About the author ⁄ Dave Saunders

Madison+Main’s Weekly Report 6/3/13

Last week was another exciting week at Madison+Main. Friday marked a very special day on the calendar, my 16th wedding anniversary, which I celebrated in style with my wife Sue this weekend. We headed to the Vintage Virginia Wine and Food Festival in Centreville. The folks at Across-the-Way Productions hooked us up with premo tickets to Virginia’s premiere wine festival. In fact, the entire M+M team went this weekend.

The keyword at Madison+Main last week was “memories”.

Monday 5/27 – On Monday we celebrated Memorial Day in many different ways, from the mountains to the ocean, but all of us took time to remember those who have served our country and those who continue to serve today. At Madison+Main, we understand that freedom isn’t free, and we salute the men and women of our Armed Forces.

Tuesday 5/28 – On Tuesday morning it was a very light crowd at Midlothian Rotary, where I think most members must have forgotten it was a Tuesday. Ahh, the signs of aging.

Account Executive Sarah Dawes dropped by Capital Ale House in Innsbrook to help the Central Virginia Chapter of the National MS Society in advance of this weekend’s Bike MS. Thanks to our client Capital Ale House for creating a special commemorative glass for “Steal the Glass Night” on Tuesday, where a few hundred glasses were given away.

Check out the new Bike MS glass

Wednesday 5/29 – Every other Wednesday at Madison+Main we invite friends, partners and other experts into our offices for a “Lunch and Learn”. It’s a chance for the team to get together, eat lunch, and learn something new. We want to thank Bob Fischer, Founder of the Virginia Institute for Effective Thinking and author of The Naked Portfolio Manager for coming by last week. Bob gave us a tutorial on Edward de Bono’s Six Hats Thinking and everyone is still talking about his presentation.

Thursday 5/30 – On Thursday the office looked like a ghost town, because most of the team was on the campus of Richard Bland College in Petersburg, where Art Director Scott Harris and our friends at BES Studios worked hard shooting a new TV ad for the Commonwealth’s Junior College. Many thanks to the two dozen smiling faces who came out to be extras and, don’t worry, I’ll be sharing this new TV spot with you in this week’s Weekly Report.

I had the pleasure of speaking to about 100 members of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services on Thursday morning in the Senate room of the Virginia State Capitol. It was a fun and lively crowd, and I got a cool new coffee mug for my troubles. If you ever need a speaker for your business or civic organization, I am always happy to talk… but most of you already know that. Call Lindsey at our office (804.521.4141).

Friday 5/31 – Friday was a special day for several members of staff. Not only was it my wedding anniversary, but it was also Marketing Administrator Lindsey Durfee’s birthday, which we will be celebrating the entire month of June. If the Queen of England can get a yearlong jubilee, then Lindsey Durfee can at least get a month-long celebration.

I dropped by Alberta Smith Elementary to have lunch with my favorite 5th grader. I’m always happy to share some Subway with Jack and 300 of his closest friends. Realizing that this might be the last time I’ll be visiting Jack in elementary school made me a little bit nostalgic. Sniff sniff. Ahh, the memories.

Apparently there are several fans of the M+M Weekly Report in the front office at ASE. I heard some very kind words on Friday from Speech Therapist Marlene Braytenbah, who says she enjoys getting the report each Friday.

Yours truly with my favorite 5th grader as we scarfed down some Subway. He’s the one with the blue mohawk. Eat Fresh if your hair is “fresh”.

Best regards,

Dave

Jun 3, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Weekly Report Comments 0

Using Social Media to Develop Influence

May 22, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Tagged Accountants, Architects, Attorneys, B2B, cultivating, expert, Feedback, influence, lawyers, Social Media Comments 0

How do you gain influence, personally, professionally, and as a company? Developing influence in the social space is essential for cultivating expert expert status. This should be a primary strategy, especially in B2B. Lawyers, accountants, consultants & business people of most types should use social media as an audience to gauge content and gain feedback.

