Chris Sheldon joins as Associate Creative Director after collaborating with the agency on numerous projects over the past few months. Chris brings a wealth of experience to RP3, having created award-winning integrated campaigns for a range of clients including Sears, Nintendo, Kelloggs, P&G and Motorola. Prior to joining RP3, he served in a similar position at Arnold’s DC office, where he spearheaded work for Choice Hotels, Amtrak and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

“We’re lucky to have a talent like Chris on our team”, said RP3 Creative Director Jim Lansbury. “He brings a great eye as an art director and designer and knows what it takes to deliver big ideas that engage today’s empowered consumer across multiple platforms. “

Chris has also worked at renowned creative agencies like Ogilvy and Leo Burnett in Chicago and TBWA/Chiat Day in New York. His work for the Chicago Wolves AHL hockey team was shortlisted at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival awards.

Also joining RP3 as an Account Coordinator is Amanda Marinelli. A recent graduate of the University of Kentucky with a major in Integrated Strategic Communications, Amanda found her way to RP3 through a combination of determination and plain luck. After researching a select group of agencies, she came knocking on the doors of Rosenthal Partners, only to discover those doors had recently been closed.

On her way out, she ran into a former employee on the elevator who informed her that a new agency called RP3 was being founded by the leadership team from Rosenthal, with offices on the 7th floor. Unfazed, Amanda marched in and approached RP3 President Beth Johnson with an offer she couldn’t refuse. “I’ll work without pay for 3-months, if you agree to seriously consider me for a job when I’m done.” The rest, as they say, is history. “I was very impressed with the passion and initiative Amanda showed that day, and every day since, said Johnson. “She embodies the can-do spirit our agency was founded on, and we’re delighted to put that passion to work on behalf of our clients.”

Stay tuned for more announcements as RP3 continues to expand and strengthen its capabilities.

Kogod MBA candidates enrolled in the Advanced Advertising Practicum, are working directly with Long & Foster as their client to gain important real world professional experience. Students are responsible for client meetings, marketing research, planning and development of communications strategy, developing an integrated marketing plan, and social media strategies based on the client’s business objectives.  The graduate students will present their final findings in a formal presentation to Long & Foster leadership.

“Our brand stands for something, from the past, today, and into the future,” said Barry Redler, Chief Marketing Officer of The Long & Foster Companies. “What that is and how it changes over time is critical knowledge for a marketer. I am thrilled to have an outstanding group of MBA candidates help us think about our brand positioning for the future.  These smart, young professionals ask the tough questions, probe the delicate issues, and assess solutions from new and different vantage points.  It’s a refreshing and exhilarating experience that should add value for our company and our sales associates.”

RP3 has a tradition of engaging with the academic community to derive innovative outcomes. From showcasing client brands in classroom projects, providing industry thought leadership, and practical hands-on experience, this collaboration fuels creativity, knowledge and innovation.

“It will be energizing to see how the next generation of marketing and communications practitioners perceive the issues and challenges that we as industry professional wrestle with everyday,” said John Heenan Chief Marketing Officer for RP3 and the course instructor.  “They are the emerging consumers who will shape marketing practices for years to come. It is quite extraordinary for the students to be able to develop fresh new strategies using digital and social media to help a storied brand engage with consumers.”

The marketing world has experienced a seismic shift now that consumers have more control over brands than brand managers do. As a result, the goal of creative has changed. Great creative does more than interrupt consumers with compelling, well crafted messages. Creative teams have to facilitate a dialog about the brand, and deliver ideas that engage consumers and inspire them to participate.

RP3 Agency President Beth Johnson and Creative Director Jim Lansbury will be presenting “Advertising for the Post-Advertising Age” to the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) on Thursday, February 18th at University of Phoenix in Downtown DC. Their topic: creative ways to engage and inspire target audiences and achieve results. They’ll share best-in-class, brilliant creative case studies that you will surely want to apply as you make marketing decisions in this changing landscape.

Note: due to the inclement weather, this even has been postponed. For updates and new information, click here.

In a recent Marketing Daily commentary, RP3 Agency’s Chief Marketing Officer John Heenan shares his thoughts on how the next generation of agencies can’t rely on digital alone. To be successful, they must straddle the digital divide by bringing together the best marketing practices of the past with the most promising techniques of today.

I recently had a conversation with the CEO of a digital firm whose mission was to improve consumer engagement with its brand through the online experience. That’s good and important because there are over 200 million people online in the U.S., and his work was comprehensive and outstanding.But the conversation went south when he said, “I told my client, don’t waste your money with online advertising. I can take that $5 million and build an incredible online experience.” I thought to myself, “If you build it, will they come?”

There is clearly a “digital divide” within our industry. An incredible online experience is important but not if you don’t get people to experience it. Does that happen organically? Can you do that through SEO, WOM or social media? Will that happen if your site appears on FWA? Maybe, but not likely.

