Hey folks,

It was a busy week at Madison+Main, but we took some casualties. Winter threw its last punch at us, with snow flurries on Monday and 17 degree temps on Wednesday. A large percentage of the Madison+Main-iacs were down for the count; Molly, Kara, Dorsey, Kelley, Colleen. I got the sniffles on Tuesday night, but they went away after two medium-sized glasses of Maker’s Mark.

For the rest of the crew, who actually made it in to work, they found we had run out of coffee and it looked like a scene from my new tv-watching addiction: The Walking Dead. And the fact that it was  no-make-up Monday had nothing to do with it.  🙂

Monday (3/24) – It was an early (7:30am) call for the first location of our latest TV production for Howell’s Heating & Air. Later that morning I joined the production team from Broadscope Media at our second location, Nesbit Salon. Special thanks to the managers and owners of Nesbit for allowing us to shoot all day Monday at their amazing location on Main Street.

No, that’s not a Zombie in the tub. It’s me. #BathingDead

Monday marked one year since last year’s Walk MS: Richmond, where Team Madison+Main raised money AND awareness for the MS Society. We’re walking again this year (April 26th) and we need your help… ANY amount helps. Click here to support the Madison+Main-iacs at Walk MS. This year we’re thinking of dressing up as Zombies and walking around Innsbrook… waddya think?

We created a “Harlem Shake” video at last year’s MS Walk in Richmond

Tuesday (3/25) – It was good to be back at Rotary on Tuesday morning and I got several questions about my comments in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week. Here’s a link to the article in case you missed it. I also had some questions about Madison+Main’s Banana Campaign, a multi-platform content marketing campaign that we launched a couple of weeks ago. At 9am I met with a new prospective company and received first-hand proof that the campaign was working. Me: ”So, how’d you hear about Madison+Main?” Prospective Client:“I was on Facebook and saw these girls dressed like bananas with a gorilla. I clicked the link and thought, ‘These guys look fun!’” #BoldBrandsWin

Madison+Main takes its Banana Campaign to the streets of Carytown

That afternoon we presented some 3D direct mail concepts to our buds at Village Bank and I jumped in the studio to record some new radio ads for Howell’s Heating & Air. On Tuesday evening I was invited to give a lecture at UR’s Robins School of Business. Great kids, great class and great questions.

Marketing Tip of the Week (compliments of my buddy Scott Shufflebarger at Hertless Brothers)

In the nightcap, I finished season 1 of The Walking Dead on DVD, scared myself silly and couldn’t sleep til the wee hours of the morning.

Wednesday (3/26) – On Wednesday morning I was so sleepy I couldn’t wake up in time to do the Greater Richmond Chamber Lead Investor Breakfast. I only have myself to blame. But I was able to bounce back into a series of productive client meetings with Greg and Lynn from Davis & Green Electrical and Mike Caniglia from Vera’s Fine Jewelers. I was also delighted to host Dr. Debbie Sydow, President of Richard Bland College, at our offices in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, we had a strong showing at the PRSA Luncheon with MarCom Executive Sarah Murphy, Digital Marketing Manager Dorsey McFadden and Account Services CoordinatorBrandon Singletary representing Madison+Main.

Brandon, Sarah and Dorsey learned about the Law of Social Media at PRSA on Wednesday

I met with our interns Wednesday evening after hours and helped them with their video project, which reminded me: we’re now accepting applications for summer interns. If you know a bright young undergrad or recent grad who likes branding, marketing and making coffee, please have them send a letter and resume to me at shout@madisonmain.com.

Thursday (3/27) –  On Thursday we sent Kelley Miller back to New York. #fugetaboudit

In the morning I worked on my upcoming Ignite presentation at the Virginia Council of CEOs retreat. Thanks to Dale Carnegie‘s JJ White and VACEO’s Executive Director Scott McRoberts for talking me into this. It’s going to be fun… and frightening.

On Thursday we finalized our sponsorship of the RVA Creativity Awards. We are proud to announce that Madison+Main is a Bronze Sponsor of C3‘s inaugural community creativity awards. The event will be held on Thursday, May 1st at the Hippodrome, bringing together artists, composers, communicators, writers, publishers, web designs, marketers and many more from RVA’s vibrant creative community. Tickets available here.

