Jamie Rice stays ahead of the game.
With 33 years in the advertising business, the chief strategy officer at Baltimore-based Carton Donofrio Partners helped to expand the firm to a national level. In a world where many professionals climb the career ladder jumping from office to office, Rice finds ways to make his firm the best it can be. Working with clients like the National Association of Realtors, Walden University and T. Rowe Price, this true-blue graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill oversees the development and implementation of brand strategies for all agency clients.
Q What is the story behind coming to Carton Donofrio Partners?
A In 1974, I was 23 years old, working in the media department at an advertising agency in Philadelphia. Working on an agriculture client, I got a call from Hal Donofrio, who had just won a major agricultural account and needed a media person. I came down to meet with him and decided it was a good opportunity.
Q What is the most important thing you learned coming into this job?
A The most important lesson I learned is it?s about the client?s customer. It doesn?t matter if I like the ad or Web site, what matters is if it appeals to the customer and helps to motivate them to make a decision. To succeed, you need to put yourself in the customer?s position.
Q What is the project you are most proud of at CDP?
A The work that we?ve done for the past 12 years for The American Institute of Architects has been very significant. We?ve helped them change the public understanding of the value of architects and design in all aspects of community life.
Q What is the hardest part of your job?
A Don?t tell my clients, but I?ve never thought that what we do is hard. There are challenges, of course, but most pale in comparison to engineers or physicians or architects who make decisions that literally affect people?s lives. Sometimes it can be a challenge to help organizations get out of their comfort zone to try something different.
Q How did you get to where you are?
A The critical skills for anyone coming into our business are the ability to listen, process information, synthesize it into a set of coherent thoughts and then communicate in writing and verbally to a client.
