The playbook of advertising is constantly evolving and in many ways is turning inside out. Facebook has augmented the social web experience in ways we never imagined a decade ago. The amount of content available for immediate sharing is overwhelming. In time, marketers learned that social sites would provide the widest audiences possible, so they started an outbound marketing strategy by flooding YouTube and Facebook with ads. Sounds like a good idea, right?  After all, that is where most people spend their time online. Not necessarily. These channels are a…

The 2010 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards were announced Friday, November 5th at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park California, and Madison + Main’s 2010 integrated marketing campaign for eSmartTax.com was selected as a winner in the Use of Multiple Platforms/Integrated Initiatives category. These prestigious awards honor the work of individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media. The Society for New Communications Research is a global501(c)(3) nonprofit research, education foundation and think tank dedicated to the advanced study…

We are thrilled to announce our relationship with Comfort Zone Camp, winner of our 501(c)3 nonprofit Reverse RFP (Request for Proposal). Comfort Zone Camp offers bereavement services for 7-17 year-olds. The camp offers year-round services, for free, to children who have lost a family member. Their aim is to restore confidence and help with the coping and adjustment periods that follow a death. Through their programs, Comfort Zone Camp gives children a safe place to grieve and to grow. Comfort Zone Camp has locations in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and…

The MS Society’s Central Virginia Chapter came to Madison+Main with a unique approach to bringing awareness to Multiple Sclerosis. Besides the debilitating symptoms that come with the disease, the MS Society wanted to give attention to the culmination of effects Multiple Sclerosis has on its victims: it limits their freedom of movement. Madison+Main coordinated a flash mob to the tune of “I Like to Move It” made popular by the Disney Madagascar lemurs, held in the commons area at Virginia Commonwealth University. As the first notes of the song played,…

Is your brand suffering from Attention Deficit Consumer Disorder? It’s not them, it’s your ads. Two contributing authors to MediaPost, an online and print resource for all things advertising, have engaged in a debate over the state of advertising today (links to the back-and-forth are at the end of this post). It all started with an article by Joe Marchese calledAdvertising Is NOT Content. Joe’s point is that advertising is becoming a “consumer’s choice”. Offered technology like Tivo and DVR options which allows purchasers to skip ads, we’re also embracing…

Madison + Main, V4 Web, Knowledge Advisory Group, Thinkhaus, ByteJam, and Wythken Printing to submit “Reverse RFP” to Richmond-area charitable groups. RICHMOND, Va. – One lucky nonprofit in the local Richmond, Virginia area will receive more than $100,000 in marketing and PR services in 2011, thanks to a generous gift by creative marketing firm Madison+Main and five of its strategic partners: ByteJam, V4Web, Wythken Printing, Thinkhaus, and Knowledge Advisory Group. The companies will jointly select the award recipient on October 1st, 2010. The selection process will include a unique “Reverse RFP” (Request…

Netflix just released their iPhone app. “What took so long?” we wondered. I opened it up expecting to simply have a queue manager. It allows you to stream entire movies from your Instant Queue on your device. I’m still impressed by the streaming Netflix app on my Wii and then this, at no additional cost. My intention here is not to drool all over Netflix or to deconstruct the shortcomings with their various apps or to discuss the looming bankruptcy of Blockbuster. It’s simply to muse a little bit on…

So you’re thinking about an internship? Madison+Main loves it’s interns. We have two categories of intern that sometimes overlap; Account Side & Creative Side. Ambidextrous multitaskers often gain advantage. That’s the creatively focused student that wants to learn about account management and vice versa. Being well rounded is important, even for a specialist. We want you to gain experience in your area of focus but we also want you to gain experience in the broader world of advertising, all that entails… We generally take at least one intern for each…

A few months back we launched our current site and added Google Friend Connect because it’s obviously a good idea to do so. Right? Why is that, again? Honestly at the time I wasn’t sure why it was useful. Google Wave and Buzz had recently uninspired the world (after piquing much anticipatory interest) but Friend Connect’s gotta be a good thing…Right? Either way I was eager to learn about it. In the subsequent months a lot of people followed our site but immediately asked this question: “I followed. Now what?”…

Do you think you can Spot the Squatch? Play Yard Works’ online interactive video by identifying the hidden YardSquatch in each scene.

If you feed them, they will come. And they might as well learn something. Every two weeks Madison+Main staff cross-train each other. We do this in an effort to keep the lines of communication open and to keep us all working together in true team fashion. Creative teams speak to account teams, and we all gain a better appreciation for one anothers role at Madison+Main. It’s like family-style dining with a side of knowledge. Check out one of our lunch trainings:

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