Art Show.

On Valentine's Day 2020, we opened our first in-house display of employee artwork, complete with wine and cheese. Many of the pieces are shown below. 

"While none of us make our living as fine artists, many of our team members work as visual communicators," said Chief Creative Officer Scott Greggory. "Others have an art background or have just wanted to experiment with painting. This is a nice opportunity to stretch a little bit and practice a different skill set."

The ongoing Art Show is open to all members of the MadAveGroup team. We hope to show new work every three to four months.

MadAveGroup was named a Top Workplace in 2020. 

 

In April 2019, our CEO Jerry Brown proposed five challenges to our staff. They were encouragements on how to approach not only our work, but our lives.

Jerry urged us to be:

Curious - Inquisitive and eager to learn.

Dauntless - Fearless, bold and not easily intimidated.

Diagnostic - Willing to analyze the cause of a problem, then provide a solution.

Persistent - Capable of carrying on, especially in the face of opposition and obstacles.

Resilient - Able to recover from adversity.

To reinforce those challenges for our team, we produced a series of 20 posters featuring quotes that support the five ideas. We hang a new set of posters every couple of weeks. You can see a few of them below.

What are some of the ways you communicate important philosophies or strategies to your employees? How do you promote teamwork or new ideas? Read a few thoughts in our article “Internal Communication: Your Team is an Audience.”

One of the newer traditions at our agency is the MadAveGroup Olympics.

We close the office to spend a summer day at our CEO's home. Along with enjoying good food and plenty of cold beverages, we compete in fun games like Can Jam, bocce ball, cornhole, and even a giant version of Connect 4. There's also swimming, Frisbee and fishing. Then, we all get together for a big kickball tournament. 

The pictures below are from our 2nd annual Olympics, held in August 2019.