RPD Media Associates in Chappaqua is on a mission to promote socially conscious clients ”“ from those who build log homes in Vermont to an orphanage in the Himalayan region of Northern India.
Four years in the making, company President Richard Diefenbach, a former broadcast news producer, is using technical savvy gleaned over a lifetime to affect positive change around the globe.
“I don”™t think anyone knows for certain how far Twitter is going to reach,” Diefenbach said. “It”™s a fun thing, but even Miley Cyrus has quit. I think that for businesses now ”“ web videos have become such a powerful tool. They are exploding.”
But he is not wedded to the exclusively visual. His presentations even include an audio tour for the Bronx River.
He first took a stab at technology as a rookie at ABC News 20 years ago.
Â
“I worked on the satellite desk and was successful on a campaign project, so they put me on this project called ”˜Capitol to Capitol,”™” he said of a documentary that incorporated satellite hookups across the globe. If the task of global satellite systems is still daunting today, two decades ago it led Diefenbach to a new career choice: “That was the point when I said, ”˜I have to go into editorial,”™” he said and laughed.
Â
Diefenbach spent 20-plus years as a network news executive at ABC, CBS and Fox News before his departure into life as an entrepreneur.
He utilizes writing, producing and voice-over talent from veteran news professionals in all forms of production. He works across the broad spectrum of businesses, but holds a special place in his heart for the downtrodden. His project documenting the construction of a Himalayan orphanage, he said, tugged on his heartstrings.
“I feel like in that part of the world, it”™s all about taking care of everybody else,” he said. “It”™s about the greater good, rather than what we see here so many times: instant gratification for one”™s own needs. We even hope to adopt some children from the home if they”™re comfortable with that.”
The orphanage attracted 20 children to start. “I documented them and helped make a video for fundraising. I think the documentary of the Lama (Tenzin Choegyal)
is at Sundance (Film Festival) now. It raised a great deal of money.”
Â
Other clients include green builders Malcarne Contracting. He also has worked with Real Log Homes out of Heartland, Vt. “We did six series of videos for them. They”™re very green; you can”™t get any greener than a log cabin.”
Â
For the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford, “We did a video for their gala and it was very well received. We spent time with the parents and children and with the instructors. We incorporated what they had to say with uplifting music. They loved it and sent it to the corporate community.”
While promotional videos might seem totally pre-Twitter, sometimes, cutting edge just doesn”™t cut it.
“Everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon and be on top of the technology, but sometimes you have to help dial them back and say, ”˜This is what really works right now,”™” Diefenbach said. “You want to find the media with the most practical usage for the company.”
Content strategy is another facet of the business.
“It really is a two-way street with a client,” said Dennis Murray, a producer at RPD Media and writer for Good Morning America. “Sometimes a client knows what they want and other times, we”™ll go to a client with an out-of-the-blue idea for them.”
RPD Media recently concluded work for the Bronx River Walk audio tour for Friends of Westchester Parks.
“There are days that are very challenging and you want that phone to ring with opportunities, but you have to work hard for it because there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there that are doing the same thing you”™re doing.”
The web site is rpdmedia.com.
