“Right now, it’s all in the planning stages,” Robyn Deyo, president of the Chesterfield County-based ad agency, said about the upcoming campaign.

The ad agency hire comes as RIR officials, as well as community leaders, worry that the track could lose one of its two annual events if attendance falls too far.

Losing one — or both — of the annual races would be a multimillion-dollar economic blow to the region.

Deyo said Barber Martin will take a “holistic approach” to the work, which will include broadcast, digital media and social media as well as promotions.

Barber Martin counts retailers Cato Fashions and Southern States Cooperative Inc. as some of its oldest clients. It added nTelos and Bassett Furniture to its roster last year.

The agency, in part, is tasked with bringing people to the racetrack for the two annual race weekends — this year in late April and early September. It will promote RIR in the Richmond area and nearby markets.

Before hiring Barber Martin, RIR worked with the New York agency Deutsch Inc. for its advertising.

Aimee Turner, an RIR spokeswoman, said track officials decided that a local agency could better understand the area and the people living nearby.

“That’s what really drew us to Barber Martin. They know our fan base,” Turner said.

A major goal for RIR, she said, is to reach out to race fans who live within a couple of hours and will drive to the race but “sleep in their own beds.”

Turner said the agency can bring in a fresh approach and creative ways to do that.

Deyo said her agency’s long history of working to get customers into retail stores makes it a good fit for RIR.

“It’s not too too different. It’s all about grabbing traffic,” she said. “We have two opportunities to make an impact.”

Getting people to the track is of upmost importance considering that the recent recession has contributed to a drop in attendance at NASCAR races nationwide. Each NASCAR weekend generates $168.5 million in economic impact for the Richmond region, according to a study by the Washington Economics Group that was released in 2009.

This is not the agency’s first dealings with the racetrack. RIR hired Barber Martin in 2001. That relationship lasted about two years.

See other articles regarding RIR and Barber Martin Agency:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/RIR-hires-Barber-Martin-agencyChesterfield-outfit-to-help-promote-tracks-NASCAR-races-40472468

http://www.rir.com/Articles/2012/01/Barber-Martin.aspx

Grace Belle Gorter arrived just in time for Christmas on Saturday, December 24, at 2:43pm, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz, 20” long. She is healthy & perfect!!

Congratulations! We can’t wait to meet her.

Forest

And we also won a Bronze for Adolf Jewelers Holiday Radio

Adolf Jewelers – I’m Sorry :60 radio

Adolf Jewelers – Second Bed :60 radio

Barbara Vaughan-Parks, Broadcast Business Manager

Vaughan-Parks rejoins Barber Martin after leaving the agency in 2007 to pursue a freelance career. She returns with experience freelancing for several clients via local advertising and graphic design companies. Vaughan-Parks is a graduate of John Tyler Community College.

Caroline Marvel, Account Supervisor

Marvel brings to Barber Martin more than six years of advertising and marketing experience managing team projects and maintaining oversight of projects through completion. She has also demonstrated leadership of teams by perfecting communications processes to ensure performance metrics are achieved. Marvel has done work for a broad range of clients. She is a 2003 graduate of the College of William & Mary.

Susan Cook, Account Coordinator

Cook joins Barber Martin with marketing experience from Fellowship Travel International and Marks & Harrison Law Firm. She earned her undergraduate degree in 2008 from James Madison University and is currently working towards achieving a master’s degree in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

BMA is growing with three new hires, strengthening the company’s creative, media and account management teams.

James Setaro, Account Supervisor

Setaro joins Barber Martin as an experienced professional with more than 16 years of corporate and agency experience. He brings to the firm experience from RightMinds, The Martin Agency and client work with Richmond Convention & Visitors Bureau, Saab, S&K Menswear, Carl Zeiss Optical and other clients. Setaro earned his MBA from VCU in 2003 and is a 1990 graduate of University of Virginia. He is an adjunct instructor for VCU’s School of Mass Communications.

Steve Covert, Associate Creative Director

Covert brings to Barber Martin more than 10 years of advertising experience and has worked on everything from local newspaper, web and magazine ads to national television commercials. Steve has done work for a broad range of clients that include Miller Lite, Macy’s, BP, The Washington Wizards, The Virginia Tobacco Settlement, Snagajob.com and many more. He has earned a reputation as a creative problem solver with big ideas and a unique approach to advertising, and has won many national and regional advertising awards.

Brittney Gorter, Media Buyer

Gorter joins Barber Martin with experience from Sheehy + Associates in Louisville, KY, where she worked with grocery retail giant Kroger. She also brings to the agency experience in newspaper ad sales.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote a nice article about how we survived and thrived throughout the Great Recession. You should take a gander here. Some key excerpts:

“We’re trying to get people up and in the door. You have to craft an ad that gets people’s attention. Barber Martin knows how to do that.” – Peter Morrison, director of marketing at Bassett Furniture

“The key for the smaller brands is effective targeting to a segment of the broader market. The big brands are well-known and can afford large-scale promotion campaigns. The smaller brands may not be able to afford the scale of promotion that the bigger brands have, but with good marketing research they can pursue cost-effective promotional strategies for reaching their respective audiences.” - David Urban, professor of marketing and executive associate dean at the VCU School of Business

But the real key to our success? We have several Vatican warlock assassins on staff. Fact.

Read the rest of the article at the Times-Dispatch site.

And with the holidays fast approaching, don’t you think your loved ones will want fashions that make a new statement of style?

Do you guys know that we’re working with nTelos now? Well, we are, and we’ve been very, very busy–thus, our blog updates have been rather sporadic.

In any case! Here is the very first commercial we’ve done for them!