Gigante Vaz Partners and Ricoh Americas Announce National Roll-Out for Teknoforce Brand

Gigante Vaz Partners and Ricoh Americas Corporation announced today that Ricoh is expanding its Teknoforce program in selected markets across the country. Gigante Vaz worked with Ricoh to create the Teknoforce brand as a response to Ricoh’s desire to find a way to monetize the extraordinary skill and depth of knowledge of its sales and IT force.

The agency conceived the brand from the ground up and developed the go-to-market strategy and implementation plans. Tested first in Atlanta in 1Q 2008, the program has proven itself a successful means to gain a huge advantage in adding to Ricoh’s awareness within the IT market.

The effort has included developing all elements of brand imagery, including logo, look and feel, brand tonality and brand essence around an immersive experience that includes the field technicians’ materials and a fleet of Teknoforce vehicles (all Toyota Matrixes). The agency designed the Teknoforce website’s features and functionality by using a technician as a digital interactive guide to reinforce the real-world technicians who represent the brand on calls. Messaging platforms for the service include print, billboards and a distinctive radio campaign featuring the Devo song “Whip it.”

Paul Gigante, Creative Director and Founder of Gigante Vaz, said, “The creation of the Teknoforce brand and the fun we’ve had developing all the communication elements of the campaign are representative of how much we have loved every minute of working with the Ricoh folks for 19 years. They often just say ‘surprise us with your idea’ and when we have that mandate we can come up with something as smart and immersive as this every time. It’s what agencies dream about—a client who truly recognizes and trusts the agency’s capability as a complete creative machine.”

Bob Ingoglia, Director of Communications at Ricoh, said, “The Teknoforce idea and execution has been a home run. Gigante Vaz immediately recognized an outstanding opportunity to leverage our company’s experience and reputation for dependability and the result has been an expansion of our business and revenues. Atlanta was a huge success, and the decision to then expand the program was a natural outcome.”

Media spending on the Teknoforce launch is expected to be $1–2 million.

About Gigante Vaz Partners
GVP is an independent, full-service agency with a 20-year history of servicing clients whose ambitions exceed their resources. Paul Gigante and Madeleine Vaz won the Ricoh business away from ChiatDay in 1989, a client the agency continues to service today. The agency’s calling card is generating fresh thinking year-in and year-out, one reason it can boast some of the longest average client tenures in the industry. See www.gigantevaz.com.

About Ricoh Americas
A global leader in digital office solutions, Ricoh (www.ricoh.com) creates new value at the interface of people and information, offering a broad range of digital, networked products, including MFPs, printers, fax machines, semiconductor related products and digital cameras. With 83,400 employees worldwide, and $22 billion in revenue, Ricoh is also one of the world’s leading environmentalist companies, committed to sustainable business everywhere.

Primary Contact:
Jim McHugh
Gigante Vaz Partners
(212) 343-0004