The Pitch: Advertising and marketing news for 2.17.26
This year’s Ad Bowl panel touted the highs and lows of the Big Game’s ads. (Nick Davis Photography)
The 2026 Ad Bowl, hosted by the Advertising Club of Richmond, was held last week to discuss the touchdowns and fumbles of this year’s Super Bowl ads. The discussion was moderated by Familiar Creatures’ Justin Bajan, with a panel featuring The Martin Agency’s Elliott Nordstrom, Taylor Martin and Michael Chapman, along with Arts & Letters Creative Co.’s Noel van Aartrijk.
Across the board, Ad Bowl panelists most enjoyed the Levi’s “Backstory” ad, which showcased an array of backsides, from Woody of “Toy Story” to Bruce Springsteen on his “Born in the U.S.A.” album sporting the iconic jean brand.
Ad Bowl judges were not as impressed by Coinbase’s “Everybody Coinbase” ad, which they said felt less-than-substantive and disconnected, and shared that AI was the omnipresent force at play during the game, with ads shown throughout from companies like Meta, Gemini and Copilot.
Thirty-two Brandcenter alums worked on Super Bowl spots aired during this year’s Big Game. Work by some grads and local firms included an Arts & Letters ad for FanDuel, showcasing actor Luis Guzmán as a bartender at a FanDuel sports betting bar.
Brandcenter alums at Martin Agency worked on an ad for client Ritz Crackers, which showed Hollywood stars Jon Hamm, Bowen Yang and Scarlett Johansson partying it up while enjoying the buttery crackers. VCU News has more on Brandcenter alums’ Super Bowl work here.
Colonial Downs completed an in-house brand refresh, including a new brand identity, logo and website. The new branding will debut at the Virginia Derby in March, with new signage, merchandise and promotional materials.
Colonial Downs’ new logo.
Addison Clark has taken on San Francisco-based fintech firm Butter Payments as a client. The agency completed a new website for Milestone HOA and shot, produced and made a video for local urologist Virginia Urology.
Farmville-based Green Front Furniture selected Dotted Line Agency as its agency of record after a review.
Mark Pavia.
Mark Pavia joined Dotted Line as head of media and AI, a newly-created role that leads a team of five. His has had leadership roles at Clinch, LiveRamp, Starcom and Martin Agency, where he served national media clients like UPS.
Madison + Main was hired by Ruckersville-based nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Pennsylvania-based Lake Effect Decoy Company.
FreshMove Media launched new websites for Greater Richmond Dentistry and Mechanicsville-based Balducci Builders. It also launched a Pocahontas Parkway website for transportation firm Glovalvia.
Red Orange Studio worked with the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth and Prevention Connection on a website for its Champions for Youth Summit, a Reston-based conference the foundation holds yearly that is geared toward youth health.
Red Orange also worked with Brand Federation on a new website for D.C. software company Sphinx Defense, and worked on a website and annual report for Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
An image from Cade Martin Photography’s campaign shots for CVEEP.
Cade Martin Photography did a photo campaign for nonprofit Champions for Vaccine Education, Equity and Progress. The campaign features a series of photos showcasing dogs urging their sick owners to play, with the tagline, “Life doesn’t ‘paws’ when you’re sick.”
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