McLaughlin Makes Career Change at RedRover

When Trish McLaughlin received her degree from Appalachian State University in the late 1980s, she heard the words most English majors hear upon graduating.

“Everybody said I might as well get my teaching degree,” said the 48-year-old.

She followed everybody’s advice and taught for two years, but it wasn’t until she landed a job writing press releases and was encouraged to pursue copywriting that she found her true calling.

“I remember my first account was the Ramses the Great exhibit. I had to research the costumes and the culture, and I thought, ‘This is the coolest job. I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this,’” McLaughlin said.

Since her first agency job in 1993, McLaughlin has traveled the country and Europe working as a copywriter and creative director for various large agencies and international companies and garnering recognition for her work.

Now she can add a new qualification to her resume. McLaughlin was recently promoted to account manager and brand manager at RedRover Sales and Marketing in Downtown.

“It’s a real transition as far as my career is concerned, but it’s also very exciting,” said the Memphis resident.

In her position as account manager, McLaughlin handles the servicing of 80 percent of the agency’s accounts, overseeing the creative team, which includes a cache of freelance writers and designers.

“I handle all other departments. That means I am traffic. I am production,” McLaughlin said.

As brand manager for the agency, McLaughlin commands the promotions of RedRover itself, a 4-year-old company that houses its five employees in the EmergeMemphis building on Tennessee Street.

Some of the clients on her roster of responsibilities include The MED Foundation and Memphis Chemical & Janitorial Supply Co. among others.

Since coming on board, first as a freelancer, then in a full-time position in account services a year ago, one project she likes to tout is getting The MED Foundation to step into the world of social media.

After retooling the Foundation’s website, McLaughlin and her team’s next step was to drive new visitors to see it.

They were shooting for 5,000 viewers. By launching Facebook and Twitter initiatives, public service announcements and e-mails, she and her team were able to drive more than 11,000 visitors to the Foundation’s website.

“It was their first time to work with social media on such a large scale, and we were just delighted with that kind of turnout,” McLaughlin said. “Their levels of donations have gone up significantly, and that’s really satisfying.”

Folks on the other end of the project were satisfied as well.

“Trish eats and breathes The MED message with me,” said The MED Foundation’s executive director, Tammie Ritchey. “She always seems to understand the sense of urgency we have. With an environment like The MED, it’s hectic and frenetic, and she’s always so calm and patient in dealing with things. She makes us feel like we’re her only client.”

Laurita Jackson, president of Memphis Chemical and Janitorial Supply, who’s worked with McLaughlin on launching the company’s first website, hosting an open house and promoting their green products, agrees.

“If I get a brainstorm and want to start a new initiative, I just call Trish, and she does all the legwork to get me what I need,” Jackson said. “We’ve had really good results with Trish. She’s just a joy to work with.”

Though McLaughlin has worked for large and notable firms around the world, she enjoys the closeness of a small agency, particularly seeing results firsthand.

“When you’re working for a large firm on these big projects, it goes through many hands, so that usually by the time it’s finished you don’t even get to see what you’ve done,” McLaughlin said. “Here I can see the changes in the businesses I work with.”

In spite of the fulfillment she enjoys working at a smaller firm, she looks forward to helping it grow.

“We’re growing really fast. We just added two new people,” she said. “We’d like to eventually get big enough to have our own in-house creative team. That’s part of a long-term vision.”