This Spring, (add)ventures teamed up with Florida International University’s Chapman Graduate School of Business (FIU) to develop a creative, engaging campaign to encourage young professionals in the Miami area to consider the benefits of an MBA from FIU.

Traveler, treasure hunter and jewelry designer, Jessica Ricci, recently partnered with (add)ventures to develop new marketing and e-commerce tools to put her unique creations in the spotlight. From France and Rome to India and China, Ricci’s worldwide journeys have given her the cultural inspiration and raw materials to create beautifully detailed pieces of jewelry that tell stories of history, symbolism and multicultural art.

(add)ventures is pleased to welcome ACCION USA to its family of client partners. The nonprofit organization, which has offices throughout the U.S., provides critical microloans to entrepreneurs. The small business owners, who are often women and minorities, use loans from ACCION USA to build sustainable businesses and increase family income, and on average, each loan leads to the creation of 2.4 new jobs. In addition to microloans, ACCION USA provides invaluable financial education.

City Year Miami, a national service organization dedicated to curbing the dropout crisis in urban schools, recently kicked off its first Red Jacket Campaign. This initiative engages community members and corporate partners and uses the power of social media to share their stories of service with the world. (add)ventures' Angie Moncada led the team that worked with City Year Miami to create and implement the viral, multimedia effort on behalf of (add)ventures.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Edesia LLC, a non-profit producer of life-saving Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs), is the recipient of a $2 million multi-year grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Providence, R.I. – Even ol' blue eyes himself might have crooned over the latest move by (add)ventures. The 20-year-old multidisciplinary communications firm -- headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island with offices in Miami and Estonia – has opened an office on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building in New York City. Beginning in December, (add)ventures can service existing client partners from “the city that never sleeps” and introduce other brand stakeholders to its scope of strategic and creative offerings.

Comsearch, a leader in providing time-sensitive estimate review solutions for the insurance industry, has unveiled a new branding strategy that more closely aligns with the company’s strategic vision to enhance service offerings to better serve its diverse customer base.

(add)ventures congratulates Mary Sadlier, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, for being re-named to the board of directors for the March of Dimes Rhode Island.

At (add)ventures, Sadlier works extensively with client partners to solve their marketing problems, particularly in the areas of public relations, crisis communications, media strategy and event planning. She is a recipient of a Providence Business News “Top 40 Under 40” award and a graduate of Leadership Rhode Island. 

Providence, R.I. (September 28, 2009) – When a record 10,000 runners and walkers hit the streets of Providence for the 20th annual CVS Caremark Downtown 5K, (add)ventures was right where it wanted to be – in the thick of things. While PR/Strategy team members rolled up their sleeves to direct news media and coordinate interviews at media headquarters, other (add)ventures team members laced up their sneakers to take part in Rhode Island’s largest road race! Nothing like breaking a sweat for a great client partner!

Providence, R.I. (September 17, 2009) – (add)ventures, a multidisciplinary communications firm headquartered in Providence, has been named one of America’s fastest-growing private companies by Inc. magazine. This is the company’s fifth appearance on the annual list.

Temple Downtown Restaurant is encouraging patrons to do good by helping care for the area’s shelter animals. From now through October 10, the restaurant, located in the Renaissance Providence Hotel, will collect much-needed items for the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA). Each patron who makes a donation will receive a complimentary appetizer.

Educators sometimes give their students a break and now they can get one of their own. Through its ‘Best in Class’ school partnership program, the Renaissance Providence Hotel is offering active and retired teachers and administrators 50 percent off average room rates.

CVS/pharmacy announced today that it has raised $4.4 million in just 21 days through its annual in-store fundraising campaign for ALS research. This is the eighth year of the annual fundraising effort which, to date, has raised $19.3 million for ALS research, $1 at a time. This year’s fundraiser took place in CVS/pharmacy locations nationwide from June 7 to 27.

CVS Caremark and the Boston Red Sox have officially launched the 2009 season of the CVS Caremark All Kids Can Baseball Camps at Fenway Park. The baseball camps provide New England children with disabilities an action-packed, dream-fulfilling experience playing ball at Fenway Park and getting batting tips from Red Sox Batting Coach Dave Magadan. Leading off the 2009 camp season were Little League "Challenger" players from the Portsmouth Rhode Island Challenger Division.

(add)ventures has received recognition as one of the fastest-growing inner-city companies in America by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). This marks the third time that (add)ventures has been named to the Inner City 100,  a prestigious ranking which highlights the firm’s innovative practices and sustained growth.

(add)ventures offers a warm congratulations to client-partner Renaissance Providence Hotel, an upscale, full-service hotel affiliated with the Marriott portfolio of branded luxury hotels, which has been awarded Marriott International’s honor of 2008 Franchised Hotel of the Year. The award recognizes one hotel that exemplifies outstanding performance throughout its operations.

Angie Moncada, managing director, strategy/pr for (add)ventures, recently authored an op-ed in PR News, an industry publication read by senior communications professionals worldwide.

