After two months of voting, RTCRM has won the first-ever Lester Wunderman People’s Choice Award. Strong creative leadership and collaboration brought to life this simple, surprising and hip series of commercials that delivered compelling results.

The campaign talked simply about Time Warner’s Road Runner High Speed Online advantage over other ISPs. Its focus on the key product benefit, clear relation between problem and solution and solid execution, contributed to a 45% increase in subscriptions. It’s a perfect example of customer insight brought to life.

Congratulations to all involved!!!

Listed as one of the top five branded health information websites by
a Manhattan Research study , Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals’ Mirena
website , built and designed by RTCRM, provides pertinent product
content, easy-to-understand information and serves women’s needs.

Patient Information

Safety Information

I think it’s safe to say we all have a soft spot for Baked and Wired . It’s our cozy little coffee shop across the street, a sweet bastion of Starbucks relief. I think it’s also safe to say that my team is utterly and completely obsessed with their cupcakes. Oh, they’re not just for birthdays anymore. Had a tough week? Have a cupcake! Made it in on time today? Have a cupcake! Getting ready to sit through 4 hours of legal review? Cupcakes for breakfast!

We hold these B&W cupcakes near and dear to our hearts. So when we learned that our little bake shop had some fancy competition from Georgetown Cupcake’s “designer” treats, we decided that it was our duty to perform an official taste test.

After two days of frenzied of cupcake sampling, results were inconclusive at best. How can you compare a perfectly baked strawberry-vanilla masterpiece with a dense and fudgey choco-mint newcomer? It’s apples to oranges people. Our methodology could use some work. We needed an official guide for evaluating things like icing consistency, cake density, and overall taste. And we needed an even comparison of price, location and bakery atmosphere. We needed to take this to the next level.

So, I’m here to announce RTCRM’s Great Cupcake Taste-Off. Our team is working out the details, but we do know this: official cupcake tasters from the 1025 building will evaluate several different flavors from both Baked and Wired and Georgetown Cupcake . Check back in a couple weeks to see what happens when the cake starts flying and we all eat ourselves silly. Stay tuned - results will be posted once I wake up from the sugar coma.

-DC Company Expands Its Advertising and Marketing Talent in Chicago-

WASHINGTON , DC – January 23, 2008 – RTC Relationship Marketing (RTCRM), a Washington, DC based direct marketing agency, is starting off the new year with continued growth with the addition of David Vukits, vice president of strategy and insights; and Courtney Thompson, vice president, creative director to its Chicago operations.

In his role as vice president of strategy and insights, Vukits will utilize qualitative and quantitative research in generating strategic business tactics for RTCRM clients. Previously Vukits was vice president of the insight and innovation practice for GreenHouse Communications in Chicago, where he developed new marketing models leveraging brain physiology, human psychology and principles of marketing. His expertise includes account planning, customer relationship management (CRM), customer insight, facilitation, loyalty, research and strategic planning.

“David brings a combination of skills and experience that will greatly enhance our ability to drive results for our clients – in particular his ability to apply consumer insights into mathematic models to predict behavior,” says RTCRM CEO Barry Kessel.

A 20-year veteran of strategic marketing solutions, Vukits has created and implemented tactical advertising campaigns for clients including Citigroup, United Airlines, Bank One, Bristol-Myers Squibb, UPS, Amoco and Hilton Hotels. His accounts at RTCRM will include leading companies within the technology, financial services and pharmaceuticals industries. Vukits holds an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois and a B.A. from Marquette University.

Also, RTCRM announced the hiring of Courtney Thompson as vice president, creative director in the Chicago office. A seasoned business-to-business (B2B) and relationship marketing professional, Thompson was a creative director at MDB Communications in Washington, DC, where she managed award-winning and results-producing creative for the DC Lottery, National Geographic, Fannie Mae and the National School Boards Association. Thompson now returns to RTCRM, where she previously managed agency clients GlaxoSmithKline, AARP and Road Runner High Speed Online. In addition, she has headed pro bono campaigns for both the Red Cross and The Women’s Center.

“ It’s nice to welcome Courtney back to the RTCRM family,” says Barry Kessel, RTCRM’s CEO. “She’s a gifted creative professional and will add to our ability to create powerful, insight-driven creative that builds our clients’ business.”

As vice president, creative director, Thompson is responsible for the overall development and execution of creative campaigns that deliver fresh, incisive and results-oriented communications for RTCRM clients. Thompson has extensive strategic and creative-development experience for integrated, multi-channel acquisition, retention and relationship-building campaigns for both B2B and consumer targets. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

About RTCRM

RTC Relationship Marketing (RTCRM) is a full-service direct marketing and relationship marketing agency based in Washington, DC in the heart of Georgetown, with offices in New York City and Chicago. RTCRM boasts more than 40 years’ worth of innovative, targeted solutions that grow its clients’ brands and help them forge lasting, valuable relationships with their customers. What distinguishes RTCRM is its unique ability to analyze data and research on both a rational and emotional level. RTCRM’s clients include major brands in the telecom and technology, pharmaceuticals and other business sectors, such as AARP, GlaxoSmithKline, Road Runner High Speed Online and Time Warner Cable. RTCRM’s innovative campaigns have won multiple advertising and direct marketing awards. RTCRM is part of the Wunderman agency network, one of the world’s largest communications companies, which includes Y&R, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, JWT and Landor.

To learn more about RTCRM or to inquire about an exciting new position, visit www.rtcrm.com .

Contact:

Rebecca Johnson, 202-315-4554, rjohnson@rtcrm.com

This project began as a way for the innovation team to articulate ideas, capture experiences, and provide a source of both innovation and insight throughout our network and, as well, to the outside world. Your contribution will bring that idea to life.

This post acts as both a call to our invited contributors and a compass for this experiment.

It’s easy to get started. Take away the minefield of “no’s” that often surrounds corporate communication and replace them with these four content guidelines:

1. 70/30/0 . 70% of your content should be directly related to your discipline, while 30% of it can be interesting stuff you feel is relevant in a general sense. 0% client business.
2. The medium is the message . Blogging is best when it is clear, thorough, and succinct.
3. Always, always check yourself for spelling and grammatical errors . That may mean posting a day later than you had hoped.
4. Remember, you’re writing under the company name . Keep your personal life private and always respect the privacy of our clients.

Our contributors’ individual entries are not screened, so professional discretion is a must.

Looking at the blog as a whole, we’ve decided to put some guidelines in place

Overall, there are three ideas we must all keep in mind to ensure that our blog maintains a higher degree of credibility:

1. Be honest . Posts written under your name should be yours.
2. Stay on topic . If we start espousing political beliefs or going otherwise awry, then we may as well shut down.
3. Keep it coming . Posts should be maintain a regular schedule.

Essentially, that’s it. Keep the above principles in mind and we should all be able to turn this into a positive and fluid project for both the company and the greater marketing community.

It should go without saying, but perhaps it warrants being said anyway: Thank you, and have fun.