VMV Brands Purchases Downtown CVille Real Estate
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – One of Virginia’s best advertising and digital media agencies has found a new headquarters near the historic Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia.
VMV Brands – the parent company of uber popular brands: I Love CVille, Scoutology.com and CVille Food – purchased commercial space in The Maclin Building on Market Street, the company announced this month.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for us,” said Jerry Miller, the president and founder of VMV Brands. “I believe in The Downtown Mall. These four or five blocks are the heartbeat of Charlottesville. The Downtown Mall helps set Charlottesville apart from every other city in America. That’s why it was important to keep our headquarters downtown.”
VMV Brands will move its offices to The Maclin Building. Roughly 50% of the new office space will be allocated to VMV Brands, allowing the company room to grow its team and integrated divisions. The remaining space will be rented to “early stage” companies that are showing signs of growth. Miller plans to create an “incubator atmosphere” within The Maclin Building.
“I want to save our extra office space for young businesses that are rising quickly. It’s important to me to give back to Charlottesville,” Miller explained. “We have this wonderful Jeffersonian culture within the Charlottesville business community. I am excited to contribute to this culture and help other businesses grow like we have.”
After launching the business in 2008, during the economic and housing recession, VMV Brands has emerged as a major player in the Virginia and Mid-Atlantic advertising markets. Today, VMV Brands is a vertically-integrated company with four synergistic divisions:
1. An advertising agency
2. An e-commerce platform and intellectual property licensing arm
3. A “live events” division
4. A digital media division
When the divisions are integrated, the company has a full-service cache that cannot be duplicated in the Mid-Atlantic.
“We’re a young, hungry company, so that downtown energy has been crucial for our growth,” said Miller, an award-winning journalist, who formerly served as a syndicated radio and TV personality.
Through its Scoutology.com brand, VMV Brands has scaled its digital media model across the United States. Scoutology.com has found quick traction in under-served media markets, including Richmond, Winston Salem, Hampton Roads, Roanoke, Greensboro, Charlottesville and Nashville. The website also covers micro beer and the Virginia winery/vineyard scene. Launched in March, 2014, Scoutology.com has enjoyed month-to-month growth and is now reaching 5.7 million people.
VMV Brands also owns I Love CVille, Charlottesville’s flagship brand, which reaches more than 177,000 people every month in Central Virginia through digital mediums and live events. I Love CVille has a complimentary retail arm – The CVille Store. This brand, through its website (www.TheCVilleStore.com) and pop-up shops around Central Virginia, sells t-shirts, stickers, cornhole boards, aprons and other merchandise that bear the I Love CVille trademarked logo.
“We absolutely love what we do and are grateful for the support we have received along the way,” Miller said. “We work with some of the very best businesses and clients out there. Growing this business has truly been a wonderful experience.”