Madison+Main’s Weekly Report 5/13/13

I use the Madison+Main Weekly Report as a way to tell you what we did last week, but I figured I’d start off by telling you something we didn’t do last week. Unlike many other businesses, we opted not to travel to Denver with the Greater Richmond Chamber for the annual intercity visit.

I think RVA collectively suffers from a sort of inferiority complex and these visits only serve to keep us in a 2nd tier city status. Think about it. When Richmond needs a service, they hire a consultant in New Orleans or Denver or DC. When they need a process, like property tax receipts, they send that business to Atlanta. When will RVA government and business leaders realize that, in the words of Stuart Smalley, “we are good enough, we are smart enough and gosh darn it, people like us?”

Monday 5/6 – Monday started with a bang, the MMMMM, aka the Madison+Main Monday Morning Meeting, where we welcomed Taylor Thornton, production intern and junior at VCU, studying creative advertising.

Production Intern Taylor giggles as he pretends to adjust a light in the studio.

On Monday, I also had to renew my life insurance policy with New York Life mega-agent, Steve Fish. Nothing against Steve, but I hate Life Insurance questionnaires.

Question 17c: How long has it been since you’ve used a tobacco product?

Answer: 6 months ago. Uh, last Fall. Um, I was at a golf tournament and I had 1/3 of a cigar. But I quit smoking cigarettes years ago. Really, it’s true. Oh gosh. I feel so dirty.

At least lunch with Virginia Living’s Christiana Roberts was good. Christiana is a longtime friend and it was good to hear about all the wonderful things happening in her world.

Tuesday 5/7 – For the first time, in a long, long time, I was sick. Mark this day, people. I NEVER get sick. It’s good to know that lots of work got done in my absence, including finalizing the 2014 marketing plan for Lucy Corr Village and Springdale. How’s that for planning ahead? Thanks, as always, to the unconquerable Debra Q. Marlow, Director of Development and Marketing.

Wednesday 5/8 – I was under the weather Wednesday, but did manage to show up for The READ Center spelling bee. On Wednesday night at The Camel, the corporate spelling bee brought together 15 separate companies across Central Virginia to raise money for adult literacy programs. After a hard fought battle, I am happy to announce that Madison+Main’s stellar spellers, Senior Account Manager, Katie Hurst, Art Director, Jeff Smack and I, placed 2nd. We were a half second behind the winner, but were happy that we finished ahead of last year’s champions from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Thursday 5/9 – On Thursday we had an excellent meeting with the entire leadership team at Richard Bland College. Although we’ve only been working with them for a short period time, we are constantly amazed by their vision for Virginia’s only Junior College and pleased to be a part of rebranding the 50-year-old institution.

Account Executives Sarah Dawes and Sammy Yatco represented us at Schmooza Palooza Thursday night. By all reports it was a great event and for the first time in recent memory, it didn’t rain.

Friday 5/10 – This morning I finally felt a little bit better, finally free from the head cold, which put me down this week, perhaps with a feeling of new found feistiness. I locked myself in my office and yelled at a bunch of “ers”… lawyERS, bankERS, real estate brokERS, movERs and paintERS. Yes, we’re out of here. Details coming soon.

While driving into work this morning, I saw a billboard placed by some RVA government entity with the caption “Pick up the Poop.” How appropriate?

A billboard I saw on Hull Street thanks to Emily Farrar’s photography.

Hope all you Mutha’s had a Happy Mother’s Day!

May 13, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Uncategorized Comments 0

Native Advertising, Everything Old is New

May 8, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Tagged Advertorial, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Native Advertising, Not Interruption Advertising, Paid Posts, Pull Marketing, Sponsored Posts, Testimonial Comments 0

“Native Advertising” is a word that has been buzzing pretty loudly without much explanation for the past year or so. Content curated for social and mobile channels has brought with it new avenues for your marketing message. Paid posts, sponsored messages, shared posts and twitter testimonials are all new forms of time tested techniques; the testimonial, the advertorial, celebrity endorsement, etc. An increasingly savvy audience requires marketers to figure out new ways to weave a marketing opportunity into the delivery of truly desirable content.

