R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

When I listen to music, I often hear a song that’s perfect for the moment. It could be in the car, at the gym, or even in an airport. It doesn’t matter, but when it happens, it’s like magic.

I rode into downtown last December across the Manchester bridge and the Richmond skyline was lit up like a Christmas tree. “My Favorite Things” (The jazzy Tony Bennett version) came on the radio. I fell in love with the RVA all over again. It was like I was in a movie and someone was playing the soundtrack of my life.

Recently I was out of town on business and had a craving for seafood. I jumped off the diet and onto the seafood buffet at Captain Georges in Williamsburg. One of the nice things about dining solo is that you can actually hear the music they play in restaurants, and the experience I had the other night was straight out of a Stanley Kubrick comedy.

At Captain George’s the décor and Musak™ haven’t changed since they opened in 1982, which may explain the 1970’s easy-listening standards they play in the dining room. Waiting for the busy server to get to my table, my tummy started growling as Carly Simon sang “Anticipation is making late, it’s keeping me waitin…”. When I got to the big steaming tray of crab legs, the line was 10 people deep, but I heard “You can go your own way,” by Fleetwood Mac, and I was inspired to walk around to the other side of the buffet and jump the line.

Once seated, I dove in with abandon, noticing that Marvin Gaye was encouraging me “Let’s get it on…” To my right was a talkative table of softball teammates and a large boisterous birthday party on my left. The entire hungry hoard, maybe 30 in all, hit the buffet line at the same time, leaving me to enjoy my fried oysters and scallops in peace. I chuckled to myself as Karen Carpenter’s mellow alto soothed me, “There’s a kind of hush all over the world tonight…”

In hindsight, I guess I was a sight to see. Eating seafood “All by myself” – Thanks Eric Carmen – and laughing hysterically until tears came down my face. I finally managed to maintain my composure and pushed the plate away. I was stuffed.

“Hope you saved room for dessert,” my server said, pointing to another buffet bar on the far side of the dining hall. I mustered up the courage and lumbered towards the endless line of cookies, cakes and pies, while Barry Manilow triumphantly bellowed“Looks like we made it or I thought so till today. Until you were there everywhere and all I could taste was the love the way we made it. Looks like we made it!“

Monday, May 20 – An Energetic Start To The Week

On Monday we headed to Broadscope Media to record new voice-overs with Garet Chester, the voice behind Jack from Virginia Energy Sense‘s Value Your Power campaign. It was a big success and we couldn’t have asked for a better result. If you haven’t met the shocking spokesplug yet, check out this fun commercial to learn more a few ways to reduce your energy usage!

Tuesday, May 21 – The PR Machine (AKA Kent) Is On 100%

The public relations machine at M+M has been running at full speed this week for many of our clients. Kent and company helped Huntington Learning Center of Richmond spread the word to school-age parents in the Richmond region, by offering free tips to help parents fight the dreaded “summer slide.” We also helped A. Smith Bowman Distillery announce a full calendar of fun events at Virginia’s oldest distillery (including the upcoming Father’s Day Festival on June 15). In addition, we helped our clients Hitting Cancer Below The Belt gear up for their upcoming Boxer Brief 5K on June 8 at Stony Point Fashion Park, and spread the word that Hearth & Home Shoppe recently moved to a bigger retail space across the street.

Wednesday, May 22 – Drinking For A Cause

M+M Team Drink Beer for a Good Cause

Wednesday evening, the HofGarden in Scott’s Addition donated 10% of their taproom proceeds to the VCU Massey Cancer Center where Account Manager Leanne Ferry serves on the Massey Alliance Board. She organized the Garden Give Back Event to raise money (and a glass) to benefit a great organization. Art Director Carissa Ghaffari and Office Manager Katie Rossberg both showed up to drink for a good cause. Interested? Check things out here and shoot her an email to find out more.

Thursday, May 23 – More Awards, Please

David-Saunders-Celebrates-PRSA-Win

On Thursday I got up extra early, poured myself a triple-sized coffee, and joined my friend and Richmond’s #1 radio host John Reid for a segment on Richmond’s morning news. We discussed the governor’s ongoing PR crisis and the head-scratching press conference that was conducted by Governor Northam’s alma mater, Eastern Virginia Medical School. Here is a clip of the interview, ICYMI.

On Thursday evening, I took Creative Director Art Webb, Communications Manager Kent Brockwell, and Director of Account Services Kaitlin Thomas to the Virginia PR Awards. We were very excited that Kyanna Perkins, Director of Victim Notifications at Virginia’s Office of the Attorney Generals was able to join us for the PR prom. We cleaned up well and also cleaned up another award to add to our collection. This year, we won the prized Commonwealth Award for our campaign for Respect Richmond. And as always MC Andrew Freiden did an amazing job hosting the event. #InstaFreiden

Friday, May 24 – The Password Isn’t Password

While most people will be heading to the beach for Memorial Day weekend, I will be on the phone Saturday, Sunday, and probably most of Monday helping my mom recover her Facebook password. Instead of emailing Facebook and hitting the “I forgot my password” link, she had several friends and neighbors try to help and she somehow set up three additional aliases on the social networking site. I will be traveling to South Carolina if I’m unsuccessful handling this myself.

A Few of Our Favorite Events

7th Annual HCB2 Boxer Brief 5K

Stony Point Fashion Park | N. Chesterfield, VA

June 8, 2019 | 8-10 a.m.

For the seventh year in a row, underwear-clad runners, joggers, and walkers will be descending on Stony Point Fashion Park in the name of colorectal cancer awareness. The Boxer Brief 5K is Hitting Cancer Below The Belt‘s largest fundraiser and awareness event of the year. Plus, this year’s event features a post-race stretch led by Bryant Johnson, personal trainer and author of “The RBG Workout,” who you might’ve seen on Stephen Colbet’s show. Even if you aren’t a runner, this is a really fun event to attend and the Madison+Main-iacs will be there, too! Registration is now open!

8th Annual Father’s Day Festival

Smith Bowman Distillery | Fredericksburg, VA

June 15, 2019 | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Give dad a day he won’t forget and head up to Virginia’s oldest distillery for a day of tours, tastings, great food, and live music. Plus, don’t miss the annual Barrel Regatta at 1 p.m., where dads will be competing against each other for glory and bragging rights as they paddle homemade bourbon barrel boats to the finish line. Learn more on the Distillery’s Facebook page.

Got an upcoming event you want to share? Can we come? Send us the deets!

“I feel like soundtrack music is almost like seeing the movie again, but with my ears.”

— Dave Attell

Look ma, we have a blog!

Soundtrack Of Your Life | Weekly Report for May 24, 2019