RPM3 changes tack to focus on ‘transactional’ business

RPM3 is gambling on a new way of pitching for business – transactional marketing – which the agency admits could alienate half of the top 1,000 global clients.

The agency will now only pitch for accounts that fall into its new remit, described as “businesses which deal directly with consumers, such as retailers, banks, the leisure and travel industries and dot-coms”.

RPM3 managing director Mark Brandis says the agency has extensive experience dealing with such clients. He says: “Transactional businesses are not always understood by advertising agencies. Developing and maintaining a brand identity for these kinds of organisations is more complex than for packaged-goods brands.”

RPM3’s new catchphrase is: “If you’re not a can of baked beans, you shouldn’t be sold as one.”

Chief executive Martin Butler says consumers now hold the balance of power and adds that e-commerce has been the catalyst for change.

He says: “Consumers have been empowered through information. They can negotiate. Being a brand based on price alone is no longer enough.