Madison+Main’s Weekly Report 5/6/13

I wanted to say thanks to so many people who have given us positive feedback on the M+M Weekly Report. Our little email list has grown to over 4,000 and we do our best to keep it interesting.

Save the date! M+M’s May Mixer is Wednesday, May 15th at Rosie Connolly’s from 5 – 8pm. Visit our Facebook Event page to let us know you are coming.

I dropped my 5th grade son Jack off at school the other day and it got me thinking. The bus loop at Alberta Smith Elementary school is a model of Six Sigma efficiency. Each morning there is a carefully choreographed ballet of parents, teachers and students who work with each other to offload 700 kids in 7 minutes. Amazing! Parents in minivans, teachers in orange vests and 5th graders with yellow AAA safety officer garb all directing a logistical mega production. I find it amazing that they do this 180+ days a year, day in and day out.

We read a lot about teachers and we thank them because they teach our children, but today I wanted to give a special “shout out” to the elementary school Principal. Think about it, an elementary school principal is a business leader, an operations director, an HR manager, a food and transportation logistics officer and performs all of these duties while adhering to often ridiculous countywide, state and federal guidelines. I live in Chesterfield County and we are fortunate to have an excellent school system. Kudos and well done!

Monday 4/29 – Last Monday I made edits to our website, madisonmain.com and worked on my personal blog, madmain.com. Check out both sites to see some cool stuff. On Monday morning we welcomed two spectacular young people, our new summer interns: Emily Farrar, a Mass Comm graduate from VCU and Dustin Hennessy, heir to the Hennessy liquor fortune and soon to be graduate from Christopher Newport University.

We think Emily [L] and Dustin [R] will bring a lot to the table… probably lunch.

I was also able to have a lunch at Capital Ale House with longtime friend and client, Christie Newman, the boss of the bossiest website in town, Richmond.com. Also special thanks to the folks at Can Can Brasserie for inviting the team out to sample the finest in French fair at their banquet facility, adjacent to their Carytown landmark restaurant.

Tuesday 4/30 – Last Tuesday morning it was good to get back to Rotary after a three week hiatus. I also spent some time in the studio recording some radio and TV voiceovers. At Madison+Main we always try to save our clients money by having me record many of their voiceovers.

That afternoon, we welcomed the lovely Laurie Aldrich, Executive Director of the Virginia Wineries Association, to talk about some exciting new programs being launched by the association this year. When you work with fun and creative people, it makes the process a lot better and Laurie is always fun to work with. We also love working with VWA, because sometimes we get free samples. Make Mine Virginia Wine.

Wednesday 5/1 – Wednesday was a First Bank kind of day, I spent most of the day working on social media, billboard concepts and launching their new Card Cash Rewards program. What better day to launch a new product than May Day? This is the second TV spot we’ve produced for First Bank, which began airing on TV stations across the Northern Shenandoah Valley this week. If your antenna isn’t that big, click here to see the video on You Tube.

Katie Hurst and I joined super rep Karen Newmyer, from Comcast Spotlight, for a major announcement regarding the Cadillac Cup, which will be held in Charlottesville this September. Special thanks to Jacques and Carolyn Moore, owners of the Moore Family of Dealerships, for inviting us to their lovely home overlooking the James River.

Thursday 5/2 – On Thursday morning I attended Insiders Club and was able to maintain my Mayorship over the Commonwealth Club. I was pleased to give an introduction to friend and fellow member, Harry Garmon, President of Top of Mind Mailings who has a unique B2B direct mail program. Learn more at http://www.topofmindmailings.com/.

