News

Anstey Hodge wins 7 ADDYs at the 2024 Western Virginia Advertising Awards

Our team had a fabulous time at last week’s ADDY awards and were honored to win 7 awards, including a Judge’s Choice award, 2 Gold, and 4 Silver ADDYs!

  • Judges Choice Award & Gold ADDY for 20th Anniversary Party-in-a-Box
    More on this project: This piece was created with our distance clients in mind to celebrate our 20th anniversary last year. While we had a great time at our in-person party, we wanted to find a way to include them in our celebrations. Each box included party essentials like balloons and confetti, some Virginia-inspired items like Virginia Peanuts and a Virginia is for Lovers coozie, and our custom AH-goodies like our “Cheers to 20 Years” headband, an Anstey Hodge Lapel Pin, custom M&Ms in a mini champagne bottle, and our favorite: a mini Service Station box housing a custom Oreo cookie.
2024 Judge's Choice Award for 2024 Western Virginia Advertising Awards
  • Gold ADDY for Framatome Buried Pipe Mailer Box
  • Silver ADDY for The Farms at Bailey Station Jordan River Direct Mails Series
  • Silver ADDY for Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame Event Website
  • Silver ADDY for 20th Anniversary Wall Mural (in partnership with our friends, Tandem Arts Collective)
  • Silver ADDY for Friendsview Waffle Direct Mail

“I’ve said it many times, but its worth repeating – we have one of the best teams in the business,” said John Anstey, president of Anstey Hodge. “I’m proud of these awards, but I’m even more proud of our team and the creativity and dedication that they bring every day.”

Anstey Hodge sponsors Greystone Sales Adventure 2024

Our team recently attended Greystone’s Sales Adventure conference in Dallas, TX, joining marketing and sales professionals from around the country. This two-day event that provided an environment for learning, fostering motivation, and sharing best practices for marketing senior living communities. This year’s conference took on a James Bond 00SALES theme, and Anstey Hodge was proud to be a Diamond Sponsor.

We also produced several custom projects for the event, including playing cards (yes, that’s our very own John, David, and Donna on the face cards), takeaway collateral with matching landing page, bottle openers, print ad, and of course our very own promotional video inspired by ‘The Office’. While we love our producing work for our clients, we always enjoy getting to do some fun AH-themed projects—with a twist!

Anstey Hodge Awarded Four W3 Awards

We’re thrilled to announce we’ve won four silver W3 awards from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) for our recent digital ads and e-blasts for four of our clients! Our wins include:

  1. Digital Ads for Legacy Pointe at UCF Independent Living in the category Campaigns-Banner, Display, and Rich Media Advertising
  2. Digital Ads for Trevi Vibrant Senior Living in the category Campaigns-Banner, Display, and Rich Media Advertising
  3. Spring has Sprung e-Blast for The Farms at Bailey Station in the category General Marketing-Email Marketing
  4. Morning Buzz e-Blast for Presbyterian Village North in the category General Marketing-Email Marketing

Anstey Hodge Hosts 20th Anniversary Celebration

On September 29, we hosted a celebration open house at our Service Station to commemorate our 20th year in business. Over 130 guests attended, including friends, family, neighbors, and community leaders, and enjoyed food and beverages from Schaal’s Catering and live music from the Cyrus Pace Duo. Perhaps most exciting, Roanoke Vice Mayor Joe Cobb along with City Council Members Vivian Sanchez-Jones and Stephanie Moon Reynolds presented us with a proclamation officially declaring September 29, 2023, as “Anstey Hodge Day.” 

John Anstey and David Hodge send their thanks to those who attended:  

“We’d like to thank everybody who made our 20th anniversary celebration such a fun evening and a big success. It was great to see so many friends, neighbors, family, and clients all come together to help us celebrate our 20th year in business. We couldn’t have asked for better company—or weather! And to those who celebrated with us in spirit due to working remotely or other commitments, we thank you! 

We look back on the past 20 years with so much gratitude. What started as a company of two people in 2003 with a handful of clients across town has grown to a talented team of 18 serving clients coast to coast and across the globe. How did we get here? Hard work, perseverance, persistence, lots of moral support, and a little good luck.  

We are so proud of where we’ve come from in the past 20 years—thank you for letting us share a little bit of our journey with you.  Here’s to the next 20!” 

Thank you to Ruby from Hoprich Photography for the wonderful photos!

Tandem Arts Collective Paints Mural at Anstey Hodge Service Station

After 20 years in business and 14 in our Service Station office, we knew we needed a little cosmetic update and our signature bright orange wall was the perfect place for it. We worked with Josh and Libby Nolan-Shafer from Tandem Arts Collective to come up with a mural design that tells our story and represents who we are, like: A winding road and river to represent our Roanoke roots and nationwide reach, with scenes of various communities throughout. Technical symbols, computer windows and applications we use everyday as a marketing and creative agency in 2023. And small bits of Anstey Hodge-isms: our beloved cats, shop shirts, “hold please” (our Director of Client Services’ signature saying), and much more.

Josh and Libby brought our vision to life perfectly—and our team all got to contribute a brush stroke or two. Thank you, Josh and Libby—we absolutely LOVE the final result!

Watch our time-lapse video to see several days of work come together in under 2 minutes.

