News

BusinessVoice and our web agency teamed up to win two Silver ADDYs at the 2013 ADDY Awards ceremony. Presented by The Advertising Club of Toledo, the event was held February 28th at the Seagate Centre in downtown Toledo.

BusinessVoice was recognized for a humorous On Hold Marketing production it created for Binkelman Corporation of Toledo, Ohio. 

Our web agency was awarded for its entry in the Mixed Media category. The elements included the website, Facebook page and radio campaign that the team created for Spirit Services of Columbus, Ohio.

Since 1994, the BusinessVoice team has been recognized more than 100 times with local, regional, national and international awards for creative and marketing excellence.

The Advertising Club of Toledo is an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation. It sponsors the annual ADDY Awards to encourage and acknowledge the creation of outstanding advertising by local agencies and marketers.

BusinessVoice and its in-house website design and marketing agency have teamed up to win four 2012 MarCom Awards for creative and marketing excellence.

Winner of a Platinum MarCom Award, “Metric Metals & You,” is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the educational films of the 1950s. The two-video campaign was produced for use on the Parker Steel website. BusinessVoice Creative Director Scott Greggory wrote, directed, oversaw the edit and performed in the videos. Nick Amrhein of 3by1 Media served as videographer and editor. Ed Hunter played the role of Professor Ed Beam.

The agencies won two Gold MarCom Awards for their work on behalf of Spirit Services. In another nod to days gone by, both the award-winning website and Facebook page feature a fun retro look and irreverent copy. Next Year’s News provided the website design. Scott Greggory wrote the copy and created the Facebook images. Chris Witeof provided additional content.

BusinessVoice's web agency also earned an Honorable Mention Award for their creation of the Buckeye Telesystem website. The site was designed by Kristin Fisher with additional design work provided by Greg Stawicki. The copy was written by Jessica Miller. 

The MarCom Awards is a creative competition for individuals and companies involved in the concept, writing and design of print, visual, audio and web materials and programs. The mission of the MarCom Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the creativity, hard work and generosity of marketing and communication professionals. More than 6,000 entries are received each year.

BusinessVoice has been recognized with more than 100 local, regional and national awards for creative and marketing excellence. 

BusinessVoice has been recognized again for creative and marketing excellence, this time at the 2012 MARCE Award ceremonies. And, once again, it was the agency's use of humor that left an impression on the judges.

"Really great concept here. Engaging and fun, which makes it much more enjoyable to be on hold. Makes me want to come see this business," wrote one judge.

"Comforting voices. Funny and out of left field (in a good way)," commented another judge.

BusinessVoice received a Silver MARCE award for its work on behalf of Walter's Goodyear, a tire and automotive service center in Mission Viejo, California. The winning entry, titled "Visit Our Souvenir Shop," can be heard here.

"By using humor, we turn a potential negative – being on hold – into a fun and unexpected experience," said BusinessVoice Creative Director Scott Greggory. "But no matter what the mood or tone of the content, the primary goal is to meet our clients' marketing goals by providing valuable information their callers can apply."

Presented by the On Hold Messaging Association (OHMA) during its annual conference, the MARCE Awards is "the only competition that encourages and rewards creative and marketing excellence among On Hold Messaging providers exclusively." BusinessVoice has won more MARCE Awards than any other agency.

According to the OHMA website, "all entries are judged on their copy, voice, production value, and On Hold Messaging format. Special emphasis is placed on two more areas: creativity and marketing effectiveness."

BusinessVoice is pleased to announce the launch of the new Buckeye Telesystem website. 

Created by BusinessVoice's in-house web design and marketing agency, the new Buckeye-Telesystem.com features user-focused content, improved navigation, and easy access to communication solutions for specific vertical markets, including healthcare providers, legal firms and real estate professionals.

"We wanted to create a site that everyone can use as a resource," said Mike Davis, Buckeye Telesystem Director of Customer Operations. "The new Telesystem website will help businesses research our capabilities and understand our products."

Since the launch of the site on March 1, 2012, that vision has begun to manifest itself. As of mid-May 2012, the website's conversion rate (Outcomes/Unique visitors) has increased by 50%. Also, 20% of all the site's targeted keywords are ranking on the first page of each of the major search engines.

The site's blog - known as Pipe Lines - highlights technology, applications and information on how businesspeople can use modern communication tools to simplify their businesses, while improving productivity and outcomes.

"Our business has grown so much in the past several years and we were maintaining several primary microsites," said Michael Seay, Marketing Supervisor at Buckeye Telesystem. "The new Buckeye Telesystem site is not only more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing, but now consolidates all of our products and services into one convenient location for the businesses we serve."

BusinessVoice founder and President Jerry Brown has won The Silver Medal Award, the Advertising Club of Toledo’s highest honor. (Watch Jerry's acceptance speech below.)

