RPA Announces Slate of Creative New Hires

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.