Named one of the best races in the country by USA Today, the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K features over 40,000 participants, plus costumed runners, spirit groups, party stops, live music and much more. It’s truly a community event, with people from all walks of life coming together to enjoy a day of fun and physical activity along one of the most beautiful race courses in America.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elevation created the television commercial above to promote this year’s race. Nearly 100 volunteers brought our theme—10K Together—to life over the course of a two day shoot. Their dedication, along with that of our creative teams and production partners, made this fresh and fun spot possible. We hope you agree that it captures the spirit of this one-of-a-kind event.

Elevation is pleased to announce the acquisition of Fultz Marketing.

Founded in 1994 by industry veteran Barbara Fultz, Fultz Marketing has a longstanding reputation for excellence in producing a wide range of marketing and advertising materials. “We’ve been working with Barbara and her team since we launched Elevation in 2001,” said Frank Gilliam, Elevation’s co-founder and co-creative director. “Our strengths have always matched perfectly with theirs, so this is really a perfect marriage.”

Fultz has been named Senior Vice President of Elevation, where she will continue to provide leadership to accounts including Alcoa Architectural Products, Camp BowWow, Capital One, LeClairRyan and Marriott International, among others. All of Fultz Marketing’s staff will also join the Elevation team at its headquarters at 9 West Main Street in Richmond, effective January 1, 2012.

“Elevation’s clients will benefit from the added depth of production experience that Barbara’s team brings to us,” said Aaron Dotson, Elevation’s co-founder and co-creative director. “And Fultz’s clients will benefit from Elevation’s extensive strategic and creative capabilities. We’re very enthusiastic about the growth opportunities this creates, not only for our combined client roster, but for our staff, too.”

“Joining Elevation is going to be great for my clients and my staff,” Fultz said. “Frank, Aaron and I have created dozens of successful campaigns together over the last ten years, and the chance to officially join forces is very exciting for all of us. We look forward to creating even more great work together in the years ahead.”

Elevation was named the Small Business Greater Richmond Employer of Choice in 2011. Barbara Fultz was named Ad Person of the Year by the Advertising Club of Richmond in 1998. Aaron Dotson and Frank Gilliam were named Ad Persons of the Year by the Advertising Club of Richmond in 2009.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elevation recently launched a new campaign for Duke’s Mayonnaise, one of the South’s most beloved brands. The television spots (viewable above) feature stories of how Duke’s smooth and creamy mayonnaise brings one-of-a-kind flavor to food.

The campaign is part of an effort by The C.F. Sauer Company to expand Duke’s presence throughout the U.S. to compete with the national brands.

Elevation was awarded creative duties for The C.F. Sauer company in early 2011. Our work is focused on the condiment maker’s three key brands: Duke’s Mayonnaise, Sauer’s Everyday Spices, and a gourmet line of spice blends, The Spice Hunter.

At the Employer All Star Awards breakfast on May 4th, Elevation was named “Greater Richmond Area Employer of Choice” in the category of small businesses, joining Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital and VCU Health System as the top employers in the Richmond region who embody a set of honored principles, a defined culture and have satisfied employees. Click here for news coverage.

The awards are sponsored by Richmond SHRM, the Greater Richmond Chamber, and The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Elevation was also honored to be a finalist for the Community Involvement award, which recognizes employers who demonstrate stewardship through volunteering significant time and/or resources in support of charitable organizations, educational organizations, community service groups, and/or significant community projects or programs.

AIGA Richmond’s 6th Greater Richmond Awards for Design Excellence were held April 28th. The show, which is held every two years, recognizes the very best design work done in central Virginia — and Elevation was honored to take home three of the show’s top awards:

- “Judge’s Choice Award” for for our print campaign for UsedCameras.com
- “Best of Category” in Advertising for our print campaign for UsedCameras.com
- “Best of Category” in Web/Interactive for our video for World Pediatric Project

In addition, Elevation won merit awards for our work for the First Tee Richmond, Sports Backers, St. Christopher’s and Belmont Butchery.

Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods — the company formed after the sale of the popular chain of Ukrop’s grocery stores — is committed to nourishing families and communities by providing outstanding, homemade foods that bring people together around the table. Elevation recently helped the company name, develop and launch a new brand for its many prepared food options.

Good Meadow Homemades was inspired by the Ukrop’s own history. The family came to the United States from the then-Czechoslovakian village of Dobrá Niva (meaning “Good Meadow”) over 100 years ago, bringing with them a tradition of gathering everyone around the table to share a daily meal.

Elevation created the identity, brand messaging, collateral materials, website, packaging designs, in-store POP displays, and a wide range of other promotional materials to support the launch of the brand. We continue to develop even more promotional items for Good Meadow and Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods as the “new” company continues to grow.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elevation recently launched a campaign for Virginia Credit Union that featured its members in an innovative new way. The idea was to cast real members through an American Idol-style audition process, then have them record an original song, learn choreography from professional dancers, then have them perform the song in a commercial that has all the light fun and charm of the popular TV show, Glee.

Over 77 members auditioned for 24 slots. Elevation developed an extensive social media effort around the campaign, including launching a “Choose The Final Star” contest that helped triple the Credit Union’s fan base on Facebook in just two weeks.

We were impressed by the talents of our “everyday people” stars, and think you will be, too. Click here for a behind-the-scenes story of the campaign.

[Click image above to view larger banner]

When our friends at Venture Richmond asked if we could design and produce a giant–as in 30 feet high by 20 feet wide–banner to “poke a little fun” at national sports personality Dick Vitale in less than 24 hours, we answered: “HECK YEAH!” (well, something like that).

The banner above, of course, refers to pre-NCAA basketball tournament comments by Vitale that VCU didn’t deserve to be let into the field of competitors. The Rams made the Final 4, and the banner made national news. It was featured on SportsIllustrated.com, ESPN, Fox Sports and USA Today.

Vitale was a wonderful sport, contacting us and asking to work together to auction the banner to benefit pediatric cancer research. It’s a win-win for Richmond, the Rams, and a great cause.

St. Catherine’s–one of the nation’s leading schools for girls–is in the midst of a $35 million capital campaign. Elevation recently created a comprehensive campaign website in support of the campaign, which includes an overview video and additional explanatory videos which will be released throughout the course of the campaign. In addition to these materials, Elevation provided templates for other campaign communications and facilitated two major marketing research projects.

Click here to view the full site and overview video Elevation created for St. Catherine’s.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elevation recently completed an extensive rebranding effort for the former International Hospital for Children which culminated in the introduction of the organization’s new name: World Pediatric Project. Elevation conducted extensive brand research, developed comprehensive brand positioning and messaging and created a graphic platform and relaunch materials for the 10-year old nonprofit. We produced the video above to introduce potential supporters to the organization and the powerful brand promise that we created for World Pediatric Project.

[To view the video, click the image above. Requires a Flash plug-in to view properly.]