Creative Marketing

Fresh ideas served daily. Lunch once a week.

Elisco Creative Cafe Advertising

As the marketing director of a small private college, I get a lot of promotional materials from ad agencies and designers wanting my business. And 99% of those materials go into the trash mainly because I already work with some very talented people whom I trust.

Sometimes though a piece impresses me so much that I just have to keep it. The brochure from Elisco Creative Cafe Advertising is one of those pieces.

It was a simple elegant brochure that looked like a menu. Inside it said:

Eat.Drink.Advertise.
All agencies have suits. We have aprons.
Ok, so we're a bit quirky.

So here is an agency that has combined marketing and Italian food. Talk about finding a niche! If I had not already found my love match with my current agency, believe me I would be checking them out. Here is their story from their website: www.elisco.com

The making of a café

In 2001, after 23 years in business, we decided as an agency to re-commit wholeheartedly to doing what we enjoyed and to what we were passionate about. To help us decide our direction, we asked our clients why they selected us. Their reasons included:

• Great account service
• Strategic creative
• Non-traditional thinking
• And our Italian food


And, so was born the idea of a Creative Café. We created a poster with our anticipated storefront look – which is strikingly similar to our current location – and then began the search for our new home. We looked for new space in every area of the city and suburbs, including Murrysville. The search lasted for nearly a year.

Our criteria for the space included:
• A storefront location
• Working kitchen
• Area for outdoor seating


After finding the perfect building in Lawrenceville, we modeled the space loosely on a favorite haunt, La Prima on 21st Street, then selected the office paint colors, built two half-walls, and moved in.

The first of many food-oriented events was a lunch in October of 2002. It was the official debut of our so-called “Gatsby Strategy,” wherein we host entertaining events and invite a unique mix of guests to trade ideas and spur the thinking of all involved. Over the last nine years, the agency has continued to have lunches and special events including:

• Annual Wines We Love
• Guest Chef from Pizzaiolo
• Photo Exhibit
• Tattoo Exhibit
• Painting Exhibit benefiting “Dress for Success”
• Poetry reading (Neruda in Spanish and English)
• Puppet Show benefiting the local Boys and Girls Club
• Cooking Class
• Music recording