We also had a great meeting with the leadership team at Howell’s Heating & Air, which reminds me Howell’s is sponsoring the Summer Concert Series at Stony Point Fashion Park. The season kicks off with Kings of Swing on Saturday, May 25th. Visit here to find out who is playing this summer. And who knows, you may win a chance to sit in the Howell’s “Waaay To Comfortable” couch in the front row!

Friday 5/3 -On Friday, we had a great meeting with Maureen Medlin, Melanie Wynkoop and Matthew Steilberg at C&F Bank at beautiful downtown Toano, Virginia. Big thanks to Katie “Fireball” Devlin, AVP, E-Commerce Manager, at the bank who treated us to lunch at Jason’s Deli.

Be sure to check our Twitter and Facebook pages tonight for lots of posts from the Madison+Main-iacs. We are headed to the Richmond Ad Club’s “The Richmond Show” tonight and hope to bring home some hardware.

This week, we will participate in The READ Center’s Spelling Bee at The Camel, it’s a fundraiser to raise awareness and help adult literacy programs. Katie, Jeff and I will square off against corporate teams from all over Central Virginia. All are invited to attend the event and cheer us on, and if you would like to challenge us, click here to register. As long as I remember it is “I before E except after C”, I think I’ll be okay.

P.S. Vignette noun (vin-’yet) – French, from Old French, meaning a brief series of scenes in a movie or play. Antonyms of vignette: a very dark circle around photography. Ask Scott Harris.

Dave

May 6, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Weekly Report Comments 0

Madison+Main’s Weekly Report 4/29/13

Greetings from the beautiful Kingsmill Resort and Spa, along the beautiful James River, in beautiful Williamsburg, Virginia. It’s so beautiful here, I may just puke.

On Friday, I wrapped up a couple of days of inspiring speakers and tremendous networking opportunities at the Virginia Council of CEOs retreat here at Kingsmill. In fact, the entire retreat turned out to be slightly profitable, as I cleared $250 at the poker table last Friday night.

It was a stellar week at Madison+Main, and this week we have decided to tell the story in pictures.

Monday 4/22 – Below is a photo of the front page of last Monday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch; tangible proof that our integrated PR campaign for Richard Bland College has been a great success. Congrats to President Dr. Debbie Sydow, whose energy and enthusiasm has been detailed in multiple publications recently. Special thanks to Account Executive Sarah Dawes, the architect of this PR campaign.

Tuesday 4/23 – Below is a screen capture of a new TV spot that we produced for the Vintage Virginia Wine & Food Festival. I’ve always known I had a talented team, but I had no idea what wonderful actresses I have around the office. Special thanks to Sammy, Sarah, Dorsey and Mackenzie – stars of the Scott Harris mega-production. Click here to see the TV spot, click here to get your tickets to Vintage Virginia. Our entire team will be there and we hope you will join us June 1st and 2nd. (You do like wine, don’t you?)

Wednesday 4/24 – Special thanks to Angie Baker from Vitamin T, sponsor of this week’s lunch and learn at Madison+Main. In addition to a great talk on finding talent, Angie dropped off these little robot guys, who we’ve been playing with all week.

On Wednesday I traveled down to the Virginia Counsel of CEOs retreat at Kingsmill, but before I left I broke out the good stuff to celebrate the five-day weekend. It is not often that you get to try “The World’s Best,” but on Wednesday afternoon, the Main-iacs and I sampled the World’s Best Bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year reserve; the World’s Best Rum, Havana Club 7-year; and the World’s Best Scotch, Johnnie Walker Blue Label. The world class liquor sampling was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Thursday 4/25 – On Thursday morning I heard an extremely inspiring talk by Bill Taylor, founding editor ofFast Company magazine. I’m a huge fan of Fast Company, and Bill’s talk left my head spinning with crazy new ideas.

