Mad 4 Blog

The traffic line into South Florida’s Oleta River State Park was unusually long on December 6th, a crisp Saturday morning in North Miami.  The crowd was not the typical trail blazing, mountain biking, rigorous paddlers that usually attend the park on the weekends. On this day the adventure seekers were the local advertising professionals from Mad 4 Marketing and business owners eager to try the Adventure Race Challenge hosted by The Advertising Federation of Fort Lauderdale (AdFed).
AdFed Program Chair and Account Executive at Mad 4, Amanda White, organized the race.  “Our goal was to engage the local professionals in a fun outdoor event to promote team building” said Amanda.  Teams from Mad 4 Marketing, ICreatives, The Printing Industry Association, and Miamispace.com represented the advertising professionals strongly when they effortlessly tore through the all terrain course.
The first physical challenge was right at the beginning where the adventure race was kicked off by an on foot mad dash through rocky trails, 3 feet of water, and sandy shorelines.  Without a blink, the teams tore by the cheering fans at the expo where they grabbed their tandem kayaks and ran to the launch area.  As they feverously splashed away towards the open water, each team had only their map and a few markers to guide them through the winding river and open ocean.  The fastest teams were the ones that could paddle straight, since many wound up in the mangroves.  Luckily no one rocked the boat all the way over.
The teams then hopped on their mountain bikes to hit the last leg . . . the mandatory helmet trails with nose bleeding elevations. Ok, so this is South Florida, not Lake Tahoe, but these trails were covered with mud, roots, and rocks that challenged even the pros’ agility and trail climbing skills.  The teams ditched the bikes and continued to tear through the expo on foot to cross the finish line.
The Mad 4 Marketing teams raced neck to neck throughout the entire course and came in 4th and 5th (beaten by competitors that raced in nationals).  All participants had a ball and although tuckered out, no injuries!  Stay tuned for more photos and stories from Mad 4 Marketing Adventure Team in the spring!

http://www.southfloridaadventures.com/archives/in-pictures/south-florida-adventures-outdoor-expo-at-oleta-state-park/

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Ok, ok, it’s the holiday season and it would be easy to excuse wasted paper for that reason only, but why not consider the environment and go paperless this season by sending holiday E-cards to your friends and loved ones. Not only are they green but they are free as well! And what’s more, they can also go out to people you wouldn’t normally waste a stamp on, making you richer, kinder and more popular!

And while you’re at it, why not make your E-card nature-themed? There are plenty of E-cards out there geared towards nature and conservation. What better way to share and show your love of nature and the environment with everyone on your list this year? For more ideas, visit http://www.nature.org/

Speaking of being environmentally friendly, Mad 4 Marketing went green this season. Not only did we save the planet by sending out an electronic Evite to our holiday party, but we will be sending Holiday E-cards as well. That’s doubly green! And it means taking advantage of the newest technology available to us. Aren’t we smart?

“It’s easy to get swept up in the holiday season and forget about keeping things simple, safe and eco-friendly,” said Kristine Brabson, editor of Ecologue.com. “But not only are our tips and ideas good for the environment, but they’re easy on the wallet, too – a definite plus these days.”

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It was an early start, and a time almost unknown to them, but the Baptist Health account team; Amy, Amanda, Jennifer and Abi awoke at 4am on Saturday November 15th for the grand opening of the Baptist Medical Plaza at Country Walk, an event they had been gearing up to for months.

This was no ordinary grand opening. This was a grand opening designed with kids in mind, just like the new Baptist Health Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging Center.

Dressed in the whole safari garb, hats and all, the Mad 4 account team rolled up their sleeves and got to work with sixty other volunteers to set up before the 9AM start.

When everything was ready, the event went off with a bang (literally) as multicolored streamers shot out from rooftop cannons and flew through the sky above the crowds of families gathered around the stage for the speeches.

MetroZoo’s very own Amazonas band gave a toe-tapping performance and Radio Disney amused kids with all sorts of fun and games. The event had been catered with enormous imagination and attention to detail: young and old indulged in elephant-shaped cookies and pots of what looked like gloop and dirt with worms, which were apparently, delicious.

The sun beamed down record high temperatures as hoards of little explorers went through the different adventure-themed rooms of the center searching for stops on the safari trail at which to get stickers for their safari passports. It seemed more like the opening of a movie theatre, than a Diagnostic Imaging Center, with UV light shows and music playing in each room,

Cars would slow down to get a view of the commotion as they passed by safari explorers with wide-brimmed hats and huge white tents full of people, all cordoned off by a large white picket fence.

When 1.00pm eventually rolled around, the children of Country Walk were exhausted from all of the exploring and eating they had done, not to mention the excitement of touching real live baby crocodiles and snakes. What a good thing there was an Urgent Care Center right next door!