Friday (3/28) – Today is Kara Forbis‘ birthday. In her honor, we all started drinking wine at breakfast. By lunchtime everyone was stumbling around, glassy-eyed and mumbling like Zombies. So, Art Director Geoff Glisson and I grabbed my bag of guns and drove toColonial Shooting Academy and popped off a few hundred rounds at paper targets, that look like… wait for it… Zombies. I am on my way to NBC12 right now to meet with their TV production team and watch a Village Bank financial literacy shoot.

Our friends Greg Hofbauer and Bart Levy from Nimble Pitch dropped by this morning. They have a really cool product and have been getting a lot of press recently. Learn more about digital interactive storytelling here.

Tonight I’ll probably finish off the second season of Walking Dead. What are you doing this weekend.

Hey folks,

This week’s Madison+Main Weekly Report is coming to you 2 hours early so I can play hooky this afternoon and watch basketball. Besides, it’s really hard to type inside of a crowded BW3.

Last weekend’s whirlwind tour of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn is now just a memory, and sadly the A10 #2 seed VCU lost a heartbreaker to #4 SJU in the Championship, 65-61. Luckily VCUenters the NCAA Tourney as a #5 seed and plays #12 seed SFA tonight at 7:27pm EST #GoRamsGo. My ESPN bracket has me scoring 120 points, with a 67.7% win percentage, since I correctly picked 12 out of the first 16 games. I am currently ranked 797,512th out of 10 million brackets…whew.

It was still a highly productive week at Madison+Main, even though everyone caught a touch of March Madness.

It was a week full of numbers…and acronyms.

Monday (3/17) – On Monday, most schools were closed, but CCPS opened 2 hours late. The hearty souls at M+M “slid” into work on time.

We set up our 3rd creative concept session for Village Bank on Monday afternoon and celebrated Lindsey Durfee’s 1st anniversary with the company Monday night with a 3 bottle champagne toast. During the day we worked on M+M’s new website, version 6.0 (we’ve been in business 8.5 years and this will be our 6th website redesign…when was the last time you redesigned your WWW?)

Tuesday (3/18) – On Tuesday we learned that the VBA (Virginia Banker’s Association) awarded our client FBK (First Bank) the “Best in Broadcast” award for a TV spot we produced for them in 2013. Tuesday afternoon we launched their latest TV spot, called “First in Business.”

Click above to see our new First Bank TV spot

Wednesday (3/19) – On Wednesday “I left my heart in San Francisco,” as our universally loved VP of Operations Molly Quarles left “on a jet plane” to celebrate her 29th birthday on the left coast. Did you know that Molly launched SproutLaunch.com, a website that rewards people for doing good deeds, in 2010? Follow Molly on Twitter @SproutLaunch. She only has 14,011 followers and she needs more friends.

Lindsey and Katie join Molly for a birthday selfie

Over 100 people attended the March Media Mixer at Tobacco Company Wednesday night. Be on the look out for an invite to our April Mixer at Morton’s on 4/23/2014, which is also Administrative Professionals Day. The Bar Bites are on us. Be sure to join our LinkedIn group (669 members and growing!) for details on our monthly Media Mixers.

Thursday (3/20) –  On Thursday morning, it was my turn to present at Insiders, so we hosted 23 of 24 members at 101 E. Cary. 3 tubs of coffee, 2 dozen donuts and 10 breakfast sandwiches were needed so no one would fall asleep during my presentation.

I spent most of the day working on market research for the Chesterfield Chamber. Did you know the Chesterfield Chamber has an introductory membership for only $295? Call Membership Account Executive Carol Taylor at (804) 748-6364 if your business needs a boost.

Friday (3/21) – By now, a lot of people have seen our “Banana Campaign.” In fact, after only 2 weeks we’ve reached thousands of people online, and we haven’t even kicked the campaign into high gear. What’s the Banana Campaign, you ask? Madison+Main is conducting a 90content marketing campaign designed to increase awareness, our social media presence, and drive business owners, marketing directors and other potentates to our declaration page. Does marketing your company drive you bananas? If the answer is yes, CLICK HERE.

