About

We are

DEDICATED TO THE ART OF ENGAGEMENT

At RAPJAB, we design, manage, write, develop, and plan–but we know you can get that from any agency in town. Regardless of the task, we get most excited about crafting moments and inciting interactions. We believe that analytics, technology, and strategy are nothing without a beating heart. And most importantly, we trust in the intelligence of the consumer.

Our mission is to reach people in meaningful, strategic, and lasting ways. Through a process of committed discovery, we pinpoint the emotions that drive consumer choice and tell stories that speak directly to your audience.

Full-service, boutique-sized

Integrated Advertising Campaigns / Print / Video Production / Social Media Foundation and Implementation / Web and App Development
Event Planning and Marketing / Public Relations / Search Engine Optimization / Competition Analysis / E-Commerce

Getting invested in your business

We’re big fans of the unity of opposites. Our best work grows from a mixture of meticulous tinkering and a healthy sense of wonder. Our goal is to stay curious, up-to-date, and enthusiastic about the possibilities of our field.
We approach each client and project as a unique case. Through a process of earnest and humble discovery, we help them develop and perfect their voice as brands. It’s how we’re able to produce work that’s more beautiful and more brilliant.

Taking Calculated Risks

Our Process

1. Discovery
2. Foundation
3. Exploration
4. Production
5. Engagement

1. Discovery

Part audit and part soul-searching therapy session, the discovery phase is where we become experts in what you do. We engage our clients in a holistic process of interview, observation, asset collection, and data gathering. This can range from touring a production facility to experiencing a hotel as a guest. Here, we develop a deep understanding of the brand's competitive environment, stakeholders, goals, and existing strategy. Be prepared to answer questions and have stones unapologetically turned.

2. Foundation

Armed with valuable insight about the brand's current standing, we can now express its greatest possible future. In order to build big, beautiful, and brilliant things, we establish a blueprint that fully articulates the core of the brand in aspirational and anthemic language. This foundational exercise contains three focuses: the brand's values, its promise, and its personality–which will drive all future marketing work. Crafted for internal use, it's a steadfast guide for all stewards and stakeholders, allowing us to move forward concordantly and confidently.

3. Exploration

Having hammered out the brand’s framework, we can now extend the brand’s principles into the visual and strategic realms. We’ll choose color palettes and typefaces. We’ll create moodboards, style guides, logos, and brand marks that help the brand feel robust and fully realized. We can also provide operational recommendations, social media strategy, and usage handbooks. Presented with rationales and specifications for modification, these materials will be used by all future designers and executors of the brand, anticipating questions and forestalling ambiguity.

4. Production

We’ve found the brand’s voice and determined its look. Now we can create the assets that communicate with the world. Here is where we craft mission statements, build websites, produce print collateral (business cards, stationery, brochures) and create on-premise materials (signage, menus, interior design elements). These public-facing manifestations of the brand are tailored strategically for target demographics and environmental context.

5. Engagement

A good brand never sleeps. It’s always seeking opportunities to interact with its audience. Whether the brand has launched a new product, expanded its services, or simply wants to increase awareness, ongoing engagement strategies connect in a meaningful and lasting way. These are campaigns, events, social media communications, and public relations. These reminders are geared to delight, not to bludgeon, and always consider the engagement from the customer’s point of view. Engagement is measured, evaluated, and modified for future iterations.

Young Company

DECADES OF EXPERIENCE

RAPJAB is a diverse team of artists, strategists, and problem-solvers—all dedicated to the art of engagement.

Richard Alexander Pomes

Chief Marketing Officer

Co-founder

With experience as a public speaker, social media strategist, and brand ambassador, Richard (his friends call him Alex) knows the importance of building relationships–especially if you catch him at happy hour.

Legendary in certain circles for his pioneering work for a well-known cinnamon whisky, Richard has a knack for connecting brands with their audiences in new and surprising ways. A professional actor since high school, he delights in finding each client’s unique voice and telling compelling stories.

James Anthony Braendel

Chief Executive Officer

Co-founder

A web developer, designer, and problem solver, James is fascinated with taking things apart, figuring out how they work, and improving them. As a co-founder of RAPJAB, he’s nearly solved this whole marketing thing.

A keen student of business and an unrelenting polymath, James has grown RAPJAB from startup to nationally recognized agency–all while keeping the firm true to its core values. As a designer, he has crafted intuitive and elegant solutions for a diverse array of clients, always asserting the importance of human connection.

Samantha C. Brooks

Director of Client Services

RAPJAB’s Director of Client Services, Samantha (call her Sam), has over a decade of experience in Client Services and Broadcast Production for both international and boutique agencies in the United States and Australia. Having managed international brands, Sam’s work has taken her deep into the worlds of banking and finance, oil and gas, hotel management, and communications technology.

Over the years she’s worked in just about every department there is in an ad agency, bringing invaluable qualifications to the RAPJAB team–along with an obsessive attention to detail. If something needs to get done, chances are “Sam can do it!”

Daniela E. Capistrano

Communications Strategist

RAPJAB’s Communications Strategist, Daniela, has over five years of experience operating her own boutique agency, providing digital strategy and marketing services to B2Bs, B2Cs, and nonprofits in the United States and internationally.

A self-described “media wizard” and “data dude”, Daniela is also a clever wordsmith who puts just as much attention into creating a killer SEM plan as she does in crafting on brand social media copy.

Over the years, Daniela has traveled through and worked in over 20 U.S. cities. Notable achievements include founding MTV News’ first social media channels, speaking at over ten universities nationwide, and her work being cited in Fast Company and Rolling Stone magazine. She consumes and analyzes media at an alarming rate and promises she will put her phone down as soon as she finishes reading this article.

David J. Ajamiseba

Associate Creative Director

The genius behind RAPJAB’s visual capabilities is an award winning creative with over ten years of experience in communications, tourism, insurance, food services, and sports (to name a few). Dave’s many years spent designing for digital and print have taught him how to focus on the experience–how people ingest, understand, navigate, and even touch designs.

He oversees the hands on creative direction for all things visual at RAPJAB, lending both a “why” and a “how” to every choice.

Erin L. Martin

Senior Account Executive

A graduate of Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication, Erin oversees the development of RAPJAB’s client relationships while also managing budgets, schedules, creatives, and vendors. A no-nonsense whip cracker by trade, her resume presents an impressive amount of experience such as working on major marketing campaigns for Fab.com and Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort. Most recently, Erin managed the studio production of several flagship accounts at Tag Worldwide.

She donates her spare time to Youth Run NOLA, a New Orleans non-profit that inspires kids to make healthy life choices through nutrition and exercise.