News & Updates
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Meet Meg: Copywriter, Comedian, Improv Artist
April 01, 2019Meet Meg! She’s one of our senior writers and among the funniest people in the office. Her wit and quick…
5 Ways Nonprofits Can Improve Their Website Experience
March 20, 2019We celebrated #givingtuesday 2018 by offering one local nonprofit a chance to win free social media services from CVR. It’s…
Four Content Ideas for Healthcare Social Media
March 15, 2019If I were a social media or content manager for a healthcare organization, I would focus on patient comeback stories,…
Indy Achieves Launches Mentor Initiative
February 19, 2019A hot topic in Indianapolis is employment. But not just employment rates and wages. It’s that with more baby boomers…
2019 Digital Trends
January 01, 2019From chat bots and voice assistance to privacy and micro-networks, 2018 was a big year in the digital and social…
Top 18 of 2018
December 20, 2018The New Year is almost here and you know what that means…. It’s time to find a quiet space, turn…
The #1 Thing Hospitals Can’t Talk About
December 11, 2018Pricing. Outside of the $49 heart and lung scans, hospital networks can rarely be transparent about costs. And they know…
Brands Today—The Reason for Being
November 26, 2018CVR’s branding team has been busy forging new and refined positionings, conducting market research, identifying new service names and ultimately…
CVR announces promotions and new hires
November 20, 2018I am thrilled to announce the promotion of five employees and the addition of two account services employees and one…
CVR Celebrates #GivingTuesday With Social Media Giveaway for Nonprofits
November 15, 2018At CVR, we don’t just build brands that matter, we give back to brands that matter. Last year, we participated…
People for Urban Progress launches Amtrak Collection
October 31, 2018CVR is all aboard and moving full steam ahead with one of our newest client projects! Earlier this month, we…
Digital City Hall saves you enough time to start a Netflix binge
October 15, 2018Studies show that for the past 17 months, Indianapolis residents have left their homes less, kept their pajamas on longer…
Celebrating Manufacturing Day 2018
October 05, 2018October 5 is National Manufacturing Day, a day designated to celebrate modern manufacturers who engineer and develop innovative products and…
The Future of Commercial Transportation
October 04, 2018I recently attended the IAA Commercial Vehicle tradeshow in Hannover, Germany, to see the latest trends in transportation, logistics and…
CVR's Fall Bucket List
September 21, 2018The leaves are falling, the temperatures dropping and Starbucks’ PSLs (pumpkin spice lattes) line our desks (and empty our bank…
CVR is Moving to New York. (New York Street, that is.)
August 21, 2018With our agency’s expanding roster of national and international clients as well as the growth we’ve experienced over the last…
“This Is Indy. This Is May.”
May 25, 2018This year’s 500 Festival slogan is short and sweet: Indianapolis defines May. You would have to be living under a…
5 Content Tips to Help You Appeal to the B2B Buyer
May 18, 2018We’ve been in this business for awhile now, over a century, in fact, so you can imagine we’ve learned a…
CVR Announces Strategic Partnership with FoundSM
April 11, 2018We are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership with Found Search Marketing (FoundSM), a national search marketing agency based in…
CVR Go Bragh!