Traditional Delivers… Fast

Can you do it with traditional marketing tactics? Yes, and fast. For one client, we recently increased site visits and subscribers by 250% using a combination of on- and offline tactics, with a modest budget, in four months (and the site was no award-winner but we didn’t build it).

Another client was ’sold’ a best-in-class Web site from a well-known digital agency for a super-sized fee, replete with wiz-bang widgets and whistles, “absolutely critical” to lead the industry and leapfrog the competition. If only it were that simple.

Advertising agencies have a wider view of their clients’ needs. And they have a more comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior. It is true that time spent on the Internet searching, friending, and sharing is increasing, but even more time is spent in the analog world for almost every consumer segment. According to most studies, people go through a behavioral process of need recognition, discovery, and decision-making that occurs in the analog as well as the digital world.

Digital Alone Won’t Fill the Sales Funnel

Remember the classic sales funnel: awareness, interest, comparison, and purchase, then referral and repeat purchase? A Web site alone won’t bring the requisite quantity of qualified prospects into the funnel, but it certainly can help move them along the route. Cool widgets have great appeal to build interest with certain subsegments but don’t do well to convert the playful into a customer. Don’t get me wrong. These are all great tools, but alone don’t make great marketing.

A cool Web site can be an important part of a marketing strategy, just as a great retail experience or exemplary customer service can. An engaging app or clever widget is helpful to keep the brand front and center, but can’t stand on its own. The only thing missing is the customer. That’s where the new generation of advertising agencies has it all right. They know how to find and deliver customers on- and offline to experience and engage with all these new tools and techniques. And they know how to pre-qualify, retarget, follow up, and strategically move the customer down the path to success.

Agencies Can Improve

Can advertising agencies improve? Absolutely. Many have lagged behind the development of new technologies and techniques. Some cling to the past for fear of what the future has in store. In this post-recession era, there is a new generation of agency that straddles the digital divide bringing best practices of the past together with the most promising of today’s techniques.

The new-generation advertising agency provides greater value and more efficiency to marketers who may have brought on specialists from digital firms previously. Marketers are more likely to look for new agency partners with a comprehensive skill set to free up their time and resources for the other Ps.

We always hope that the customer experience — once they arrive — is top-notch, and we eagerly work with clients to ensure it is so. And we seek new ways of engaging customers through apps, widgets, social tactics, events, and viral, combined with traditional tactics built around a powerful creative idea and a sound consumer-centric strategy focused on business results. I’m sure there are digital agencies that do the same, right?

RP3 announces a business win called Draftix, the world’s first web site dedicated to facilitating the sharing of sports season tickets. RP3 will help launch the brand, create awareness, engagement, and grow the subscriber base within the sports marketing industry.

Draftix’s mission is to put season tickets within the reach of all fans. RP3’s mission is to put all fans in the reach of Draftix. As a season ticket owner, the site’s founder, Mike Tobin, realized the demand for an online tool to help populate and manage season ticket groups. “The idea started from my own season ticket experiences with friends and family,” said Mike Tobin, Draftix chief executive officer and founder. “That’s why I am thrilled to have RP3 on the case. Their knowledge of the sports industry, social media, and creative ways to build fan engagement sold me. Not only are they charged with driving big subscriber goals in test markets but we’ve brought them in as investors and advisors because of their experience in online marketing, sports marketing and their intimate understanding of the sports fan mindset.”

“When I first heard the idea, I knew I wanted in,” said Jim Lansbury, RP3 founder and creative director. “There couldn’t be a better product for the serious sports fan, an audience we know very well from working with brands like EA Sports and MASN. I’m confident we’ll help them attract new members. In fact, I’ll be the next to sign up.”

Draftix plans to introduce their service to hard-core baseball fans during the preseason season ticket buying frenzy in key markets at http://draftix.com/baseball. RP3 will develop an integrated marketing plan using traditional, new, and social media, together with promotions and unexpected tactics, to engage baseball fans, communicate the benefits of the service, and sign up subscribers. The campaign will run until the opening of the 2010 baseball season and then refocus on the next professional sport.

“We really like the business model and the people behind it. Mike and Alan Taffel, also a Draftix founder and former CMO of MCI and WorldCom, are laser-focused and well prepared to achieve their aggressive goals. Even more exciting is having an ownership stake in the company. Our success is tied directly to Draftix’s success. I have no doubt that my team has the experience and creativity to make this a big win for all of us,” said Beth Johnson, RP3 founder and president. Draftix is launching an aggressive test marketing effort in key cities beginning with the 2010 Major League Baseball season and expanding with each major sport season throughout the year and across the nation.

