Fun Stuff

We love our work, but complete fulfillment doesn’t often come from careers alone.

That’s why we give our team members an opportunity to pursue their other interests during the work week.

Ryan Hehr is our Digital Marketing Manager. Each July, he takes paid time off from MadAveGroup to pursue one of his other passions. Since 2014, Ryan has been involved with the Toledo YES Project. (His profile and the images below are from the organization's website.) 

The program’s mission is “to teach high school students the value of volunteering and encourage them to strengthen and develop a relationship with God, bringing the love of Christ and His healing presence” to those they serve.

Working toward that end, the students and their adult leaders participate in service projects benefitting needy homeowners, shelters and non-profit organizations. Their work often includes painting, yard and garden maintenance, house cleaning, and providing minor repairs. 

Ryan became a board member of the YES project in 2015. “It allows me to help improve our city, but it goes deeper than that,” said Ryan. “When high school and college students join us, they learn the importance of helping others, which can lead to a lifetime of helping others.”   

Since 1983, YES Project volunteers have donated 200,000+ service hours to our community, making life better for more than 2,000 people.

“Many of my most important accomplishments are a result of someone taking a little extra time to help me. Whether it was a teacher or a coach or a friend, the extra effort those people gave to help me made a big difference in my life. I can pay that forward through volunteering.”

This year's Christmas video is a take-off on all those dad joke competitions we've been seeing online and on TV. We just replaced the bad dad jokes with bad marketing jokes. 
 

Terry Lesniewicz has been creating memorable images and effective work for brands since the early 1970s.

And as the creative leader of d2i - our brand, design and advertising agency - Terry is still makin’ it happen today, as both an impactful designer and a mentor to the next generation.

On April 19th, 2017, Terry and a few other area designers were featured in an informal retrospective called The Poster Show. Check out the images of Terry's work below.

We’re very proud of the influence that Terry has had on advertising and design, and we’re very excited that he shares his talent, perspective and vast experience with our team and clients every day.

"It's been a pleasure working with the up-and-coming designers here at d2i, including Greg Stawicki. He was instrumental in the work for the Mad Ave Collective poster" (middle row left  below). 

What's the best possible way to wrap up the work week before Easter Sunday?

Sure, a turkey shoot is one possible answer, but we were looking for "an Easter egg hunt in a sometimes dimly lit 65-year-old basement," of course.

Take a look at the video above and enjoy the intensity of Mad Ave Group staff members scrounging through boxes, old files and other cellar goodies in search of more than $200 in cash, gift cards and mini peanut butter cups.

Since 2009, our annual Christmas gift to you and yours has been a video - primarily because we don't know which size riding crop you take.

This year's presentation is sure to warm your heart, and possibly leave it cramping mildly. We call it "Christmas Thoughts." Feel free to share it with those for whom you have little to no regard. Merry Christmas. 

Related Posts: The Virtual Fruitcake (2014)
Christmas Memories (2013)
The Singing Christmas Card (2012)
A Green Screen Christmas (2011)
Our Video Christmas Card (2010)
What I Want for Christmas (2009)

Our home - 1600 Madison Avenue in Toledo's UpTown District - is about 65 years old.

But she's not ready to retire yet.

Our building has been the site of many businesses over the years, including an architectural firm, a state license bureau, and a financial services company.

It was also the headquarters of a public relations and advertising agency called Flournoy and Gibbs, which was founded around 1938. At least some of the years they spent at 1600 Madison would have been considered the Mad Men era. And, yes, the excesses depicted in the AMC television show were consistent with what Terry Lesniewicz saw as a young designer while here in the early 1970s.

After running his own advertising and design firm for many decades, Lesniewicz is back on the fourth floor of what is now the Mad Ave Group building, leading the D2I team.

Many things have changed about our building since it opened in 1950 - from the alcohol-fueled workdays to the fins on the cars in the parking lot - but it's still a place where people come together each day to harness their skills and creativity to make great work.

("Block Card 1600 Madison Avenue 1960" image courtesy of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, obtained from http://images2.toledolibrary.org/) 

We love our work, but sometimes even we need a certain kind of stimulation to get us through the last few hours of the week. 

Watch the video below. Maybe you can relate. 

 What do we do when a beloved member of our staff breaks a bone and is forced to hobble about the office on crutches for six to eight weeks?  

Why, we make fun of her, of course!

And that fun includes creating a trailer for a spooky movie in which she and her jacked-up fibula might star. Take a look...if you dare. 

We're big fans of The Onion, the satirical newspaper and website that poke fun at everything from major news events to the mundane aspects of life.

During a recent Creative Training session, we listened to a radio program that examined the Onion staff's writing process; specifically, how they decide which headlines they'll develop into full-blown stories.

Our exercise was to write our own Onion-style headlines over the next couple of weeks, bring them back to the group, and then choose the ones we like the best.

Here now, our favorites among the Oniony headlines we wrote.

• Face Tattoo Impresses Prospective Employer
  
  
• Unwanted Belly Fat Tied to Larger Waistlines
  
  
• Obama Announces Funk Sanctions on Rhythm Nation
  
  
• New Evidence Reveals Carrots to Be "Straight Up Poison"
  
  
• Multi-Orgasmic Atheist Searching for Name to Scream
  
  
• Report: 60 Percent of Staycations Taken in Bathroom
  
  
• Airline Food Has "Had Enough" of Comedic Put-Downs
  
  
• Friends Say Jim Howard the Best at Skipping Commercials on DVR
  
  
• Local Zookeeper Concerned About Peacock's Lack of Humility
  
  
• Origin of Living Room Stain Still a Mystery
  
  
• Groundhog to Nation: "You're All Screwed"
  
  
• Tours of Sausage Factories Rarely Attended
  
  
• Facebook Buys WhatsApp from Itself for $50 Billion
  
  
• Study Reveals Children Develop "Judgey" Behavior In Utero
  
  
• Local Drywall Contractor Not a Fan of Open-Concept Floor Plans
  
  
• Ray Rice Announces New Line of White Tank-Top T-shirts
  
  
• Dieting News: Other People's Food Doesn't Count
  
  
• Boston Sues for Emancipation from Mother Nature
  
  
• Area Farmer a More Reserved Square Dancer