FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   Small Growth Steps Lead To Giant Leaps John Risdall's interactive advertising agency rides high on new technology and billings of $40 million by John Mugford   John Risdall may run a multi-million advertising agency, but he makes sure everyone around him has fun in the process. New Brighton-based Risdall Agency is a full-service advertising firm that currently serves over 120 clients in 14 countries and throughout the U.S. The 25 year-old agency works on several thousand projects each year, and sees dozens of projects completed every week. "It really is fun. We have no two days in a row that are alike," says Risdall, RAA chairman and company founder.   What makes things even more fun is that the agency is experiencing some dramatic growth and is expanding into the exciting world of interactive communications.   RAA's growth has been phenomenal in recent years. Last year alone the firm increased its capitalized billings by 23 percent to $40 million. Although Risdall founded the agency in 1972, the agency remained fairly small during its first dozen years. But gradually those small growth steps started turning into giant leaps.   In 1985, the firm employed 6 people and was reporting $3.6 million in billings. Two years later that size had nearly doubled to 11 employees and $7.4 million in billings. In 1990, the employee count was 17 and billings had reached $14.2 million. Five years later the staff size was 25 and billings reached $31 million. 1996 saw 3 more employees added, and billings jumped to an expected $40 million.   Although ad agencies only see 15 percent of those billings, $6 million in revenues is still a nice chunk of change. A large part of last year's growth is due to RAA's new Internet services.   High-tech growth RAA started moving into Internet design and implementation work about four years ago. "We were there when there was nobody there. Any client that we put up that year was the first company in their industry on the Internet," Risdall says. RAA itself was the tenth ad agency in the U.S. to have a home page.   Internet interest grew in part from client needs. "What this business is all about is focus. Focusing on our clients and what they need, which is what got us into the Internet," Risdall says. RAA establishes a marketing communications or advertising plan for all clients. Often that plan involves an a la carte menu with the single ambition of producing return on investment.   About tour years ago it looked like CD ROMs and the Internet had an opportunity to dramatically reduce costs, and get the same impact in the marketplace without spending the money. "As long as the ROI is there, they're going to continue to advertise," Risdall says. "So when you prepare that set of menu opportunities, you tend to go to the ones that are going to give you back the maximum return on investment," he says.   RAA is seeing clients that used to spend $50,000 to $100,000 each month on traditional media that are now getting more quality leads from their Web page that costs about $100 a month to keep up and running. RAA's own home pages receive thousands of hits every month. "That's the kind of dramatic returns that we're getting on this stuff on the Internet. So, it didn't take too long to talk to most of our clients and get them up on the Internet too," Risdall says.   RAA has become a dominant player in designing and implementing Web pages in the Twin Cities with more than 150 home pages to its credit. The agency added 30 new clients alone in 1996 due largely to the agency's growing Internet reputation. Internet services have been responsible for adding $6 to $7 million in billings just in the last year. "Tuesday we got four new accounts. That was a pretty screwy day. It's one of those serendipity things, but that's what the Internet brings us," Risdall says Initially, many of those new clients come for RAA's Internet capabilities, but stay for the total package of services that the agency offers.   "We're sort of like a normal ad agency in some ways, and in a lot of ways we're not," Risdall says. Many agencies write and design for the Internet, but the majority outsource the implementation of those projects. "What sets us apart from those agencies is that we do the whole thing, and so it really improves our credibility in that we can say, 'yeah you can do that,' or 'no you can't,"' he says.   RAA avoids the cookie cutter approach for home page designs and is working with innovative technology such as animation. However, the primary goal is to create an effective page rather than one that is just pretty, Risdall says. "We approach every account like we do their total marketing communications plan. They've all got unique opportunities and unique products. So on the Web there is no reason why they can't be as good as, or better, than any of their competitors," Risdall says.   RAA's growing Internet reputation has received some impressive corporate interest. The agency recently was chosen as one of the first partners in AT&T's Creative Alliance Program. AT&T wants to be a major link to the Internet, and is in the process of assembling a creative alliance that will help facilitate that. AT&T, along with RAA and a host of other partners, will collaborate to provide AT&T customers with advanced capabilities to conduct business on the Web.   Despite its success with Internet projects, RAA plans to grow this niche at a steady rate, and not at the expense of other specialities. "It's not anything we're counting on or anything like that. We try to be smart about it," Risdall says. RAA is cautious about becoming a victim of the "bleeding edge of technology," and does not want to become one of the many companies that crash and burn each year chasing those computer dreams, he says.   A little history Although Risdall has already made quite a mark in the ad industry, advertising did not start out as a life-long dream. "I was in premed at the U, and I decided that was boring, so I switched," Risdall says. He went on to study speech and humanities, and landed a job as a copywriter while he was still at the U of M in 1964. "It was a job is what it was, and I had fun doing it, and here I've been ever since," he says.   Risdall started out at Harold C. Walker Advertising, moved to Blanchard & Associates for a couple of years and then back to Walker. One of his more memorable projects from those early days, was an idea to enhance the 1968 Pillsbury Bake-off by printing recipe books that coincided with the live Bake-off telecast. With a little advanced planning Pillsbury could have those recipe books in the hands of consumers the day of or day after the Bake-off. "Back then it was a radical idea," Risdall says.   It was in 1972 that Risdall came up with another radical idea to start his own agency. "I just decided that I could do it better than where I was at. It was that simple, Risdall says. Partner Neil Linnihan didn't come into the picture until 1984, and in those early days Risdall was completely on his own.   Although Risdall won several business accounts, the agency's big break came in its second year of business when the it landed a major consumer snowmobile account. The client wanted advertising for the six-state area and it was a big boost for the agency, Risdall says.   Linnihan was a sharp guy in his early 20s when Risdall hired him away from the Suburban Area Chamber of Commerce in 1984. Linnihan came on board as a vice president, and became agency president and partner in 1993.   Linnihan's expertise is environmental products, and he has been instrumental in establishing RAA as a leader in environmental advertising. Linnihan services about 20 environmental accounts across the country. "Neil is known coast to coast as an environmental products specialist," Risdall says.   Other niche areas include industrial and high- tech industries. RAA is the top fullservice agency when it comes to both volume and variety of industrial accounts. RAA also has a growing list of clients in the computer related products and accessories area.   Two years ago, RAA also decided to get into the medical area. The agency currently has eight of the top 50 medical manufacturers in the state as clients. "There's probably more niche areas that we will identify in the future, but right now we're happy with what we have," Risdall says.   RAA's clients are split 50-50 between local and national accounts. "Lot's of people find us from work we've done with current clients. If the ad is good, it speaks for itself."   --MB&O Beth Mattson is a free-lance writer who lives in Minneapolis.     For more information, please contact:   John Risdall, Chairman Risdall Advertising 2475 15th St. N.W. New Brighton, MN 55112 ph: 612-631-1098 fax: 612-631-2561 e-mail:   back