Wunderman recently released their Corporate Citizenship report featuring pro bono, cause marketing and social marketing initiatives from their network of agencies. Kind of like getting a pat on the back from your favorite uncle, some of RTC Relationship Marketing’s pro bono work was selected to be part of the collection. Ahem, page 11.

The report also includes summaries of the agency’s point of view on standards and policies on marketing ethics, social networking, privacy and security and press relations.

Download the Wunderman Corporate Citizenship Report.

• The Use of Nontraditional Domains
• Targeting the Tech-Savvy Boomer
• FDA Releases Warning Letter on Video Marketing
• Text-to-Give Campaigns and Nonprofit Fundraising
• Twitter and the 2010 World Cup: When Hashtags Become Vuvuzelas
• The iPad’s Current and Potential Contribution to Health Care Professionals

Since this is the first edition, we really want to hear your thoughts. Please let us know if the information was helpful.

Download RTCRM Perspectives August 2010

RTCRM Perspectives – Facebook Share This Function Warning Letter

Read a one page perspective on the FDA’s letter.

John Reid, Executive Creative Director

Mr. Reid is an award winning Creative Director with a focus on integrated advertising and marketing. He has created integrated campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, X-box, Windows Live, HP, Nike, MSN Music and Visa.

Mr. Reid joins RTCRM from the West Coast where he was the Creative Director at ATTIK in San Francisco. He has also worked as a freelance Creative Director/Art Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. John was with McCann Erickson for almost seven years, first as an Associate Creative Director for three years, then as VP, Associate Creative Director. While at McCann Erickson, John worked on the ground-breaking Microsoft Windows Server 2008 project (www.serverunleashed.com). He founded Pathetic Aesthetic, a digital design company and was an Art Director at Circle.com/Euro RSCG.

His experience and insight combined with passion for design has fueled an inherent desire to innovate and promote progressive methods of marketing. Pushing the limits of what is possible with current technologies, and finding ways to push in new directions. “John brings enormous creative and strategic talent to RTCRM combined with an infectious passion and desire to innovate a progressive approach to marketing,” remarked Jeff Ross, President of RTCRM.  “John comes to the agency as we embark on an explosion of new work for our growing client base.”

John has received international recognition for his creative vision and design excellence. Recently winning several Addy awards and was a finalist at Cannes in 2007. He has been invited to be a speaker at several design and developer events such as Mix2008. He also judges the annual Academy of Art Spring Show. Mr. Reid is a graduate of Northwest College of Art in Poulsbo, WA where he received a BFA in Fine Art, Graphic Design in 1997.

More about John, including samples of his work, can be found on his website: http://www.patheticaesthetic.com/

Emily Reagan, Senior Vice President, Group Account Director

Ms. Reagan joined RTCRM in July 2008 as the lead strategist for AARP.  In her role, Reagan led the communications strategy and consumer research initiatives supporting AARP’s State pilot program on long-term care planning, while also ensuring strategy and communications integration with the National Long Term Care campaign. In April, 2009 Reagan was appointed to lead the Strategy and Insights Department, and was tapped to lead strategic and research initiatives for other Agency clients.

In her new role as Senior Vice President, Group Account Director, Reagan will manage all account, financial and strategic guidance activities for AARP, in addition to other clients. “I am excited about working on a holistic vision for my clients and being engaged in all aspects of client business,” remarked Reagan when asked about her new position. “I get to be more tightly integrated with RTCRM’s teams…it is a great honor to be leading them.”

Barry Kessel, Chief Executive Officer of RTCRM spoke highly of Ms. Reagan. “Emily is a highly accomplished marketer.” He remarked. “She has contributed greatly on a number of client engagements at the agency….[and] has the rare ability to develop business-building strategies and translate them into highly effective marketing programs.”

Prior to joining RTCRM, Emily was Vice President of Marketing for Guitar Center, leading insight‐driven branding, positioning and consumer experience for a new division targeted to beginning musicians. She also worked as Director of Marketing for RadioShack, developing and implementing integrated marketing strategies and campaigns, establishing the brand as the number‐one retailer for SIRIUS Satellite Radio products and driving double‐digit growth in key categories such as digital imaging, iPods and GPS. She received her BA in Journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and went on to earn her MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

About RTC Relationship Marketing

RTC Relationship Marketing (RTCRM) is a full-service direct marketing and relationship marketing agency based in Washington, D.C., in the heart of Georgetown, with an additional office in New York. 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, technology, pharmaceutical and other business sectors, such as AARP, BlackRock, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. To learn more about RTCRM, please visit www.rtcrm.com or follow the Twitter feed @rtcrm.

