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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.

In 2009, Elevation helped Sports Backers and Venture Richmond create Dominion Riverrock, Richmond’s annual celebration of active riverlife. Our work included naming, identity development and brand strategy for the event, as well as creating the marketing plan and implementing all advertising components. This year, the event returns with even bigger thrills—and we’re pleased to be part of the action again! Make your plans to attend Dominion Riverrock May 14-15 on Brown’s Island.

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

The Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K was recently named one of the the top 10 races in the country by USA Today. And with good reason! Its mix of running, costumes and music draws well over 30,000 participants — plus huge cheering crowds — each year.

Elevation captured the unique spirit of the event in a new campaign featuring foot puppets engaged in offbeat race scenarios. Four television commercials, (supported with print, outdoor and radio) make up the campaign, which is intended to increase registrations and excitement for the 2010 event.

The community will soon have a chance to create and submit their own “footage” as part of the campaign, too. Check back for details in the weeks ahead.

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The hugely popular Butterflies LIVE! exhibit is back at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, and Elevation is promoting the event through an integrated campaign of television, outdoor, print and social media. In fact, the widget that we launched for the Garden in January 2009 has been installed over 3,600 times—producing over 250,000 views in the weeks prior to the event!

The event runs through October 11th. Make your plans to attend today. [To view Elevation's Butterflies LIVE! commercials, click the image above. Requires a Flash plug-in to view properly. Click image above to view the outdoor board at a larger size.]

Working closely with our friends from The Martin Agency’s sports marketing arm, Elevation created an integrated campaign for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN). Because the network is owned by the team, they can offer fans more access to the games and players than any other outlet.

We built the campaign around that idea of maximum access—and created a series of offbeat, memorable spots that actually led to a whole new nickname for outfielder Nick Markakis.

Click to play: The Screamer, :30 Radio

Click to play: Superstitious, :30 Radio

Click to play: Stats Guy, :30 Radio

Print Ad (click to view larger)

Outdoor Board (click to view larger)