Her piece, entitled “Engaging Employees via Internal Corporate Blogs,” was featured in the April 20th edition of PR News. The article offers tips on how organizations can engage employees in meaningful ways online, while protecting and enhancing their reputations and mitigating management concerns.

(add)ventures, a multidisciplinary communications consultancy, recently expanded its executive management team by naming Joseph Miech to the newly created position of chief operating officer. As (add)ventures continues its unprecedented growth, Miech will oversee the firm’s operations and improve its procedures and organizational planning. He will also help implement the firm’s strategic global expansion, including overseeing the company’s Latin American gateway office in Miami, Florida.

Congratulations to (add)ventures client partner Miami International University of Art & Design,the 2009 recipient of the Beacon Council Education Award.

Scott Maiocchi has joined (add)ventures as the new director, video/animation. He is an award-winning director of photography and editor with more than 15 years of experience. Scott has worked with corporate and commercial clients such as Motorola, HBO, CNN, PBS and numerous Fortune 500 companies. He also had a 14-year stint in the U.S. Army. Scott will enhance our multiple capabilities including videography, animation, and interactive media, as well as manage onset blues, our in-house production studio.

(add)ventures understands that philanthropic investments are a crucial part of a company’s success. For the past 20 years, philanthropy has been intricately woven into the fabric of our business. We believe true success isn’t what you gain, but what you (add).

You’ve probably heard the question at least once in the past year, as the social networking site Facebook has gone from phenomenon to lexicon and has revolutionized connection in much the same way Google revolutionized search. But just as Google is about more than finding a great recipe for cornbread stuffing this holiday season, Facebook offers more than the voyeuristic pleasure of seeing that your ex has gained 30 pounds and taken up candle-making as a hobby.

Making college and career plans is never easy, but the new WaytogoRI.org Web site promises to help guide the way for Rhode Island students. Working with the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, the (add)ventures creative and strategy teams led the statewide publicity launch of this cool new Web site – which offers tons of planning tools from self-assessment tests to college and scholarship searches, resume writing tips, and more.

Actor Martin Sheen was in Providence with Congressman Patrick Kennedy for a fundraiser, and stopped to meet some of the leaders of City Year Rhode Island, including Pete Rumsey, board chair of City Year; Jennie Johnson, executive director of City Year, and Steve Rosa, a City Year board member.

One of Providence's best kept secrets for brain-tingling innovative stimulation is the Business Innovation Summit - known as "BIF."  Four team members from (add)ventures attended BIF-4, which featured fashion designer Mark Ecko, Bruce Nussbaum from Businessweek and Tony Hsieh of Zappo's. Team members Steve Rosa, Wayne Vieira, Mary Sadlier and Madis Idarand attended the storyteller format event.

(add)ventures Miami expansion and Angie Moncada's promotion to managing director of the Miami office has been making news recently, including recent stories in Miami Today and the Miami Herald and an expected feature in the November issue of Miami Monthly.

The founder, president and CEO of (add)ventures in Providence will be honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the 2008 Rhode Island Minority Small Business Person of the Year.  Steve Rosa is among seven minority small business owners, advocates and SBA lenders who will receive awards during the annual Minority Enterprise Development Week awards dinner on October 15th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick.

The Rhode Island MED Week celebration, October 14 to October 17, is cosponsored by the SBA and the Rhode Island Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce.

Under clear blue skies, the (add)ventures corporate team of Erin Henneous, Deanna Holt, Stephanie Cunha, Nicole Acampora, and Amy Capece placed 20th in the Female Open Corporate Team division at the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K. Congratulations to all the members of the (add)ventures family who participated in the Downtown 5K.

Entrance fees for the entire team of 15 participants were supported by (add)love, the company's leadership, opportunity, volunteerism and education committee.

(add)ventures, a multidisciplinary communications consultancy, announces the addition of Michaela Ward, of Cumberland, R.I., as the newly appointed marketing/branding specialist.

As a member of the strategy team, Ward is responsible for the development and implementation of advertising, marketing, moving pictures and public relations projects. She will assist with the overall marketing strategy for client partners including research for client partners, coordinating on-going project requests, and assisting with new business development efforts.

(add)ventures, a multidisciplinary communications consultancy, announces the addition of Donna Hart, of Coventry, R.I., in the newly created position of manager, quality/production.

As a member of the creative team, Hart is responsible for managing the quality and production aspects of all client partner campaigns to ensure that projects meet or exceed client expectations. Hart is focused on print production, trade show displays, color correction and ensuring the quality of all (add)ventures production partners.

Advertising Ventures, Inc., a 19-year-old Providence-based agency producing work globally, has announced its new branding – (add)ventures – to better reflect the company’s combined strategic and creative services offerings. (add) represents the aligned dynamic disciplines of brand stakeholder communications – marketing, branding, public relations, advertising, and corporate, cause, and employee communications – all services that (add)ventures integrates to build brands and brand loyalty.