Media Contact

Nicole Franklin

(202) 339-6273 | nfranklin@rtcrm.com

Utilizing our creative talent, we worked to improve the center’s gym by painting four murals of athletes in action on the walls. RTCRM employees demonstrated an even deeper commitment to this project by donating their Kudos Award money (an internal monetary award given to employees for going above and beyond their normal responsibilities) to provide lunch for all of the volunteers that day. RTCRM generously matched all employee-donated funds.

Participation in Hands on DC was coordinated by RTCRM’s Emily Reagan and Deb Yurow. Emily, as a site coordinator, was in charge of organizing volunteer efforts for the DC Youth Services Center location. Deb flexed her Project Management muscles by acting as the site registrar. Emily joined Hands on DC three years ago after looking for a positive use for her free time, and has been a dedicated volunteer ever since, taking on leadership roles within the organization.

“A great group of people is involved in Hands on DC,” says Emily. “They are hard working and dedicated and have been doing it for years. They clearly love it and have a lot of passion for what they do.” This was RTCRM’s second year of participation in the Work-a-Thon, and the agency plans to participate in future volunteer efforts with Hands on DC.
Hands on DC is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that organizes projects to improve Washington, DC, public schools. Its largest event is the spring Work-a-Thon, which hosts over 2,000 volunteers in over 30 DC public schools. Hands on DC also raises funds to support local college scholarship programs and encourage greater community involvement in the public schools. Find out more about Hands on DC.

RTCRM Volunteers Gather in Front of a Finished Mural

More photos of the event.

For a more in-depth analysis of the Gliadel letter and implications for marketers:

RTCRM Perspectives Video Marketing FDA Warning Letter 6 23 10

The FDA currently oversees prescription drug advertising by reviewing ads submitted by drug companies, investigating industry/consumer complaints about promotional materials, and monitoring pharmaceutical industry events. However, with limited staffing resources, the FDA and DDMAC are unable to analyze and evaluate every prescription drug–related advertisement.

To address this gap in DDMAC’s monitoring abilities, the Bad Ad Program aims to educate HCPs on current DDMAC prescription drug promotion guidelines, teach them how to recognize common pharmaceutical advertising missteps, and provide them with an easy, potentially anonymous, method for reporting possible violations.

Of particular note is the Bad Ad Program’s specific goal of enlisting the help of HCPs in curtailing and reporting potentially inappropriate promotional activities: 1) by sales representatives during office visits; and 2) at promotional presentations during industry-sponsored dinners and speaking engagements. This area of prescription drug advertising has seen increased scrutiny in 2010, with the FDA and DDMAC issuing warning letters (http://tiny.cc/mnotz, http://tiny.cc/hgi1k, http://tiny.cc/5yfgx, etc.) citing both printed sales materials and oral statements made by pharmaceutical executives at industry conferences.

According to a May 11, 2010, FDA press release, the program will consist of three phases. Phase 1 focuses on educating healthcare professionals at select medical conventions, with DDMAC disseminating educational materials through partnerships with a select group of medical societies. In Phases 2 and 3, the FDA will refine the educational materials from Phase 1 and continue to develop outreach partnerships efforts. DDMAC plans to kick off the Bad Ad Program at major medical conferences starting in May 2010.

Implications and Action Items

Pharmaceutical marketers should continue to adhere to DDMAC guidelines when developing all prescription drug advertising regardless of medium or target audience; this includes digital promotions and unbranded websites.

With regard to current in-market promotions, marketers should:

• Ensure all branded or unbranded promotional and sales materials:
  • Are accurate
  • Balance the risk and benefit information
  • Are consistent with the prescribing information approved by the FDA
  • Only include information that is supported by strong clinical studies

• Review all branded or unbranded promotion and sales materials and remedy any of the following:
  • Omission or downplaying of risks
  • Overstatements of effectiveness
  • Promotions of off-label or unapproved uses
  • Misleading drug comparisons

To review the Key Points of FDA Healthcare Professional Outreach (Bad Ad Program), please visit http://tiny.cc/badadprogram. For more reviews on FDA guidelines, please visit http://www.rtcrm.com/whitepapers and http://www.rtcrm.com/blogs. FDA warning letters and FDA guidelines can be found at http://www.fda.gov.

Download important guidelines for marketers to follow when developing pharmaceutical emails: RTCRM Perspectives Novartis Unbranded Websites FDA Warning Letter 5.10.10

RTCRM_Making Your Movie in the Digital Age_ Apr2010 (presentation notes are in the top left corner)

The power point version of this presentation can be found at www.slideshare.net/rtcrm