User:Potenzacreative

Frankie Russo is the CEO and founder of Potenza, a strategic interactive marketing firm, which represents clients ranging from local auto dealerships to national Internet companies. Russo is also the executive producer of the Hyper local television show franchise "Exposed TV".

Originally from Louisiana, Frankie has lived in Lafayette, LA for most of his life. In 2004, he graduated from the University of Louisiana in public relations with a minor in marketing. While in college, Frankie began working in real estate banking — right in the middle of the mortgage boom. Through his connections with the real estate industry, he was able to segue into marketing.

In May 2007, the young entrepreneur launched his own creative firm with his younger brother, Giorgio Russo, a UL graduate in graphic design. At the time, Frankie had five or six limited liability companies and saw the new company as a “sideline.”

The brothers’ partnership started as a graphic design boutique but soon morphed into a full-blown advertising and marketing agency. They chose the name Potenza, which is Italian for power or might, because they wanted to bring creative power and marketing power to people’s campaigns.

Potenza performs a variety of services, including traditional and Internet media buying and strategy; online advertisement and placement; public relations and branding services, social-influenced marketing (social media) and video and animation production.

Among the innovative company’s clients are Courtesy Automotive Group, Izzo’s Illegal Burrito food franchise and Communications Corporation of America, which owns about 28 affiliate television stations in Texas, Louisiana and Indiana.

Through Potenza’s affiliation with Communications Corporation of America, Frankie became the executive producer and partner with Exposed TV, a 30-minute television program showcasing local business. "Exposed" is as a “magazine on TV” featuring food, entertainment, events and fashion. The “Exposed” series caters to a core demographic of females ages 25 to 54. Russo found an interest in the Exposed concept because there were a lot of clients with small budgets that were not doing television advertising because they thought they couldn’t afford it. Exposed was developed to offer product placement, other than through commercials, for local retailers on TV.

The agency also has an affiliate relationship with Apple Inc. through its Apple Specialists division. Potenza does the marketing and advertising for 12 different Apple specialists throughout the country. Recently, the Potenza owner was the featured guest speaker to Apple affiliate store owners at an Apple Summit in New York on the topic of branding and social marketing.

Potenza is also a Google Adwords partner and one of the first agencies in south west Louisiana to do interactive media buying services at a high volume.

Since starting, Potenza has grown to 16 employees, but Frankie Russo has much bigger aspirations to build this into a national entity that manages multiple national brands as well as specializes in national product placement for television.