RRD debuts rebranded 3,000-person marketing agency

RRD, the Chicago-based provider of marketing, packaging, print and supply chain solutions formerly known as R.R. Donnelley, has formed a 3,000-person global marketing operation that can handle everything from strategy to creative to media execution. The unit, part of the 37,000-person RRD, is essentially a repackaging of RRD Marketing Solutions, now called Iridio, and serves 92% of Fortune 100 companies, although the agency declined to name specific clients. Its expanded offerings—thanks to recent acquisitions including Williams Lea, which offers tech-enabled business services, in January and marketing tech and consumer engagement firm Valassis Communications last year—include strategy; creative; digital advertising tools and creative development powered by AI and automation; data and analytics; and media execution including planning and buying. Andy Johnson, senior VP and head of Iridio, said the company’s 3,000 people include data scientists and architects, designers, creative directors and account service professionals spread across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Iridio launched with clients in industries including retail, health care and financial services. Johnson said Iridio can serve as a full-fledged agency of record for an advertiser or help augment a marketing team on behalf of a brand or holding company. He said Iridio does not technically compete with holding companies but rather positions itself as a single solution for marketers who want every function of the ad ecosystem handled in one place—for the most part. “We’re never going to be producing a commercial on Super Bowl Sunday,” Johnson said. Iridio’s sweet spot is using tech to fuel “hyper-targeted marketing efforts … We really see ourselves operating at the nexus of both AORs as well as brands, and we can be an in-between partner, a behind-the-scenes partner [or] a brand direct partner,” he said. RRD was founded as R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., a local Chicago print operation, in 1864 by Richard Robert Donnelley. R.R. Donnelley, which had been a public company, went private in 2022 when it was acquired by buyout firm Chatham Asset Management. Chief Product Officer Paul Mandeville touted its long and rich history, as well as its various business operations, as a competitive edge. “You’ve got the largest postal direct mailer and one of the two largest clearers of physical coupons in North America under RRD,” Mandeville said, highlighting two of RRD’s business units. “That’s an awful lot of data about where people are, what products have been shipped to them, what discounts and coupons they are clearing and what interest categories those physical redemptions live in … So we place billions and billions of ad impressions using ethically sourced data and have been doing that for over 10 years.” Behind Iridio To give an idea of how Iridio is already working directly with brands, Johnson said the firm recently helped a top U.S. grocer with more than 2,000 stores combine shopper profiles across their “11 or 12 divisions” and create a “more macro marketing strategy, business strategy and operational strategy,” that drove down costs for the client. He said the firm did this while continuing to activate “at a very local level and preserve local autonomy.” “I, with a team of data scientists, aggregating across all physical and digital channels, was able to, in real time, go back to this brand CMO and report out on the right media mix and channel spin that’s happening across 11 different banners in unison and where we need to push and where we need to pull,” Johnson said. It is efficiencies like those that chief marketing officers are craving right now, as they’re operating in an increasingly complex marketing environment against worsening economic headwinds, making every marketing dollar matter, Johnson said. Also: Omnicom lowers the bottom end of its 2025 forecast amidst broad economic uncertainty For one consumer packaged goods company, Iridio is acting on behalf of its AOR handling digital media, including “traditional digital display, video, CTV, OTT, paid social, search and even influencer” responsibilities, Mandeville said, declining to name the client. “We’re a one-stop shop for all of that execution,” he said. Iridio was named in part after the first studio RRD acquired: the larger firm bought Seattle-based Iridio, a digital photography studio, in 2000, Johnson said, calling it a “cue to our history.” The name was also given based on the element Iridium, a hard and brittle metal known for its high density and resistance to corrosion. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters

RRD debuts rebranded 3,000-person marketing agency

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