Presented to one Ad Club member each year since 1959, the Silver Medal Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advertising, actively advancing the industry's standards, exhibiting creative excellence and demonstrating a commitment to social concerns.

Ad Club President Kathy Jex wrote that “When Jerry founded BusinessVoice, he helped to create a new advertising sector: on old messaging. Not many people can say they’ve been instrumental in developing an entirely new medium. And as a pioneering member and past Chairman of the international On Hold Messaging Association, Jerry helped to bring recognition and credibility to an entire industry.”

Brown was President of the Advertising Club of Toledo in 2004-2005. He also served as Vice President, ADDY Chairman and Auction Chairman, and continues to support the Club and its activities both personally and professionally.

Since Brown founded BusinessVoice in 1989 as an On Hold Marketing company, he’s grown it into a comprehensive Point-Of-Entry Marketing agency that serves thousands of client locations across the country. He is also a founding member of CEMA, the Customer Experience Marketing Alliance, a global organization dedicated to serving clients through effective Point-Of-Entry Marketing services. 

An innovative leader, a national account executive, and a man passionate about providing marketing solutions for his clients, “Jerry is an excellent example of creative entrepreneurship and community awareness,” wrote Kathy Jex. “He is a champion of our industry.”

BusinessVoice and its in-house website design, development and marketing company have been recognized once again for creative and marketing excellence. The agencies won two 2011 Gold MarCom Awards on November 8th.

The team received an award for its work on the website for Mountain View Tire, a 30-store chain of tire and automotive service centers throughout southern California. Since we re-designed, built and have been marketing the new MountainViewTire.com, the site has generated 218% more phone calls from unique, web-only phone numbers, and a 100% increase in online appointments.

We also manage Mountain View Tire’s social media and provide ongoing search engine optimization (SEO Marketing) and Website Marketing service to continually draw organic traffic to the site.

BusinessVoice also received a Gold MarCom Award for a humorous On Hold Marketing production it created for Walter’s Goodyear in Mission Viejo, California. (Watch the video version of the award-winner here.)

The agency has been acknowledged dozens of times for its funny approach to On Hold Marketing. “Often, callers will accept a company’s marketing information more readily if it’s mixed with humor,” said BusinessVoice Creative Director Scott Greggory. “Using humor on hold also works well because it’s not expected. It catches callers off guard, and then draws them in to listen more intently.”

Nick Mitsos and Mountain View Tire have been named Tire Dealer of the Year by Modern Tire Dealer magazine. MVT was selected as the 19th annual recipient of the award from more than 33,000 eligible independent tire dealers throughout North America. 

Mountain View Tire is a 30-store tire and automotive service company that serves Los Angeles and southern California. The company will celebrate its 25th year in business in 2012.

Mountain View Tire was nominated for the honor by its marketing agency, BusinessVoice. “We’ve worked with the Mitsos family and Mountain View Tire since 2005, and I can confidently say that no one is more deserving of this award,” said Scott Greggory, BusinessVoice Creative Director. A panel of judges evaluates the nominees on their business success, marketing and management skills, industry knowledge and community involvement.

“Mountain View Tire is known as the ‘home of the WOW experience,’” said Greggory. “That customer-first attitude begins at the top with [founder] Nick Mitsos, and permeates the culture. The success of their approach is reflected in the testimonials that Mountain View Tire’s customers voluntarily send in and the long-lasting relationships they’ve developed over the years.”

BusinessVoice and its in-house web company provide several Point-Of-Entry Marketing services to Mountain View, including Website Design-and-Build, Website Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, BE-Mail Email Marketing and On Hold Marketing.

Modern Tire Dealer, the magazine that presents the Tire Dealer of the Year award, has been the industry’s leading publication since 1919.

How do you typically react to being placed on hold?

With laughter?

Not likely, unless you happen to be calling a company that uses humor on hold from BusinessVoice.

(Listen to samples of Humor On Hold.)

“Humor is still underutilized in telephone applications,” says Scott Greggory, BusinessVoice Creative Director and an award-winning copywriter who’s been helping to differentiate companies with humorous On Hold Messaging for two decades.

“It’s everywhere else: on radio and TV, in print advertising and all over the Internet, but many brands have seemed reluctant to take a funny approach on hold.”

And that’s good for you, according to Greggory. He points out that your competitor’s reluctance to capitalize on humor can help your brand stand out even more distinctly when you choose to go the funny route. He says, “Humor on hold can be used very effectively to create a unique experience for callers. Not only can it be a positive surprise, it can leave a lasting impression that callers will remember and maybe even tell their friends about.”