The R.I. Governor’s Workforce Board has awarded 77 Comprehensive Worker Training grants, totaling $1.59 million, to help provide on-the-job training for 3,500 Rhode Island workers. Employers will match the grants, bringing the total to $3.2 million.

(add)ventures has been named the Rhode Island Minority Business Enterprise of the Year.

The award was presented by Rhode Island Small Business Administration and the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce during the 2007 Rhode Island Minority Enterprise Development Week.

After accepting the prize and thanking his employee family and client partners, including BankRI, CVS Caremark, Hasbro, and Marriott, Rosa told the 300 in attendance that the majority of his client partners do not realize he owns a minority business enterprise, or MBE.

Digital Sundays Is the Pharmacy Retailer’s Newest Customer Service

CVS/pharmacy has kicked off its nationwide Digital Sundays program with a video produced by (add)ventures. The informative training video will help CVS in-store employees become digital photography experts who can run free digital photography workshops every Sunday for CVS customers in stores across the country.

CVS Caremark turned to (add)ventures this baseball season to help promote the CVS Caremark All Kids Can Baseball Camps, the company’s signature program with the 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Millions of viewers click through the Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us websites seeking information about products. The more they know, the more likely they are to click and buy. Now, (add)ventures' product demonstration videos are making the sale easier for national retailers by allowing consumers to clearly see the high quality of products and how they work. In the past, this would be impossible to pull off on a large scale because video files were too large for the average web surfer. But new video compression technology and trends in the Internet service marketplace make it all possible.

(add)ventures has launched HireBranding™, a unique suite of online recruitment marketing management applications aimed at solving difficult recruiting challenges. This sophisticated new product was developed by our team and has already transformed the national recruiting efforts of Fortune 500 companies and is drawing interest from major retailers. HireBranding™ has been tested nationwide in large-scale corporate environments and has proven to be a highly effective, cost-saving system critical to companies and organizations with recruiting needs.

Bank Rhode Island recently engaged (add)ventures to develop a strategic communications plan that would maximize exposure and highlight their important role in the region.

Today more than 450 business and government leaders from around the state showed their support for City Year Rhode Island at the annual Starfish Luncheon at the Rhode Island Convention Center.  Over $100,000 was raised at the event, which recognized longtime board member Steve Rosa, President and Chief Creative Officer of (add)ventures as well as 17 corporate volunteers selected by their companies as community heroes.

The Public Relations Society of America’s Southeastern New England Chapter and the Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce of Rhode Island invited (add)ventures’ Art Director Pablo Rodriguez-Masjoan to share his expertise March 22nd at their event, titled “Reaching the Hispanic Market.” In addition to his work in design services and multicultural affairs at (add)ventures, Pablo has fifteen years of experience in the advertising industry, working in all aspects of the creative side.

Full-service advertising firms such as (add)ventures in Providence are seeing more and more requests for streaming video.

"(add)ventures recently completed its first streaming video for a Massachusetts client, The First Years, which develops and markets products for babies and infants.

The company planned, scripted, shot and produced a one-and-a-half-minute infomercial on the client's Clean Air Odor Free Diaper Pail."

Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor and Johnson & Wales University know that the nation’s food service and hospitality industries are facing severe employee shortages. Conveying that information to teens across the country, however, is no easy task. Armed with a $1 million renewable grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Johnson & Wales has asked (add)ventures to help reach this hard-to-pin-down demographic in a nationwide campaign.

Lights, Camera, Action!

(add)ventures’ Moving Pictures Department recently completed production of two Cox Tech Connection commercials and a high definition commercial campaign for Cox Business Services, the New England division of Cox Communications, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

Cox Tech Connection, a new service from Cox Communications, sends a team of trained professionals on house calls to help customers with all of their computer needs, including initial set-up, tune-ups on hardware and software, and security and virus protection.

Hasbro, Inc. has joined forces with (add)ventures’ Cause Marketing Team to earn national media attention for the Hasbro Children’s Fund’s 3-year global giving campaign and its Hasbro Hero employee recognition program.

The Fund, which is a new philanthropic program that will help critically ill, physically challenged, and at-risk children worldwide, has committed funding to 10 nonprofit organizations. In all, more than $3.5 million will be donated over the course of the campaign.

(add)ventures, a full-service advertising, design, interactive and public relations agency in Providence, Rhode Island, has announced Nicole Acampora as Graphic Designer.

Acampora will build off her recent experience at the Providence Phoenix to develop creative designs and advertising layouts for clients in (add)ventures’ Food, Fun and Hospitality group, such as Johnson & Wales University.

Acampora graduated from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, in 2004, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design.

(add)ventures produces special movie trailer for zathura’s New England premiere.

As one of the few production facilities in the northeast producing digital media for the big screen, (add)ventures recently created a special movie trailer for the New England premiere of Zathura. (add)ventures’ also produced the movie trailer for last year’s box office hit The Polar Express.