The banners feature dynamically pulled in tune-in information for every upcoming Orioles/Nationals game, listing who and when they will be playing next. Once expanded, the user can find all the news and match-up info they need to enjoy the game, and they can search by zip code to find the MASN channels on their cable provider. But perhaps the most helpful and user friendly aspect of this campaign is the game reminder functionality. Users can sign up to receive email reminders for games that interest them. They can pick all games, divisional games or cherry pick the specific teams they want to watch.

According to PointRoll, “with over 1,000 campaigns running per month, Beanie award winners represent less than 1% of all PointRoll campaigns. The award is distributed by PointRoll on a regular basis and is highly selective to recognize the best uses of rich media technology.”

Most importantly for RP3, the campaign is delivering results for MASN. According to a recent article in the Baltimore Business Journal, ratings for Orioles games are up 11% this year, while the Nationals are up a whopping 139%. (Although pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg probably deserves some of the credit there.)

“This work has won already numerous advertising and marketing accolades, but we’re proud to be honored by the television industry as well. It’s a testament to our extremely collaborative relationship with MASN,” says RP3 Creative Director Jim Lansbury. “We both share a passion for baseball, and MASN’s prowess in production and editing allows us to get the most out of our budgets and create campaigns that look and feel bigger than other regional networks.” The campaigns also extend beyond television into print, online, promotions, events and social media.

Other collaborators on the campaign include Director Peter Churchman of Churchman Productions, and Shooters Post and Transfer.

For more information on the show and a complete list of winners, click here.

RP3 Agency has been chosen by the National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA, to increase consumer awareness and ignite consumer passion in support of parks and recreation across the nation. The program begins with brand planning, consumer positioning, and messaging that distinguishes it as the indispensable part of American communities. Implementation will begin with a “friends of parks” program to enhance its existing membership campaign.

RP3 Agency was selected over a number of other firms because of its brand planning experience, unique methodology for uncovering deep audience insight, and engaging creative that has delivered proven results across industries by increasing awareness, involvement, and brand advocates.

NRPA is dedicated to educating professionals and the public on the essential nature of parks and recreation. Through learning opportunities, research, and communications initiatives, they strive to generate significant public support to advance the development of best practices and resources for parks and recreation nationally. They also advocate for increased national funding for parks and recreation through federal grants and initiatives that support healthy lifestyles, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship.

“Public parks and recreation are our nation’s greatest treasures,” said Barbara Tulipane, CEO of NRPA. “We need a partner that can help us clearly articulate our mission and connect with consumers who are most likely to share our convictions and participate in our mission. RP3’s approach and passion convinced me they will be a great partner in this critical endeavor.”

“Parks have touched the lives of nearly every consumer,” said Beth Johnson, President of RP3 Agency. “We are very excited to find compelling and innovative ways for NRPA to engage with public audiences, differentiating their mission and positioning them to succeed for generations to come.”

RP3 will provide NPRA with a fully integrated campaign including qualitative research, strategic planning, creative development, traditional and new media, guerilla and experiential, social and mobile media, events, and other unique communication solutions.

About National Recreation and Park Association
The National Recreation and Park Association is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing park, recreation and conservation efforts that enhance quality of life for all people. Through its network of roughly 21,000 recreation and park professionals and citizens, NRPA encourages the promotion of healthy lifestyles, recreation initiatives, and conservation of natural and cultural resources. For more information, visit http://www.NRPA.org. For digital access to NRPA’s flagship publication, Parks & Recreation, visit http://www.parksandrec-magazine.org.

On Thursday, June 17th, RP3 Agency President Beth Johnson and Creative Director Jim Lansbury will address the DC Chapter of MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) on how to engage, involve and ultimately win over today’s empowered consumer. Their presentation will help marketers:

- Understand how consumers look at marketing differently than they once did.

- See examples of how companies such as Dunkin Donuts, Best Buy and T Mobile are using creativity and innovation to grow their businesses.

- Learn how to approach your marketing challenges with more creativity and innovation.

- Come away with the questions you should ask yourself about how effective you are in connecting with today’s consumer.

Register today, and encourage your marketing colleagues to attend as well. Advance registration required for all attendees.