Wow, I coulda had a V-8,

Hey folks,

If I could sum up Generation Y in one word, or better yet in one hashtag, it would be #YOLO: You Only Live Once. I’m surrounded by twenty-somethings and their “take no prisoners” attitude suits me just fine. It was a #YOLO kind of week at Madison+Main: busy, productive, fun and edge-of-your-seat excitement. Last Sunday night, I barbecued steaks in the rain. On Monday morning, I dragged my kids around the neighborhood, hooked to the back of my Jeep, through the snow. Why not? #YOLO

Monday (3/3) – It’s ironic that a generation that embraces fearlessness falls apart at the first sign of the powdery white stuff. So, we closed our offices Monday and worked from home in our flannel finery. But never fear, work was done, campaigns were launched and clients’ deadlines were met. At Madison+Main, we work hard and we play hard.

On Monday we also kicked off our latest integrated marketing campaign with this Instagram post:

For more information on Madison+Main’s “Banana Campaign,” visit madisonmain.com/bananas.

Tuesday (3/4) – On Tuesday we were back in the office and helped our friends at the Central & Eastern Chapter of the National MS Society kick off MS Awareness Week. We did our part by wearing orange — the signature color of the MS Society — and want to thank our friends in the media (like Julie Bragg, Rob Cardwell, Morgan Dean, Kerri O’Brien, Ryan Nobles and more) who wore orange ties and orange scarves in support of MS Awareness Week.

Sarah Murphy and I had lunch with Richmond Times-Dispatch business reporter Randy Hallman, and it was great to catch up and swap “war stories.” Be sure to check out Randy’s weekly Metro Business column, BizBuzz, in print and online.

Wednesday (3/5) – On Wednesday everybody dressed to the nines, hair was perfect, and the office was meticulous. The reason? Our friend Scott Elmquist stopped by to snap some photos for our website. Two reasons I like my new headshot: 1) it’s funny, and 2) it hides my fat face.

On Wednesday afternoon we had a very productive Virginia Council of CEOs meeting at the office of Keener Communications (thanks to Jannemieke Keener for hosting), and we invited estate and elder law attorney Scott Stovall, partner at CowanGates, to speak to the group. Scott did a great job and everyone was very impressed by his knowledge and experience. If you, like me, are dealing with the complexities of aging parents, I would highly recommend you reach out to Scott.

Thursday (3/6) – The Insider’s Annual Breakfast was held Thursday morning at the Commonwealth Club for the 42nd consecutive year. I am now the mayor of the Commonwealth Club on foursquare. #YOLO

In the afternoon we had a very productive meeting with the leadership at Village Bank and we are about to launch their new marketing and PR campaign. Stay tuned and #banklocal. And speaking of buying local…

On Thursday night my beloved VCU Rams squeaked by cross-town rival University of Richmond (56-50). Earlier in the day VCU unveiled its new athletic logo…designed by an agency in Ohio…despite the fact there are so many good branding firms here in Richmond…and despite the fact they have the #1 graduate advertising school in the country…and despite the fact it looks eerily similar to the Buffalo Wild Wings logo…and despite ALL of this…I STILL LOVE MY RAMS.

Friday (3/7) – On Friday I took advantage of the gloomy weather and an open calendar to lock my office door and catch up on all of my “writing” assignments. To ensure productivity, I grabbed a six-pack of Diet Cokes, a Padron 1964 (cigar), and put this sign up on my door.

I got a lot of work done and I downloaded a new app called Map of the Dead. It’s an iPhone app that allows you to find places that will help you survive the impending Zombie Apocalypse. Check it out here.

The Alberta Smith Sharks lost in the first round of the playoffs last weekend. #sadface It was a good and valiant effort and I’m proud of the boys for going 9-2. But I AM counting on the Rams winning the A10 Tournament in New York next week. They better win…I’m driving to Brooklyn.

We bring good things to life,

Hey folks,

When I say things to myself like, “I’m glad February is over,” and “I waited almost two hours to get my oil changed,” I am ashamed of myself. When I get angry and walk around my house brooding for two hours because VCU lost a game they should have won to UMass, I take a step back and think, “your priorities are all out of whack.” People in the Third World have real problems. We don’t. Not counting First World problems, it was a great week at Madison+Main.