In a recent column appearing in Capitol Communicator, RP3 Agency’s Chief Marketing Officer John Heenan shares his insights on the need to integrate the best of new and traditional marketing techniques to drive the best possible results.

We’ve seen a flood of expert opinion, statistics, and posts about the rise of social media and the demise of traditional media. It’s on every CMO’s list for 2010.

That’s good I suppose. However, it is important not to lose sight of business objectives when evaluating tactics and techniques. It shouldn’t be an either or choice, but should integrate both strategically. The problem is, many of us seem to have taken sides. It’s us against them. Can’t we all just get along…?

Are we simply doing things for the sake of the ‘things,’ or to achieve our clients’ business objectives in the most effective and efficient way? At the same time, social media is atop everyone’s list. That’s good. It’s important. But for what reasons?

It is exciting to have new ways to connect brands and consumers. No one can argue that people are looking to engage with brands in their own way. Recent stats show that 75 million people have signed on to Twitter. If Facebook were a country it would rank as the 4^th largest in the world. Social media are growing at unprecedented rates. We’ve got to find the best ways to integrate them with other tactics, not to their exclusion.

We are charged with producing results, fast. At the same time our clients are wondering how to leverage social media, but they still want results, fast. That is why social media tactics should have actionable results that can be measured, and that integrated with other tactics consistent with the business objectives.

For example, our client in the sports marketing sector asked us to help them better engage their fan base. Our experience shows that sports fans are notorious for multitasking during the game; texting, tweeting, surfing, and commenting. More than 78% are consuming multiple mediums according to Nielsen. We knew we had a connected audience and would need a number of social tools along with traditional tactics to drive viewership and engagement.

We combined a robust TV campaign with outdoor and online to get the attention of the fan base and built an open-source website to provide a place for the connected fans and friends to gather and share experiences, frustrations, and joys of the season.

Thanks to the broad reach of the campaign it became the virtual tailgate party where like-minded fans came to connect, debate, and commiserate, while building franchise loyalty. The site linked Facebook pages, twitter accounts, and almost any social network to share content and commentary, consumer generate videos, participate in promotions, and learn about the team, fans, and upcoming events. During the season viewership spiked by 80% – results, fast.

Another example; in the worst real estate market since the Great Depression, growing credit and financing challenges, and prices dropping as much as 45%, we needed some extraordinary tactics for a luxury real-estate client. We developed a sophisticated retargeting program that ranked leads and used a variety of coordinated communications to reintroduce them to the brand, freeing up the sales managers to focus on nurturing only the hottest prospects. This initiative was part of an integrated marketing campaign that generated new leads through DM, onsite events, tweets about neighborhood happenings, Facebook fan pages, local partnerships, and resident referrals. In less than a year 60% of inventory was sold – results, fast.

Yes, TV is down. Print is down. Click rates are declining. Open rates are in the gutter. But all still have their role in getting results, fast. Web traffic is up. YouTube visitors are up. Search is up. Blog readership is up. Link sharing is up. And each has its role in the mix. As we move across the public timeline, new tactics and techniques will continue to enter the equation. We will be pushing for results, no matter what the medium.

RP3 founder and head of strategic planning Scott Gold will lead the process, drawing on his 15+ years of experience helping complex brands like Long and Foster Companies, CareerBuilder, and Hospital Corporation of America. He will be conducting a planning process using a “values” based approach that will lead to the articulation of a focused value proposition for the organization.

“We are excited to be part of the NRTC’s vision for the future of an organization that serves the quickly evolving telecommunications and electric industry,” said Gold. “Their mission to bring these vital services to all of America is a critical step in bridging the digital divide and enabling opportunity and connectedness to all Americans. With innovative products and sophisticated services, the NRTC can benefit from a sharply focused brand platform and messaging architecture.”

“We help rural electric and telephone utilities strengthen their businesses with solutions uniquely suited to the needs of their consumers. We chose RP3 because they demonstrated an understanding of our organization and our mission, and have the skills to help articulate the great things we do,” said NRTC vice president marketing and communications Phil Brenner. “I managed the review of a number of top firms with our senior leadership and have to say the choice was unanimous. We selected RP3 because they understood the complexity of our challenge, and had a smart approach to help us to meet it.”

RP3 president Beth Johnson added, “I am excited to be working with such an impressive organization. The NRTC is a champion for its members with an impressive track record of services and products that return real value to its membership. Today, energy and communications are critical issues for the economy, national security, and jobs. The NRTC is at the forefront of these issues and can be even more effective with a refined and focused brand that asserts their leadership.”

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“Brands are struggling to adapt to the new realities in consumer behavior and to keep up with the rapid-fire changes in technology and innovation. Agencies need to lead the way in educating marketers by providing tools, expertise and consumer understanding to help them create relevant interactions with consumers.”

Read the full article here.