MRPP Wins Small Business of the Year Award
5/18/99
The Cary News, (Cary, NC)

The Chamber of Commerce recognized several of its members at the annual Small Business Awards presentation at Cary's Embassy Suites on Tuesday. From 15 entrants, a judging committee selected five winners in these categories: Small Business of the Year, Employer of the Year, Innovation, Community Service, and Successful Achievement.

Small Business of the Year

Sheila Ogle should be used to winning awards by now.

Ogle, founder and president of MRPP, Inc. has already garnered several honors and recognition for her media placement agency.

And no wonder: in the 12 years since she hung out her shingle, she has hired 18 employees, moved from a little home office into a snazzy suite at Olde Cary Commons downtown, and expanded her client base to include national and international customers.

But Tuesday, when the Cary Chamber of Commerce gave MRPP its annual Small business of the Year award, Ogle reacted like it was her first.

"I'm just so overwhelmed," she said the day after. "To see the people who had gone before me, it was just a compliment to the staff and the company.

Ogle opened up the company in her Cary home after retiring from a full-service advertising agency. MRPP was to be something to keep her busy; a way for her to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

She has since figured it out. She and her staff offer a la carte media placement and advertising services to a number of local, regional, national and now international companies.

For example, one client may need public relations and media placement services, but not marketing or market research. Another may need just the opposite.

MRPP has all the components of full-service agency, except the creative department, and they contract that out. But, unlike a full-service agency, MRPP's clients are billed only for the services they request, and minus the usual commission fees.

Not only is it more cost-effective, Ogle said, but it assures clients they get the best services for their money.

When Ogle started the company, that piece-by-piece approach was a different concept.

"I was a little ahead of my time," she said.

In more ways than one. After leaving a successful career in big organization, she wanted her own company to be more sensitive to women's issues. To fulfill that mission she has hired a staff of competent, capable women who know it's okay to leave a little early for a school play or lunch with their kids.

Employees are given every third Friday afternoon off, and encouraged to spend the time on haircuts, manicures, and other "feel good" treatments.

"Family is first here," she said. "Our employees are our business. If they're happy at home, then they're good employees here."

That kind of attitude has helped create a very loyal pool of employees. Rebecca Barnes, a planner/buyer, said Ogle has made a clear commitment to her staff.

"Sheila Ogle sets the tone for the entire company, she is the company," she said. "I call her the Media Icon, and she really is, but she's more than that. She's a good role model for females in particular, professionals in general."

Her employees aren't the only ones who recognize what a good company Ogle has built. MRPP has been on the Triangle Business Journal's "Fast 50 List" of the 50 fastest growing companies in the triangle, and was named the third fastest growing on that list in 1997. The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce included the company on its Future 30 List of companies to watch in 1997 and 1998, and Ogle was named the North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year in 1998.

Ogle cites her strong faith as key to her success. Without a good spiritual foundation, she said, there is nothing to fall back upon.

But it takes hard work too, and Ogle and MRPP are comfortable with that. They are building up their Internet Marketing Department, and the company announced this week the formation of a new International Services Department to assist clients with media planning for the European market.

With all that's going on, Ogle said there is nowhere for her company to go but up. The company has faced some challenges, especially in keeping up with the new technology involved in Internet marketing, but she wouldn't change a thing.

"I'm so happy, I love this company and these employees," she said., beaming. "I love every day I come to work."