Going on the road has made Next Marketing an agency on the move.
The Atlanta-based shop attributes its recently improved financial profile to increased client requests for vehicle-based and experiential campaigns.
Net revenue nearly doubled last year, to $10 million from $5.6 million the year before.
Next also practices what it preaches, according to president and CEO Henry Rischitelli, who notes that the growth came about because the company markets and delivers its services efficiently and with great aplomb. “People are coming to us because we tell our story, but also because we do quality work,” he says.
One of its biggest success stories is Panasonic, a client for the past five years. Next took that relationship to a new level last year by devising and managing a truck-based tour to demonstrate Panasonic’s high-definition product portfolio.
Panasonic had been using a trailer that was simply too large for some parking lots. Instead, Next started using a 53-foot trailer and three 28-foot box trucks to make stops in shopping centers and at major sports events.
Panasonic’s “Living in High Definition Tour” made approximately 900 stops over 13 months.
The subsequent buzz resulted in “bigger work from existing clients,” points out Brad Harris, Next vice president of strategy. “We’re beginning to understand who we are and what we can offer from a value proposition to our clients.”
Harris notes that, lately, clients are willing to parse their promotional consulting among a number of agencies, based on their respective strengths.
“It’s been a controlled whirlwind,” Paul Duffy, Next vice president of partnership, says of the agency’s growing roster.
Since December, Next has conducted for General Motors a series of “ride-and-drive” events at state fairs and sports events. The agency’s product specialists are trained to do a soft sell to consumers requesting a test drive of high-performance Corvettes or more sedate Malibus. This approach is preferable to purchasers weary of the typically hard-sell car dealers.
Since sports figures prominently in what it does, Rischitelli not surprisingly makes a gridiron analogy when talking about the need to demonstrate ROI. “Everything we do, we try to create measurements and goals. At the end of the day, it’s all about blocking and tackling.”
TOP EXECUTIVES: Henry Rischitelli, president & CEO; Brad Harris, vice president of strategy; Linda Trocano, vice president of account services; Paul Duffy, vice president of partnership
2007 U.S. NET REVENUE: $10 million
KEY CLIENTS: Panasonic, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, Plantronics, LoJack, Tabasco, General Tobacco
HEADQUARTERS: Atlanta
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