Mark Zuckerberg might not like it, and Don Draper would be bewildered upon hearing it, but
Scott and Cara Dickens stand by an advertising tenet central to their Richmond-based boutique agency: A business can’t simply whip up a Facebook page and call it a social media plan.
From a cozy downtown office of four in 2001, Scott, the company’s president and executive producer, and his wife, Cara, vice president and producer, have gradually built Rocket Pop Media into a 14-person operation. It has evolved to become a shop focused on bolstering the web presence of a business by injecting the Dickens’ own flair, flavor and philosophy.
Cara Dickens, co-founder of Rocket Pop.
With a soaring red-white-and-blue popsicle painted on a powder blue awning that juts out on West Main Street, a passer-by could easily mistake the agency for an ice cream shop or arcade. And that’s exactly what the Dickens are going for.
“We enjoy helping businesses re-invent themselves on the Web and making their presence less staid and more robust,” said Scott, whose spiky gray hair and soul patch are decidedly anti-Mad Men.
Today’s Web browsers want to be introduced to a business through a personal story, he said. They’ll be drawn to the business if they find it entertaining, useful and thought-provoking, much like the search for conversationalists at a cocktail party. Bulleted lists of promises and awards aren’t as effective.
“Have you ever read the encyclopedia?” Scott said. “It sucks. Theories for how to be successful on the Web are totally different than they were eight years ago.”
Facebook and Twitter, for example, weren’t around. However, there is a wrong way for advertisers to use social media tools, Cara said. Rather than aiming for as many online followers as possible, businesses should zero in on those steady customers who are rabid about the brand.
“I’d rather have a solid 50 people who engage with us on a regular basis than those who only go to the Facebook page once a month,” she said.
Blasting customers with the same bland message will turn them off. Instead, Rocket Pop offers a personalized approach, emphasizing daily blog posts, Tweets and frequent Web videos.
“It’s important to be active and talk about your brand in way that is not banging people over the head,” Scott said.
Cara's caricature (all staffers have one).
Because Rocket Pop emphasizes the personal, its client base is largely a patchwork of local and regional merchants that come to the agency through word-of-mouth, ranging from retailers to restaurants to nonprofits. Longtime residents of the 8-0-4, Scott and Cara value the chance to get to know their clients.
“We wouldn’t take on clients who we wouldn’t believe in,” Cara said. “With us, our client can come by the office, sit at our table and talk to the graphic designer, the developer, the copy writer and the creative team.”
And local clients are familiar with Scott and Cara. Before Rocket Pop, they owned Glass & Powder Boardshop on West Cary Street from 1998 to 2008. When the shop was still in business, they crafted a snowboard instructional video series called “Rider’s Ed.” The videos attracted an avid following and were soon distributed to 15 countries and translated into four languages. Riding the success of the videos, they formed Ground Zero Media Services as a way to better manage distribution. Rocket Pop Media hatched from Ground Zero Media, and when the couple shuttered Glass & Powder because of the economic climate, they focused all of their energies on growing Rocket Pop.
The economic times have compelled companies to pare down their marketing departments, and Scott sees it as an opportunity that his agency has seized.
Why use photos when you can use some artwork? Each Rocket Pop staffer gets a caricature. This is Scott's.
“We’re not putting interns in charge of a business’ Web presence,” he said. “A lot of businesses don’t have a clue how to use social media. It’s not what they’re good at. And that’s where we come in.”
Even with its recent growth and the demand for its services, Scott is in no hurry to greatly expand Rocket Pop. He is satisfied with its size and crop of staffers: a small, young, tech-savvy crew. In fact, he and Cara are the only employees over 30.
“I don’t want to be a 200-person agency,” he said. “I never did. And I don’t want someone with 22 years of experience. I like the idea that we’re a springboard for budding graphic designers and videographers. I like the educational and cooperative environment that it fosters. Plus, it keeps me from getting way old.”