Santa Monica, Calif., July 31, 2012 - RPA, the third-largest independent advertising agency in the U.S., has hired four key creative talents. Pete Figel and Alicia Dotter join the crew as creative directors, while John Starr will fill a new associate CD/design director role, and Mark Tripp will be the agency's newest director and senior producer, content, specializing in social campaigns.

"With success comes growth, with growth comes change, and we are changing in the best way possible with the addition of some new faces to the RPA creative pool," said RPA EVP/CCO Joe Baratelli. "Each of these talents brings the unique combination of capability, enthusiasm and drive that we look for in every RPA Associate."

Pete Figel (CD): Most recently working as a freelancer, Figel's reel includes work for Miller Brewing Company, Mars, NASCAR, Orbitz, AT&T and DirecTV. He also spent time working on Apple at Media Art Lab. Figel is a hockey fan who actually laces them up now and again.

Alicia Dotter (CD): Dotter joins RPA from Team One, where she was creative director on the Renaissance Hotels and Ritz-Carlton business. Prior to that, she led the iPhone team at Media Arts Lab. She coined the now-iconic phrase "There's an app for that," helping launch the iPad, worked on the legendary Mac and PC campaign and created countless iPod commercials.

John Starr (Associate CD/Design Director): In his former life at BLITZ, Starr worked on notable accounts Vizio, Pixar, Disney, Microsoft, Sprint, Paramount, FX, Warner Brothers, Pepsi, 2K, Netflix and Activision.

Mark Tripp (Director/Senior Producer, Content): As a director, producer and former copywriter, Tripp brings more than 20 years of advertising experience to the table. He will be a key part of the agency's in-house social-media content production service. His reel is filled with smart, economical, award-winning social content for Intuit Small Business "Get Business Growing", Honda's "Million Mile Joe" and others.

ABOUT RPA:

RPA, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., is a leading independent advertising agency. RPA builds momentum for brands by offering its clients truly integrated campaigns that resonate throughout its disciplines, which include traditional advertising, digital, and direct and event marketing. RPA's client list includes American Honda, both the Honda and Acura brands, ampm, ARCO, Castrol, California Department of Public Health, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Farmers Insurance Group, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and Sole Society. For more information, visit http://www.rpa.com.

Santa Monica, Calif., July 11, 2012 - RPA, the largest advertising agency headquartered in Los Angeles, and the third-largest independent agency in the country, announces the promotion of Joe Baratelli, previously EVP, Executive Creative Director, to the position of EVP, Chief Creative Officer, reporting to Bill Hagelstein, President and CEO.

Baratelli's direction is instrumental to RPA's 360-degree fully integrated approach that creates interest, participation and conversation across all media channels, including TV, digital, social and beyond.

Baratelli will continue to oversee all creative work for Honda, Farmers Insurance, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Tobacco Free CA and several others. He was named Group Creative Director in 2010 and then EVP, Executive Creative Director last year.

"With Joe at the creative helm for nearly a year, RPA has had a slew of grand-slam campaign successes for a variety of clients. This elevated title fully recognizes Joe's countless contributions to RPA's culture and creative reputation," said Hagelstein.

Recently, Baratelli oversaw memorable work such as Honda's "Matthew's Day Off" Super Bowl spot, part of the bigger, all-new CR-V Leap List campaign. Following this launch, CR-V has set a six-consecutive-month sales record. He also led the "Million Mile Joe" digital campaign that was recognized by the One Show Interactive and CLIO awards.

For Farmers Insurance, Baratelli guided the launch of the University of Farmers® campaign in September 2010. Since then, Farmers has moved into national consciousness and experienced success in three critical areas: creative breakthrough, brand linkage and unaided consideration.

Baratelli's leadership of recent projects includes the Newport Beach Film Festival, Intuit Small Business's "Get Business Growing," Tobacco Free CA and La-Z-Boy campaigns starring actress Brooke Shields.

Baratelli has been with RPA since the agency was formed in 1986, originally joining as an Art Director working on Honda projects. He has helped create such iconic campaigns as the Gold EFFiE® Award-winning "Too Much Good Stuff" campaign for ampm convenience stores and Honda's "Power of Dreams" corporate campaign.

Baratelli's work has been recognized by the One Show, EFFIEs, ADDYs, CLIOs, Art Directors Club, "Communication Arts," the MiXX awards and J.D. Power awards for best automotive website for the last five out of six years.

ABOUT RPA:

RPA, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., is a leading independent advertising agency. RPA builds momentum for brands by offering its clients truly integrated campaigns that resonate throughout its disciplines, which include traditional advertising, interactive, and direct and event marketing. RPA's client list includes American Honda, both the Honda and Acura brands, ampm, ARCO, Castrol, California Department of Public Health, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Farmers Insurance Group and Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. For more information, visit http://www.rpa.com.