Using Humor to Sell

“We employ humor to disguise the marketing message,” says Greggory. “It’s the audio equivalent of using a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. When we make callers on hold giggle, we lower their defenses and make the ‘real’ message easier to swallow. And by creating a fun, enjoyable telephone environment, we increase the likelihood that people will call back.”

BusinessVoice leads the On Hold Marketing industry in its creative approach to content. We've been acknowledged nearly 100 times by local, regional, national and international creative and marketing competitions. We’ve also received more awards from OHMA – the On Hold Messaging Association – than any other member agency.

Visit the BusinessVoice Humor On Hold page here. Or for more details on how OHM can work for your company, call 866/473-9000.

It wasn’t a radio commercial or magazine spread. Not a direct mail piece either. So, the region’s best advertising of the year must have been a billboard or banner ad, right? Nope and nope.

The Best of Show winner at the recent 2009 American Advertising Federation’s Fifth District ADDY Awards presentation was - hold for it - an On Hold Messaging production. Yeah, the stuff you hear while you’re waiting on hold.

Really?

“We get that reaction a lot when people find out what we do…and how many awards we’ve won doing it,” said Jerry Brown. He’s the founder and president of BusinessVoice, a Toledo-based Point-Of-Entry Marketing agency. (Click here to listen to the winning entry.)

For the record, BusinessVoice has won 69 local, regional and national awards for creative and marketing excellence since 1994, nearly all of them for funny On Hold Messaging they’ve created for various companies. BusinessVoice was named Best Of Show winner at the 5th District competition over 524 other entries from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

(Listen to “The Ball Game,” a unique and award-winning On Hold Messaging production.)

“People aren’t expecting to laugh or be entertained after they’ve been put on hold,” said BusinessVoice Creative Director Scott Greggory. “That element of surprise can make the laugh even more enjoyable.” Greggory wrote the winning entry, an On Hold Messaging production for Amazing Space in Sylvania. He and Amy Scott served as the voice talent.

“What’s unusual about this Best Of Show win is that On Hold Messaging beat TV and radio and print and other forms of traditional advertising,” said Jerry Brown. “It’s proof of how effective On Hold Messaging can be at capturing an audience’s attention and delivering a client’s message in a fun and entertaining way.” (Hear more samples of humorous On Hold Messaging.)

The American Advertising Federation’s Fifth District ADDY judges were unanimous in their selection of the BusinessVoice entry as the Best of Show winner. “It was a very creative use of a typically underutilized medium. It was flawlessly executed,” said judge Rick Baptist.

How is humor on hold good for business?

“When it’s done well, humor can differentiate a business. Humor draws the audience in and makes them want to listen, and that opens their minds to the information on products and services,” said Brown. “A good laugh relaxes callers too; puts them in a better frame of mind, and that creates a better customer experience.”

BusinessVoice’s Best Of Show winner now goes on to compete at the national AAF ADDY Awards in Washington, DC in early June 2009.

Point-Of-Entry Marketing agency BusinessVoice earned three of the five trophies presented at this year's MARCE Awards, the annual competition presented by OHMA - the On Hold Messaging Association. The winners were announced April 16th at OHMA's 11th annual conference in St. Louis.

MARCE is an acronym for MARketing and Creative Excellence. The awards are given to acknowledge creative and marketing excellence among On Hold Messaging providers, with a long-term goal of continually raising the industry's standards, as well as the expectations of clients and their callers. For these reasons, the MARCE Award is a coveted symbol of industry leadership.

BusinessVoice has won more OHMA awards than any other organization - ten, since the competition began in 2005. (It was originally called The Holdie Awards.)

Once again, BusinessVoice used a humorous approach, winning a Judge's Choice Award for its work on behalf of The Binkelman Corporation and a pair of Silver MARCE Awards for two On Hold Messaging productions it created for Walter's Goodyear.

Click here to listen to "Here's a Fun Game You Can Play" for The Binkelman Corporation.

Click here to listen to "California Drivin'" for Walter's Goodyear.

Click here to listen to "Clown Cars" for Walter's Goodyear.

All entries were judged on their copy, voice, production value, and On Hold Messaging format. Special emphasis is placed on two more areas: creativity and marketing effectiveness. The three judges also provided written remarks on each entrant. About the BusinessVoice entries they wrote the following:

"Well-written, funny, irreverent. Wasn't hit over the head with facts. Could listen all day to these."

"Your final goal was well executed. Very well done. An interesting approach. Kept me listening and time passed quickly, while still featuring [the client's] product lines well."

"Another great entry from this group [BusinessVoice]. Writing is key to everything. Love the bit about the owner, Walter."

"Well done. Made the time pass pleasantly and with more than a chuckle or two."

For details on On Hold Messaging and other Point-Of-Entry Marketing services from BusinessVoice, please call 866/473-9000 or visit www.BusinessVoice.com.