March 17, 2018We’ve gone green here at CVR today. Not the eco-friendly kind of green (our printer works so hard I actually…
Giving To Brands That Matter
November 27, 2017Our company philosophy is “Building Brands that Matter” – but on #GivingTuesday, we’re changing it to “Giving to Brands that…
Singles Day Tops Black Friday Sales
November 10, 2017Amazon finally has a retail rival, but it is not here in the U.S. It is called Alibaba and it…
The World Tour of Indiana
August 29, 2017This summer’s been blazing by for everyone it seems, and that is no exception for all of us here at…
CVR Wins the Apex Monumental Challenge
June 09, 2017Last year, CVR had the privilege of rebranding the organization that operates the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon to what is now…
CVR and Bryant Race Into Town Together
June 02, 2017Following several months of planning, hard work and drive, CVR celebrated its own “victory lap” after delivering a winning campaign…
CVR Welcomes Four New Clients
May 26, 2017At CVR, we build brands that matter – it’s not only our philosophy, it’s what guides our work. We are…
Telling Your Sustainability Story
April 21, 2017Green. Recyclable. Environmentally Friendly…or Safe…or Conscious. As marketers, there are many adjectives we use to support our sustainability message. In…
Shifting Indy.gov Forward
April 18, 2017CVR is helping local government become a lot more accessible for 940,000 residents and 75,000 businesses that call Indianapolis or…
CVR Celebrates At The PRSA Pinnacle Awards
April 12, 2017This year’s Pinnacle Awards was an incredible night of celebrations! The PRSA Pinnacle Awards celebrate the most creative and innovative…
Social From the Road
April 10, 2017When one of our clients has an event or trade show, we know that a large part of their audience…
Saving Truckloads of Food for Hungry Hoosiers
April 04, 2017CVR staffers have supported hunger relief efforts by volunteering at Gleaners, supporting Indy Hunger Network (IHN) initiatives, and working at…
Red Line … Green Light
March 29, 2017It has been a long time coming, but better transit is pulling into Indianapolis. About a decade ago, our agency…
Together We Can
March 14, 2017In 2015 Matthew Tully, contributor to the Indianapolis Star, authored an opinion piece with the headline, “Indiana’s drug crisis begs…
150 Days of Success
February 27, 2017When The School of Physical Education and Tourism (PETM) at IUPUI first approached us about helping them celebrate their 150th…
Millennials and the Importance of Transparency Marketing
February 23, 2017Consumers today know when they are being sold and it’s often a turnoff. According to a 2016 Food Revolution Study, 94…
China, Indiana’s economy – and CVR!
February 10, 2017At CVR, we are thrilled for the opportunity to partner with one of the newest additions to our AMIN Worldwide…
A Trip To The Indianapolis Home Show
February 08, 2017My wife and I recently purchased a home, and so when we saw that the Indianapolis Home Show was taking…
2017 Super Bowl Commercials: A New Tactic In Advertising
February 06, 2017Well, here we are again; the day after watching another amazing Super Bowl game that ultimately resulted in the timeless,…
Don’t Let Your Resolutions Become Stale
January 30, 2017February 2017, just in time to let our resolutions lapse … that is, if we made resolutions. Personally, I don’t.…
Here’s to Being Lucky in 2016 & Paying it Forward to 2017
January 10, 20172016 was quite a year on many fronts. For CVR, it was a great year. We had many account wins…
#ShopLocalIndy This Saturday
November 23, 2016For over 106 years, CVR has been invested in Indiana and committed to supporting the growth of our fine home…
Agency of Change: CVR helps push mass transit to historic win
November 18, 2016Last week, nearly 60% of Marion County voters cast their ballots in favor of expanded mass transit. It was an…
CVR Runs Indianapolis
November 10, 2016Not long after getting the assignment for rebranding the CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, someone got the bright idea that…
You say “’Merica,” I say “’Murica.”
November 08, 2016The last year and a half have been building toward this moment. From humble mumblings to unleashed raw emotion to…
Learning from LEX: Indy Leaders Head to the Twin Cities
October 06, 2016CVR is proud to belong to the Indy Chamber, and to count the region’s largest business organization as a client…
Who Is Really Watching?