A modest $12 fee covers food. Any registration questions, please e-mail Ruth Bardos, MENG Administrator, or call 860-984-6186.

Location & Time:

University of Phoenix, Room 104. 25 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20001

(1-1/2 blocks from Union Station, near Capitol Brewing, ground floor entrance).

Networking starts at 5:30 PM; speakers at 6:30PM.

Questions? Please e-mail Paul Brickman or call him at 410-598-6036.

This year, we were also involved in planning the event itself, helping to bring the theme of “Friendly Competition” to life. Knowing that you need a good dose energy and spontaneity to keep an awards presentation exciting, we arranged for local sports talk radio personalities The Sport Junkies from 106.7 The Fan to be the emcees. And we fed them a steady diet of callers from the audience to share their thoughts and opinions about the competition. The results were totally unpredictable and extremely entertaining. You can view some video excerpts of their performance here.

Overall, it was a great evening as usual. Congratulations to all the winners and we’ll see you next year.

In a recent commentary in Marketing Daily, RP3 Principal and Director of Strategic Planning Scott Gold discusses the importance of social media listening, especially for challenger brands looking to gain an edge on their larger, more well funded competitors.

My kids want a pet. So I did what any self-respecting parent would do and went online in search of
the mammal/reptile/rodent that would cause the least damage to our current way of life. Within
seconds, I came across a thoughtful recommendation from someone about the preferred diaper
brand for pets suffering from incontinence.

Good to know. I’m by no means belittling the problem. It’s clearly a bigger issue than I expected,
and it proved, in the most graphic detail imaginable, what I have always believed: no matter what
the issue, no matter what the product, the blogosphere is gold to marketers. The key, however, is
to make sure that you’re listening to the right conversations.

Whatever the conversation going on right now — and it’s surely going on, small or large,
inconsequential or dire — it’s certain that in it there is potentially a germ of an idea, trend or
thought that is actionable for a marketer.

Few Clients are Disciplined Listeners
Unfortunately, our clients and prospects are not disciplined about social media listening, and
they’re not alone. A recent CMO Council survey showed that just 16% of senior marketers surveyed
monitor message boards and blogs. This is pretty stunning, since all of my clients generally
acknowledge what’s happening in the blogosphere.

Still, they tend not to fully understand how social media is impacting their brand, business and
bottom line. Again, my clients are not alone; the same CMO Council study found that 60% of
marketers believe that social media is having an impact. The number of marketers who believe in
the impact grows daily, as more people adopt social media into their communication rituals. In
fact, I recently received a friend request from my mom (a clear sign of its ubiquity).

Finding the Conversations
Finding these conversations is invaluable for our clients, so we’re increasingly selling ongoing
listening programs. We’ve been successful in explaining the importance of social media listening
tools by showing them how such monitoring affects the bottom line. I have great admiration for our
clients, which are challenger brands that have succeeded through courage and their ability to seize
opportunities, take risks and move fast.

We view social media listening as an essential tool for collecting important business intelligence.
Our clients continually find ways to outthink and outrun their larger, better-funded competitors
because their success is based upon staying ahead, and not being caught in the shadows, of larger
competitors. Part of outthinking is the ability to find different ways to ascertain consumer
feedback on brands and insights into their industry, as well as the competition. These companies
thrive and prosper through greater business intelligence.

Ongoing Monitoring Required, Especially Competitors
While our client brands tend to garner less chatter than their big competitors, we have developed
methodologies that not only monitor what is being said about client brands, but equally important,
what is being said about their industry, competitors and relevant consumer trends. Social media
monitoring provides challenger companies with the ability to get an upfront examination of their
larger competitors like never before.

We can now put ourselves in the underbelly of our larger competitors and ascertain real time
perspectives about these companies. We can listen and derive real-time insights into what
connects their competitors and their customers. We can eavesdrop into how large competitors
handle their customer relationships through how they handle customer service, both positive and
negative. And we can develop a deeper understanding of their customer relationship management
strategy, positive and negative, including how successful they are at rallying loyal customers.
Whether it’s identifying and leveraging trends, tweaking lead generation and CRM strategy or
changing customer service protocols, we start and end the day by listening to the conversation.

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.