On the bright side, it didn’t snow last week…

Monday (2/24) – I have never liked the month of February. From a personal standpoint, it’s cold and dreary. From a business standpoint, it’s cold and dreary and 10% shorter than other months. That means business in February should automatically be 10% down, right? #FirstWorldProblems

On Monday afternoon, we worked on creative concepts for Virginia ENT and developed a new tagline for the practice. Out of five choices, one was a “clear winner.” In the afternoon, I played Dr. Dave and took Nurse Sue to Advanced Orthopedics, where Dr. Ellison gave us the official prognosis: She’ll be off her feet for at least two more weeks. (My wife broke her knee skiing…#FirstWorldProblems.)

Madison+Main got a shout out from Richmond BizSense reporter Brandy Brubaker in The Pitch on Monday, with the release of First Bank‘s new TV spot “First in Loan$.” Thanks to Broadscope Media for doing such a FINE job. Take a look and let us know what you think. Click here to watch!

Tuesday (2/25) – On Tuesday we hosted some clients for lunch, and in the afternoon I gave a presentation on Branding and Social Media to three dozen marketing and business development executives at Hunton & Williams. Two dozen were in the room, and another dozen were scattered across the globe watching via video conference. Conclusion? My jokes fall really flat over video conferencing. #FirstWorldProblems

Wednesday (2/26) – On Wednesday, Sarah Murphy, Brandon “Dingles” Singletary and I traveled down to Richard Bland College to quarterback a joint press conference with Fork Union Military Academy. Sarah did a great job getting lots of coverage for a historic agreement between the two schools. The story was picked up by a wide variety of media outlets, including NBC29 in Charlottesville, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Virginia Business, just to name a few. PR tip of the week: don’t pitch reporters, try to HELP them.

FUMA President, Rear Admiral J. Scott Burhoe, shakes hands with Richard Bland College President, Dr. Debbie L. Sydow

Thursday (2/27) – On Thursday morning we met with the marketing and event team at the Central & Eastern Virginia Chapter of the National MS Society (in case you didn’t know, Madison+Main has provided pro-bono marketing and PR services for the Society for almost five years). We put the finishing touches on 2014 event marketing plans here in Central Virginia and in Tidewater. The Madison+Main-iacs will Walk for MS on Saturday, April 26th; we hope you’ll support us by clicking here and making a small donation. In the afternoon we met with our new client – and my son Jack’s “all-time favorite place” – SkyZone. In case you haven’t heard, SkyZone–a fun and fabulous 37,000 square foot indoor trampoline park–officially opened one month ago and business is jumping.#ILoveAGoodPun (We’re very excited about working with SkyZone…what a fun brand!)

Friday (2/28) – The March Media Mixer will be held on Wednesday, March 19th at Richmond’s landmark restaurant, The Tobacco Company. Click here to RSVP.

Friday, we put the finishing touches on a “gorilla” marketing campaign that we believe will have everyone in Richmond going “bananas.” It launches Monday. Stay tuned.

This fierce looking team is now 9-1.

“I’m Chiquita Banana and I’ve come to say –
bananas have to ripen in a certain way,”

David Saunders
President & Chief Idea Officer
Madison+Main

Hey folks,

It was a busy and productive week at Madison+Main, as I was able to see lots of clients face-to-face, which I think is better than following their exploits on Facebook. Speaking of Facebook, a 16-year-old told me last week that Facebook was “dead.” Although I don’t agree with this, a recent University College of London report states that “…with 16-18 year olds, Facebook is not just on the slide, but it is basically dead and buried…” The logic behind this stems from the fact that Facebook usage among teenagers has dropped 25% in the last three years. However, the article fails to mention that Facebook doubled in size in that same time period and grew in every other age segment except 15-18. Long live Facebook.

And long live meeting people face-to-face.

Monday (2/17) – Monday was President’s Day, one of my all-time favorite holidays. Most people take the day off, but at Madison+Main we were hard at work, trying to make some more “Dead Presidents.” I took a brief break to drive my wife Sue to Advanced Orthopedics, so they could look at her knee. The other weekend Sue nearly escaped death when she fell off the side of Wintergreen and broke her tibial plateau. (She’s doing much better, thanks for all of the kind words and wishes you sent our way last week.)

Raid Kills Bugs Dead,

David Saunders
President & Chief Idea Officer
Madison+Main