Laila Waggoner
Partner/ Chief Strategy Officer
With 20 years of strong and varied experience in marketing building products, health care and the Arts, what Laila brings to R/P clients can be summed up in one word: intelligence. And we’re not just talking about her smarts.
As one of R/P’s strategic leaders, Laila’s role is to offer her clients useful marketing intelligence. Insights on how their target audiences think and behave. Analysis of their competition. Perspectives on how their product or service may blaze new inroads in the marketplace.
It’s a role that has seen Laila become more than a professional resource, but a trusted partner to her clients. They’ve seen how the “big picture” intelligence she gathers has been able to focus their marketing efforts squarely on the objectives at hand and deliver results.
When the Vinyl Siding Institute and its partners (including some of the savviest companies in the building products industry) faced growing restrictions, Laila led the charge to proactively enlighten the community of professionals who influence, approve or limit the use of vinyl siding. She researched the markets and supervised R/P in building the tools to educate planners, builders, architects and other key players about today’s vinyl siding. With spot-on messaging, assertive media relations, targeted advertising and an arsenal of collateral materials, R/P equipped the industry to tell vinyl’s side of the story.
Laila also played a key role in developing the positioning for Mercy Health Partners, a large regional health system with seven hospitals and clinics serving Northwest Ohio. Using the theme “Care you can believe in,” the organization was promoting its faith-based mission well before “moral values” came to the forefront during the 2004 elections.
In addition, Laila understands the challenges of promoting the Arts and its attractions. Before joining R/P, she served as the first marketing director for COSI, an interactive science museum in downtown Toledo. Laila applied her strategic thinking to successfully launch the museum’s opening, attract visitors and build membership.
Intelligence is what continues to keep R/P clients ahead of the curve, and ahead of the competition. The kind of thinking they’ve come to expect from Laila.
Laila is a member of the Advisory Panel for SHSMD (Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development), the nation’s largest resource for healthcare-provider-based planners, marketers and communications practitioners. Laila invests her time to think of the community’s needs, too. She currently serves on the board of directors of The Victory Center (providing support and strength for cancer patients and their families) and the Toledo Repertoire Theatre. | 
