RIESTER

Tim Riester photographed in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix is arguably the sunshine capital of the world.

A note Tim Riester sent to RIESTER staff late last night:

Today, March 10, 2010, marked the 21st anniversary of RIESTER.  As in past years, we were all too busy to notice.  This may sound odd but I am thankful for that.

I probably worked on at least 21 different projects today, and know many of you did as well.  In a healthy marketing firm that should be the norm.  But, that is not how firms in our industry begin.  RIESTER officially opened March 10, 1989 with one client which had a whopping budget of $1,800.  The client was a whitewater rafting company that operated on the upper Salt River with a very short season (the Salt River only has enough flow to create any whitewater during the annual snow melt, when there is snow).  Needless to say, there was tremendous pressure to find more clients and earn projects from them fast!  Bill Robbins will remember all the phone calls I used to make every day, during those early years, politely asking potential clients if they had any projects for us yet.  Enough said yes every month to keep us going, and Tom Ortega’s creative kept us growing.

We quickly realized we were suckers for a good cause and ended up serving on numerous charitable boards and donating ad campaigns to save the earth, children and animals.  But, even our pro bono work was always top notch.  In fact, we became known as the firm that could deliver commercial results for social causes.  RIESTER’s Brand Activism style of advertising started to earn us some pretty large contracts for extremely important social issues.  But, we continued to treat all clients as if they were small and every dollar invested in marketing with RIESTER needed to deliver amazing success.  As a result, we went from managing one project for Motorola to managing all marketing projects for 12 Motorola divisions.  We went from doing a single ad for a cellular phone company to managing all marketing for Metro Mobile (which became Cellular One) in six southwestern states.  We went from promoting water bottles for a single camping store to managing all marketing in 80 DMAs for Culligan Water.  We went from doing a PSA to prevent smokers from littering to achieving the greatest reductions in youth smoking in United States history.  We went from promoting three bank branches for First National to campaigning for America’s second largest, privately-held financial institution – MidFirst.  We went from the flannel shirts of the Flagstaff Visitors Bureau to the interactive slopes of Alta.  And, we went from acquiring a company that had just lost the Hormel business to working for nine Hormel brands today.

With good reason, I am truly convinced RIESTER can accomplish anything we set out to achieve and I look forward to our next 21 years with great anticipation.  However, we must always remember it took us years to earn the clients and relationships we enjoy today.  Treating them like they are all still small and need us to deliver amazing results with every dollar will ensure we all continue to have the privilege of working together.

Thank you all for everything you do for RIESTER, and happy 21st anniversary!!!