Get 2 Know Ad 2 ~ Monica Jones

Monica Jones is current President of Ad 2 Roanoke and Ad 2 Liaison for District 3.  Now we could give you the usual biography spiel, but it’s much more funner… Yes, funner… To ask random questions… So here we go: Q: Favorite cocktail? A: Vodka, Water, Lime. Q: What’s your all-time favorite ad? A: Sony Bravia (Bouncy Balls) ad. Q: What did you want to be when you grew up? A: The person that made the college football highlight reels set to a top-40 song that showed right before the second half. Q: Which social media platform is more effective for advertising, … Continue reading →

Get 2 Know Ad 2 ~ Blair Peyton

Blair Peyton is our Digital Communications Chair, but he is so much more! Professionally, Blair is the Operations Manager for WFJX “FOX Radio 910″, a new-talk station serving the Roanoke Valley.  In addition, he co-hosts a weekend entertainment talk show “ The Blair & Christie Show ” winning the “Best Source For Fun News”, award from the readers of the Roanoker magazine. Blair’s talents extend to the performing arts as well. For six years, Blair wrote/produced/co-starred in a sketch comedy show, garnering local and minor national attention. He’s created an eclectic mix of comedic online videos. His commercial parody “ Sissy Poopers ” was a Top 10 “Cybersmack” … Continue reading →

Type and Advertising

I love typography. Spiekermann, Hoefler and Scher are my rock stars. But what does any of that mean to a 23 year old worker who holds voting as a peripheral importance? A struggling arts venue seeking a younger crowd? Or, from a more commercial aspect, a potential consumer of an advertised product? What better stage than advertising to observe such an expressive form of visual communication manifest? In this post I will take a look at a few of my favorite instances where advertising and type coalesce concisely and gracefully. You had to see this coming from a student: I … Continue reading →

Press Press Merch/Appalachia Press tour

On Tuesday, January 31, Ad2 Roanoke planned for a lunch-time tour of two of Roanoke’s finest printers’ shops, which we dubbed the “Brown Bag Series: The Fine Art of Printing.” Enter Press Press Merch and Appalachia Press . We were welcomed with open arms, warm smiles, pizza, and desserts by Hired Guns Creative‘s Erica and Patrick, along with Greg Szechenyi from Press Press and John Reburn from Appalachia Press.   Greg walked around their print shop, taking us through the production of a normal screen printing job, showing off their massive 10-station, 8-color automatic press and vacuum exposure unit. Later, Greg showed off their showroom, highlighting various printing … Continue reading →

My favorite design advice – Frank Chimero

Frank Chimero is a design god. There. I said it. What? He’s taking a hiatus from designing to write this book . (Watch the whole video. Seriously.) He’s probably written some of the most compelling advice for students I’ve ever read, and in case you haven’t seen it before, we’re going to share some highlights here. Look people in the eyes when you are talking or listening to them. The best teachers are the ones who treat their classrooms like a workplace, and the worst ones are the ones who treat their classroom like a classroom as we’ve come to expect it. Eat breakfast. Realize that … Continue reading →

Product Placement: Great or gimmicky?

BMW is back in action! After taking a 10 year hiatus, the iconic automaker has inked a huge new product placement deal. Once a staple of action movies, the BMW symbol has been notably missing from major productions since 2002. After creating their short film series “The Hire”, which was at the time considered ground breaking online entertainment content, they made an executive decision to switch their marketing dollars to sports backing Formula One and America’s Cup car and sailing races. This time around BMW is upping the ante. In addition to providing 2 custom made cars for filming, they … Continue reading →