Anstey Hodge Wins 16 Mature Media Awards  

Big news—the team at Anstey Hodge won 16 awards for their creative work for senior living communities across the country from the Mature Market Resource Center, sponsor of the National Mature Media Awards. Now in its 32nd year, this prestigious competition recognizes the best marketing, communications, educational materials, and programs for older adults nationwide. This year’s wins showcase Anstey Hodge’s expertise across a range of categories from direct mail and branding to websites, and beyond.

David Hodge, Chief Creative Officer of Anstey Hodge, served as one of the judges for the National Mature Media Awards competition once again this year. Of note, judges are not permitted to judge their own firms’ entries. 

Below is a list of the winning entries:   

Advertising—Print  

Presbyterian Village North, Dallas Morning News Fall Ad: Silver Award 

Brochure  

Epworth Villa, Dementia Brochure: Silver Award 

The Outlook at Windhaven, Tri-fold Brochure: Silver Award 

Digital Publication  

Presbyterian Village North, 66 Acres of Fun Eblast: Gold Award 

Direct Mail  

Epworth Villa, Ladies’ Lunch Invitation: Gold Award 

The Farms at Bailey Station, Fashion at the Farms Invitation: Gold Award 

Friendsview, Following Your Rhythm Invitation: Gold Award 

The Farms at Bailey Station, A Big Band Evening at the Farms Invitation: Silver Award 

Brandon Oaks, October Brunch Invitation: Merit Award 

The Farms at Bailey Station, Central Park Sunset Serenade Invitation: Merit Award 

Magazine 

Tel Hai, Tel Hai Life Winter Magazine: Silver Award 

Marketing Communications  

Trevi Vibrant Senior Living, Trevi Branding: Gold Award 

Newsletter 

Presbyterian Village North, Spring Thrive Newsletter: Merit Award 

Website  

Trevi Senior Living, Trevi Microsite: Bronze Award 

Friendsview, Friendsview Website: Merit Award 

Web-based Resource 

The Farms at Bailey Station, Remarketing Ad: Bronze Award 

Virginia Governor Appoints John Anstey to University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors

The Virginia Governor’s Office announced last week the appointment of Anstey Hodge CEO and President John Anstey to the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors. John will serve a four-year term as a member of the University’s governing board.

John is a 1993 Who’s Who graduate of Mary Washington, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English. He served as founding chair of UMW’s College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board and received the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The University of Mary Washington is a premier, selective public liberal arts and sciences university in Virginia, highly respected for its commitment to academic excellence, strong undergraduate liberal arts and sciences program, and dedication to life-long learning. The university, with a total enrollment of about 4,000, features colleges of business, education and arts and sciences, and three campuses, including a residential campus in Fredericksburg, Va., a second one in nearby Stafford and a third in Dahlgren, Va., which serves as a center of development of educational and research partnerships between the Navy, higher education institutions and the region’s employers.

To read more about John’s appointment, read Governor Appoints Three New Members to UMW Board of Visitors on umw.edu.

What’s New at Anstey Hodge?

Anstey Hodge has had a full and exciting first half of 2023 continuing to work with our awesome clients, welcoming new ones aboard, and overall having a wonderful year. We’ve also welcomed new team members and had several promotions. Our CEO, John Anstey, said it best: “2023 is shaping up to be a great year. We’ve added some talented people to our team, as well as some wonderful new clients. It’s a great way to ring in our 20th anniversary.” 

New Clients

We’re thrilled to announce we began partnerships with two new clients, Rockwood Senior Living in Spokane, WA and Legacy Pointe at UCF in Oviedo, FL. Our team’s been busy on location for photoshoots with Brandon Oaks in Roanoke, VA, Forefront Living in Dallas, TX and Foxdale Village in State College, PA.

New Clients, Rockwood Retirement and Legacy Point at UCF
Anstey Hodge touring new client construction and meeting new clients
Anstey Hodge crew exibiting at trade shows
The Anstey Hodge crew on the road
New Anstey Hodge employees beginning in 2023, Julianne Jacob, Julie Abernethy, and Landon Ward

New Faces

We’ve also welcomed three new hires to the AH team: Julianne Jacob as Art Director, Julie Abernethy as Account Manager, and Landon Ward has returned to AH as Senior Digital Strategist

New Titles

And our recent promotions include: 
Donna Wardell, Director of Client Services 
Patrick Carrell, Director of Interactive 
Jim Dudley, Director of Strategy 
Annie McCafferty, Account Manager 

Promotions with new job titles for Anstey Hodge employees in 2023 include Jim Dudley to Director of Strategy, Annie McCafferty to Account Manager, Donna Wardell to Director of Client Services, and Patrick Carrell to Director of Interactive.

New Pro Bono

Additionally, we’ve begun partnering pro bono with a local non-profit, a tradition we plan to continue moving forward. This year we’ve lent a hand to Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia, a non-profit dedicated to the success of the youth in our community, to help produce marketing materials and a fresh website for their annual Business Hall of Fame. 

Anstey Hodge, Twentieth Anniversary, Since 2003

New Limited-Edition Logo

Last but not least, we’ve been busy planning our 20th anniversary celebration this fall. We’re gearing up for a busy few months ahead—stay tuned for some behind-the-scenes of it all! 

Anstey Hodge to Celebrate 20 Years in Business

This year Anstey Hodge celebrates 20 years of continued success. As we approach the second half of 2023, we begin our countdown to our official “birthday” (November 13) and have plenty of exciting things in store to celebrate. Stay tuned!  

Anstey Hodge Advertising Group is an award-winning, full-service advertising firm based in Roanoke, Virginia. Founded in 2003, our work has received hundreds of local, regional, and national accolades.