September 27, 2016Late September is one of my favorite times of the year for a lot of reasons, but the one that…
When CVR Eyes Are Smiling
September 16, 2016My name is Margaret. My Aunt is Mary Margaret. My Great-Grandma was Margaret Mary Latchford. My skin is pale and…
Preparing Indy For Some Football
September 07, 2016“Are You Ready For Some Football?” We’ve seen this MNF anthem take hold as a preseason theme for football in…
IndyFringe: The Crossroads of Theatre
August 26, 2016T’was the Great Bard who wrote in As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage.” Well, for 11 days,…
A Media Buyer’s Take on Summer TV
August 17, 2016As a media buyer, I’m intrigued by ratings, viewers and more. Summer TV used to be an oxymoron. Ratings were…
The Fast And The Curious
July 14, 2016There are probably a lot of ways to crack the IBJ Fast 25 list, but at CVR, we did it…
Creativity On Display At Bigger Picture Show
May 14, 2016Last night the work of five CVR employees was on display when the Bigger Picture Show took place at the…
The 7th Annual Bigger Picture Show
May 13, 2016In 2010, I designed what would be my first Bigger Picture Show poster. I was still a design student at…
CVR Receives Four Addy® Awards
February 22, 2016Caldwell VanRiper (CVR) was honored with four ADDY® Awards at the 2016 Indianapolis ADDY® Awards Competition earlier this month, including…
Extra (Talking) Points: #SB50 Commercials
February 09, 2016For a lot of fans across the nation, unless your team is on the field, the Super Bowl is basically…
Giving Back
January 20, 2016CVR is blessed to work with two of the Indianapolis community’s premier nonprofits: Gleaners Food Bank and the United Way…
Trends to Look For in 2016
January 13, 2016A new year has begun and, just like the last few years, 2016 is likely to bring about rapid change…
It’s Christmastime Again, CVR!
December 18, 2015Holiday Peanuts reference: check. Now I can move on with my blog. Or can I? *SIGH *… nope, no I…
CVR Announcements in Q4
December 16, 2015Caldwell VanRiper, Inc. (CVR) announces strategic changes and accomplishments, including the launch of its new website, new hires, and being…
The End Is Just The Beginning
November 19, 2015The new CVR website went live this week. There was polite golf applause, a final search for typos, and an…
The "Threat" of Digital Technology
September 09, 2015I have a brother who works for a record label in Nashville. His job has given me a front-row seat…
Golden Age of TV
September 06, 2015I realized I wanted a career in media, when during my first job interview, I was asked what TV shows…
Indiana at the Center of the Universe
December 03, 2014Many people call Indiana a “fly-over” state. If you ask the average New Yorker or European, they ask you where…
Stand for something
November 01, 2014Back in the day, before “Cougar” was totally absent from his name, John Mellencamp penned a song called, You’ve Got…
We lost. Now what?
May 23, 2014Well, we did not get it. The NFL picked the other “apolis.” It was a great effort by the bid…
CVR rejects HJR-3
February 07, 2014As the oldest advertising and public relations agency in Indianapolis, we have been part of many civic initiatives that have…
The Boomerang Effect
October 17, 2013“For he had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself…through error and through trial…through…
Has Google destroyed email?
August 28, 2013Google has slowly been rolling out a tabbed feature for Gmail – ostensibly to help users prioritize their more important…
Megatrends & Countertrends in Brand Positioning
August 15, 2013Advertising Marketing International Network (AMIN). It was fascinating to understand that the fundamentals of communication are so universal but that…
Rewarding loyalty is spot on
August 12, 2013As a marketer in a tight economy, we’re often faced with needing to be even more frugal with clients’ ever-stretched…
Why is it cool to hate Nickelback?
July 12, 2013Admit it. You feel like you have to hate Nickelback. You’re scared that if you say, “I think Nickelback is…
At the corner of Instagram and Vine
July 09, 2013A few months ago, a little mobile app known as Vine launched, and then shortly thereafter, Twitter bought it, and…
Social media and its fruit
March 17, 2013We talk about low hanging fruit in a lot of different contexts. It’s what we, in both personal and professional…
Be Responsive
March 01, 2013This is the age of screens. No longer can you think of the digital landscape as desktops and laptops with…
Food trends to try in 2013
February 26, 2013The new year is well underway, and with it comes many predictions for what dishes, ingredients, taste profiles and restaurant…
Driving New Product Momentum through Early Adopters
February 21, 2013Every new product goes through a predictable cycle that starts with a small group of people who try new ideas…
CVR expands clients roster for 2013
January 17, 2013I am pleased to announce that Caldwell VanRiper is starting the year off strong with several new clients. The National…
Black Friday backlash? New study from CVR.
