Exploring New Ways to Promote: Richard Rabinowitz and R2 Rainmaker Marketing 
by Jon Sienkiewicz
We sell wonderful products that improve people's lives and bring happiness and satisfaction to millions--products that are instrumental in preserving personal human history. However, we sometimes lack marketing imagination. We're an industry that has basically relied on price wars and technological innovation--and not much else--to attract new consumers. I realize that I am painting with a broad brush. There are many retailers and manufacturers who do exciting things. But I cannot say that the majority do. In any case, the photographic industry needs a few new ideas. Therefor, it comes as good news that a new company--R2 Rainmaker Marketing--will be exploring new ways to promote.
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Rabinowitz with his wife, Jill Enfield, award winning professional photographer
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It takes more than big ideas, however. It takes the ability to deliver. Less than one week after 9/11, the members the Japanese American Association of New York launched a campaign to raise money for the Twin Towers Victim's Fund. Their goal was to collect $50,000 by October 30, 2001 and deliver it to then mayor Rudolph Giuliani. It was an ambitious goal: the majority of JAA's members of modest means; many hold "green cards" and work as employees in restaurants and other businesses.
To the surprise of all, they raised more than $500,000. But the bigger surprise was the difficulty they faced when they tried to deliver the money to the charity. Sam (Sadahei) Kusumoto, honorary president of JAA and chairman emeritus of the Minolta Corporation, spearheaded the efforts. After several futile attempts to contact the mayor he turned to the one man he knew could deliver--literally as well as figuratively: Richard Rabinowitz. Shortly thereafter, a meeting was arranged and the half-million dollar check was in the right hands. The check presentation ceremony was held in the mayor's office just minutes before he delivered his farewell speech to the people of New York City.
A Gathering Force
For Richard Rabinowitz, bringing people together has been more than just an occasional accomplishment--it's been his life's work. After more thatn 22 years in the magazine publishing game, most recently spent as vice president and group publisher at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., he's off on his own, embarking on a new adventure but still moving in the same direction--bringing manufacturers, retailers and consumers together. To put legs under his new business he's drawing upon his long experience of serving as a catalyst between print, boradcast and interactive media on one side, wholesalers and resellers on the other, and a whole world of celebrities, live events and relationship marketing in the middle.
Richard Rabinowitz is a rainmaker in the classic sense. He sees the whole picture as well as the separate parts, gauges the potential for success and then brings the pieces together to make things happen. While at Hachette he conceived and launched the Mentor Series and Photo Treks. He's not an armchair quarterback, as anyone who was involved will quickly tell you. Rabinowitz rolled up his sleeves and did whatever was neccessary to make the projects work. The Digital Days seminars, for example, spanned 24 weekends in as many cites and put Sony and Adobe products in front of hundreds of highly motivated consumers. Ritz Camera Centers was a retail partner.
"I like doing projects with Richard," says David Ritz. "He's not only smart and creative--more than most people I know--but once you shake hands he comes through every time, no matter what obstacles come up."
"I enjoy working with retailers," Rabinowitz explains. "The retail part of the business world is more personal and more real. It's what built this country--people working hard to establish their own business."
Creative Solutions, Attractive Promotions
This isn't the first time he's parlayed his understanding of the relationships between retailers and consumers into a business venture. Once previously, while on a two-year hiatus from his position as vice president, associate publisher of Elle Magazine, another Hachette publication, he launched an enterprise that brought the readers of Elle together with 200 upscale retailers who were involved in lady's fashion, jewelry and similar niches. His firm produced a series of multipage advertorials called "All About Town."
"'All About Town' was all about generating business," says Rabinowitz, who wrote the editorial-style ad copy and even did most of the photography himself. The pages highlighted upscale merchants located in major cities across the U.S. The retailers attracted phone orders and business from travelers who were visiting their locations from elsewhere in the country. That successful experience is what motivated him to embark upon his latest business venture.
More recently Rabinowitz was able to help create a successful live event for Sony by drawing upon his extensive reservoir of resources. It started when he learned that Sony's research concluded that their ultra-luxurious Qualia product line appealed most strongly to folks who also appreciated such diverse attractions as auto racing, hip-hop music, theatre, architecture and watching television. Richard returned to the Sony executives with consents to participate from Mario Andretti, Broadway's Joel Grey, Grammy Award winner Usher, Academy Award winning film director David Jones and actor Kyle MacLachlan. Needless to say, the celebration at Sony's Madison Avenue retail store was a colossal success. The event earned a personal expression of gratitude from Sir Howard Stringer, who appered to host the opening night of the exhibition in NYC.
Not every promotion can include an all-star cast, to be sure. The important point is there's always room for creative solutions and attractive promotions. Sometimes all that's required is a catalyst to incite the desired reaction. That's exactly what Richard Rabinowitz's new business intends to do--provide retailers and manufacturers with the materials they need to create successful promotions. Success is nothing new to the man who is only a thesis away from a doctorate in clinical psychology. That's right--they call it "all but thesis," and if things had gone differently, perhaps today he would be counseling psychopaths instead of constructing marketing strategies. Instead Rabinowitz is leveraging his reputation for being a capable, creative and committed entrepreneur. His new business aim to bring manufacturers, retailers and consumers together like dry tinder, so that the sparks of commerce can fly.
As a matter of fact, he has already launched one project that will surface within the next few weeks. It centers on the work of some of the world's most accomplished photographers. One famous photographer Rabinowitz frequently works with is Mark Seliger, internationally known for his evocative books of portraiture as well as his features in high-profile magazines such as Vanity Fair, GQ and Rolling Stone. Seliger also served as chief photographer at Rolling Stone for 20 years.
Richard Rabinowitz is a rainmaker in the classic sense: bringing manufacturers, retailers and consumers together.
"Richard is not just a business type but also a creative type," says Seliger. "He works very well with professional photographers. We receive lots of proposals, but Richard's are always well crafted and well executed. If he assures me that I can be comfortable about getting involved without complications, he is always right. He's not just in it for the short haul, and I trust him completely. One can't always say that in this world."
Richard Darrow, president of ToCAD agrees. "I've known Richard Rabinowitz for many years. He's fun to work with, delivers what he promises and possesses a level of integrity and honesty that's rare. Whatever his next project is, I'm in."
R2 Rainmaker Marketing and Richard Rabinowitz can be reached at (212) 979-5457 or by visiting www.R2Rainmaker.com or emailing info@R2Rainmaker.com. |