While families left with balloons, goodie bags, face-painted children and smiles on their faces, the Mad 4 team left with feet full of blisters and a lot of sleep to catch up on, but they had a whole lot of jungle fun.

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The Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was undoubtedly inspired by the phrase as mad as a hatter so we thought it fitting for the phrase to inspire our Mad 4 Marketing holiday party. After all, if you know us, you’ll know that it’s very appropriate.

As it turned out, planning the Mad Hatter party was almost as much fun as the actual party. Keith did his thing with food and decorations, JT made witty hat badges, Elyse and Jennifer did the Costco run, Amanda was the martini maker and the whole staff took part in party planning meetings and brainstormed for ideas to make this a night to remember.

It took the Mad 4 team a whole evening over bottled beer, 6 inch subs and holiday tunes to unpack boxes fresh out of storage and hang an entire advertising agency full of decorations.

Tiffany and Roly spent hours creating the invitation and the website to go with it. Now all we needed were the people. And they came, alright! At 5:OOPM on December 4th, after a day full of meeting deadlines, writing conference reports, submitting ads to publications and writing creative briefs, Chris declared that the fun would begin.

It was a perfect night for the festivities. The familiar white lamppost was set up illuminating the entranceway, hundreds of hats were ready for heads, the bar was stocked with liquor and the tables were overflowing with delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts.

People started arriving with their hats imaginatively decorated. And if they arrived minus headgear, we had some for them. They could even decorate it with their own personal flare — there were no excuses!

As the outside tent filled with people, a dent was slowly made in the food, and of course, the Mad 4 Martinis were going down well.

We had members of the Executives’ Association, clients from the past, present and future, employees and their sweethearts, even copywriting genius Stuart Dornfield put in an appearance — all in all a pretty good crowd, and they weren’t shy with the hat decorating either.

Bob Morris of Gulfstream Camera won the best guest hat competition with his creation made from a metal lampshade, camera film, batteries and all kinds of other items. Finalists also included Bob Moorman of Carroll’s Jewelers with his handmade fish and straw hat and Mike Petrie of Petrie Chiropractic and his son Elijah with a psychedelic look in matching ’60s hippie hats and outfits.

As for the employee hat competition, Jennifer Stillson managed to secure the greatest number of votes, but we have a sneaking suspicion that had more to do with the jello shots she was pushing rather than her creative genius.

Far from as sedate and tranquil as any Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, this one was great fun for those who remember it. And for those who don’t, here are a few pictures to tell the tale …

Mad 4 Meaning…
The simile Mad as a Hatter sprung from the name for an early industrial occupational disease. Because of the process of hat making, it was impossible for hat makers or hatters, as they were known, to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off when treating the materials they used to make the hats.

Hatters often suffered poisoning as mercury vapor caused neurological damage including confused speech and distorted vision. Which leads us to wonder if there was any mercury in the Mad 4 Martinis Amanda was shaking up behind the bar …

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Business is slowing down, the cost of doing business is rising, and hard economic times are on the horizon … for everyone. The smart thing to do is to cut expenses. Advertising budgets are often one of the first areas to feel the squeeze, but how will that affect business? Well, print advertising, that won’t be seen or read anymore. Cut television or radio? Now your marketing message is not seen or heard. PR, who needs public relations? I’ve got it, cut out banner ads and maybe blogs. Oh, that’s bad, then you wouldn’t be reading this.

When the purse strings tighten and fewer faces are seen, what is the next step? A full-service advertising agency — they have the expertise to guide businesses through those hard times and hard decisions. They know where cuts can be made and where dollars should be placed. Advertising is more important in today’s economy than ever before. With so many diverse markets to reach and a variety of marketing and advertising mediums at your disposal, how does a business know where to start — it’s a crapshoot. A marketing and advertising agency has the skills required to do the job. They look at the business, its budget, its needs, and they create an advertising strategy that is the right fit for your business and budget.

If you are looking to trim your advertising budget in these tough economic times, make sure you do it the right way.

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Web videos are spreading across the internet like wildfire…YouTube, webinars, webisodes, NBC even spent a bundle to broadcast the Olympics on the internet. It’s no wonder why web videos are growing so quickly – they provide entertainment (or teach you something), eliminate the need to read on the internet, and are available at the click of a button on your schedule.

In 2008 companies spent $2.7 billion creating web videos to spread the word about their products and services, an astounding amount which is predicted to quadruple by 2012 reaching upwards of $10 billion according to In Stat. So, how can your company jump on the bandwagon of this growing internet marketing trend? A great place to start…review what other companies are already doing and start brainstorming on how you can apply it uniquely to your brand. If you are still stumped Mad 4 Marketing is always here to lend a helping hand.
Here are some examples to get you started:
At Mad 4 Marketing we created a video to advertise our rebranding

Dove created a webisode campaign to advertise their new line called Dove Night

Google uses web videos to teach users how to utilize Google Adwords

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