November 20, 2012CVR recently surveyed holiday shoppers, and found that the majority – 73 percent – will steer clear of the mall…
3 Remedies for Advertising Attention Deficit Disorder
September 25, 2012“Excuse me. May I have your attention, please? Hello, Hello, can you hear me? Is this on?” You may not…
Experts around the world
August 17, 2012Many people in the United States think of Indiana as a ‘fly over state’. A place to which they pay…
Buying or Renting
July 31, 2012Should you buy or should you rent? This is a debated topic in many different areas of our lives. I…
Who's watching who?
July 31, 2012As consumer media habits have continued to evolve, one thing is apparent: Our appetite for consuming video isn’t going to…
The case for e-learning
July 07, 2012When most people think of advertising and marketing, even sales, rarely if ever does training come to mind. But training…
So... which is better?
July 02, 2012With over twenty years of print production experience, we’ve seen a lot of exciting changes in the world of commercial…
A mobile target
June 28, 2012With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, it is no wonder that mobile strategy has risen to the surface of…
Not your garden variety marketing mix
June 24, 2012Global Industry Analysts, Inc. recently put out a report that the world’s garden products market will exceed US $256 billion…
Be Loud? Be Creative
June 22, 2012There is a lot of noise being aimed in a consumer’s direction. In any given day, we are exposed to…
Defining a clear value proposition
June 19, 2012When someone asks you about your company, do you have a clear, succinct message about what your company does or…
What tools are in your toolbox?
June 18, 2012Buzzwords. Marketing is full of them – realignment, digital integration, benchmarking, brand loyalty, brand identity, tipping point, social engagement to…
SEO: Linking Strategy
June 11, 2012In my last post, I wrote about three simple steps for getting started with SEO. This week, I thought I’d…
Rebranding Abraham Lincoln
June 02, 2012Stoic. Cool under pressure. Honest. This is the Abe we’ve come to know. Now, attempts to rejuvenate the 16th president…
Would you like a screen with that?
May 29, 2012Here’s my secret for the day: I love reality TV. Not all reality TV. You won’t catch me watching toddlers…
SEO: Getting Started
May 24, 2012Search engine optimization is mystifying, challenging, and rewarding. And for any business with a website, it’s also essential. SEO agencies…
Customers prefer email from marketers
May 15, 2012There used to be a day when our mailbox or our voicemail box would pile up with unsolicited marketing messages…
(Trade)Show and Tell
May 11, 2012Is including social media an afterthought when planning for your trade show? In a world filled with hundreds of millions…
Cake in an elevator
April 23, 2012I’ll admit it. I love cake. Sheet cake, cupcakes, layer cakes, cake that’s dyed Cookie Monster blue for my niece’s…
The changing media landscape
April 17, 2012Have you ever stopped to think about just how different your media usage is now compared to two years ago,…
How brands can use Pinterest
April 12, 2012By now, you’ve probably heard of Pinterest, the new-ish social media darling that recently surpassed 10 million unique monthly users.…
Learn from The Masters about Consumer Experience
April 05, 2012If you have ever been to Augusta National, you know what I am talking about. There is no other sports…
What you say and How you say it
March 28, 2012I have a teenage daughter who is starting the college search. Our mailbox has been flooded with mailings from colleges…
Are you ready for the post-recession economy?
February 01, 2012As the American economy sputters again, many companies are reducing spending and protecting cash flow. They are delaying large capital…
How transparent is your brand?
January 03, 2012Have you seen the new Miracle Whip commercial that asks “which side are you on – do you love it…
