Three former University of Richmond students are trying to make it easier for homeowners to sell their houses. The three—Mike Gray, Mark Hickman and Andrew Ryan—have launched RichmondHomeBuzz. The company starts doing business today. Friends since college, the three started the company as a way to help homeowners who want to sell their houses but don’t want to pay commissions or have little experience with the for-sale-by-owner process.

The advertising world is in the midst of profound changes, and agencies will need to adjust the way they tell stories, the top executive at The Martin Agency said yesterday. John Adams, chairman and CEO of the Shockoe Slip ad shop, said the industry is moving away from an integrated marketing concept and toward a more unified approach.

Radio executives from across the country gathered at The Martin Agency in Richmond last week for a radio summit to discuss the future of the medium and to find ways to drive business for clients. Mike Hughes, president and creative director at the firm, organized the summit at the agency’s Shockoe Slip headquarters. “I wanted to gather industry people together, break into groups and see what we can do that’s new and different for radio,“ he said.

The Martin Agency this week began airing what could be the final four UPS whiteboard television commercials. But that doesn’t mean that the ad campaign is dead or that the star of the ads, Martin creative director Andy Azula, won’t be appearing in new ones. “We have no way of knowing if [UPS’] new agency will continue to use the whiteboard campaign until they finalize their new creative work, but Andy said that’s a possibility,“ said Theresa Dunn, a spokeswoman for the Shockoe Slip ad agency.

The Martin Agency has decided to break with one of its biggest clients—UPS, the giant packaging shipper. The Shockoe Slip ad agency, which had held the UPS account for about nine years, said yesterday that it decided not keep pursuing the account and would focus on other opportunities. UPS announced in April that it was putting its global advertising and marketing account up for review.

The John F. Kennedy Foundation will re-create online the entire Apollo 11 mission to the moon beginning today at 9:32 a.m., exactly 40 years after the launch. A Web site created by the Richmond-based Martin Agency in Richmond will track the historic first mission to the moon from liftoff through the landing on the moon four days later.

Posted on the Biz Buzz Blog last week
  Starbucks will open a new full-service shop in downtown Richmond this summer. It will be inside the Richmond Marriott, which is undergoing a $14 million renovation. It will replace a stand inside the hotel, which closed last week. The stand only served brewed Starbucks coffees, while the new location will carry the entire Starbucks menu. Tom Underwood, the Marriott’s general manager, said the hotel decided to open the full-size Starbucks because it helps bring in customers off the street and is attractive to travelers planning trips. “Starbucks is a brand that adds a lot of value,“ he said.

The advertising industry is a fastmoving world of evolving technologies and wildly fluctuating consumer demands. Its practitioners must be prepared for change. Change is now coming to one of the preeminent advertising graduate schools in the country, the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University. Kelly O’Keefe will become the school’s new managing director July 1.

The Martin Agency stands to either lose one of its marquee clients or gain its global business as shipping giant UPS launches a review of its advertising, media buying, marketing and digital services. UPS media spending topped $100 million last year in the U.S. and about $200 million globally, according to AdWeek, an industry publication.

It’s time my industry—the advertising industry—did something important. For our own self-interest—and for the common good—we need to start paying attention to newspapers again. To begin with, it would be good for our business. For our own selfish reasons, we need a medium that targets the well-informed. We need a medium that lets us tell our whole story—and not just the 30-second version.

David Saunders of Madison + Main was named Ad Person of the Year last night for his work bringing together the advertising community “both online and in reality.“ The Martin Agency also swept at last night’s Richmond Show, winning 36 awards including three best-in-show honors. The event, sponsored by the Richmond Ad Club, is an annual awards show that recognizes the best work done by the area’s advertising agencies.

The Geico Gecko, which seems to be everywhere these days, has found a new place: viral videos. This week, the Gecko began showing up in a series of videos parodying some of the best-known viral videos on the Web.

The Federal Trade Commission is trying to outwit The Martin Agency’s catchy FreeCreditReport.com commercials with its own ads touting a government-sponsored free service. The FTC has even come up with its own band of 20-something musicians to tout the creditreport service.

The Martin Agency laid off 24 employees yesterday after the spending projections by clients indicated the agency was overstaffed for the workload. The cuts represents 5 percent of the work force.

The book business isn’t easy these days. With competition from big-chain and Internet booksellers, independent bookstores have been struggling for years. Now, the new world of book selling has claimed another casualty.