Speaking of crazy ideas, our non-profit client Positive Vibe Cafe held the Coaches’ Cookoff at Benedictine last night, and Richmond Spiders coach Chris Mooney and VCU coach Shaka Smart went head-to-head in a fundraiser for the Vibe. Below, Senior Account Manager Katie Hurst gets a hug from both coaches.

Friday 4/26 – I woke up late Friday morning after closing down the pub at Kingsmill Thursday night with about 30 rowdy, bourbon-filled CEOs. Many times you go to a conference and the speaker will leave five minutes after the presentation. However, I was lucky to spend some extra time with Wharton Business School’s Stuart Diamond, the author of Getting More and the world’s foremost authority on negotiating. Here’s a pic of Professor Diamond and Rainbow Station CEO Gail Johnson negotiating with the bartender to keep the bar open for an extra half hour.

Here’s another picture of Dorsey’s dog Pippin; there’s no reason for this photo, we just took it and I arbitrarily put it in the email.

The REAL highlight of the day is that I shared three meals Friday with Melissa Ball, CEO of Ball Office Products and my buddy. We shared breakfast and lunch together at Kingsmill and Friday we treated our spouses to a big, fat steak dinner at Morton’s. We worked hard for it, we owed it to ourselves,#dontjudgeus.

Apr 29, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Weekly Report Comments 0

Customer Service & Brand Promise

Mar 27, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Tagged Brand Promise, Community Engagement, Community Management, Customer Service, Engagement, Online Audience, Relationship, Social Media Comments 0

Madison+Main’s Chief Idea Officer Dave Saunders sits down with Documentary Film Producer Kieran Wagner each month to discuss brand, marketing and social media. In March Dave discusses proactive customer service through social media, and it’s effect on the fundamental way in which it affects how we deliver “the brand promise.”

Dave explains customers used to go to the responsible party or decision maker. These days, consumers go directly to their friends and family and an instantly online audience. You have to be within earshot and deliver proactive customer service to address these issues. Your customers probably won’t include you in the conversation when they give feedback if you’re not already engaged.

Implicit Memory, Explicit Memory & Awareness

Feb 27, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Tagged Advertising, Awareness, Explicit Memory, Implicit Memory, Marketing, National MS Society, Nonprofit, PR, Promotion, Strategy Comments 0

Madison+Main Chief Idea Officer, Dave Saunders sits down with Kieran Wagner to discuss Awareness and the role of different types of human memory. Dave explains the difference between explicit memory and implicit memory and their function in creating, driving or expanding awareness. His primary example is the National MS Society’s brand color and various ways of positioning and implementing their brand color to create awareness for their cause. This year, National MS Awareness Week is March 11-17. Do you have a question for Dave? Is there a topic you would like to see him address? Advertising? Marketing? PR? Social Media? Email us at shout@madisonmain.com.

SEO in Easy Terms

Feb 17, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Tagged Advertising, Business, Easy, Everyday Language, Google, Google Search (Website)j, Marketing, Paid Search, Search, SEO, Simple, Traffic, What you want to know Comments 0

Madison+Main Chief Idea Officer, Dave Saunders sits down with Kieran Wagner to discuss SEO in easy terms. Dave talks about the variety of acronyms that marketers use and demystifies one of them, Search Engine Optimization. Dave explains what businesses want to know in common sense terms and everyday language. Do you have a question for Dave? Is there a topic you would like to see him address? Advertising? Marketing? PR? Social Media? Email us at shout@madisonmain.com.

Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing

Jan 10, 2013 Posted by Dave Saunders In Video Posts Comments 0

Madison+Main Chief Idea Officer, Dave Saunders sits down with Kieran Wagner to discuss Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing. Dave talks about the differences between these two types of marketing and what each of them apply to. Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing is part-three of a year-long series of conversations with Madison+Main’s President. Do you have a question for Dave? Is there a topic you would like to see him address? Advertising? Marketing? PR? Social Media? Email us at shout@madisonmain.com.