Paul Pita took his marketing and communications company through what he called the “restoration process” in the last few years, a phrase reflecting his late father’s work restoring antiques.
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Paul Pita took his marketing and communications company through what he called the “restoration process” in the last few years, a phrase reflecting his late father's work restoring antiques.
His father, Manuel, could take a painting that was distressed and dirty, but still had beauty and value, and “polish it and make it beautiful again,” Pita recalled.
“So I called this process the restoration process because we had quality, we had beauty, we had success, but we needed to spend some time polishing that and making it even stronger and better,” said Pita, CEO/executive creative director at The Pita Group in Rocky Hill.
The restoration focused on employee satisfaction, client satisfaction, better internal and external communication, and leadership development. It was part of The Pita Group's evolution from an entrepreneurial structure to a more organizational one that retained Pita's oversight, but created an infrastructure that included an executive director and five other directors in key areas.
Pita — a first-generation Cuban whose parents left the island in 1959 and is a fit 51, which he credits to intense cross training — said he's enjoying himself now more than ever as the reorganization bears fruit. His company is strong and “I'm just enjoying seeing them being great,” he said of his 20 staff.
The company ranked as the 10th largest advertising and public relations firm in the Hartford Business Journal's 2014 Book of Lists, based on 2013 gross billings of $4.7 million. Billings rose in 2014 and are up about 6 percent this year, Pita said.
The restructuring came as Pita began transitioning the company in 2012 to become its sole leader after running it with his former wife since its founding in 1996.
“The Pita brand in its evolution has now evolved into what we sort of claim to be the 'what's next?' agency,” Pita said. “If your company stops looking at how they can be innovative you'll be behind quickly.”
Forward looking isn't new to the firm's DNA. In 2007, it acquired a small interactive company, Vrroomedia, doing streaming video.
“It was almost too early for the market; nobody was talking about streaming video,” Pita said. “I think that was the beginning of us being that next up type of agency.”
The company keeps innovating, developing a custom Web-based sharing platform, powerful website management system, and an online tool allowing people to participate in live polls and games using smartphones as controllers and collecting user data for clients, according to Pita's website.
The Pita Group's services include interactive, marketing and video production.
Larger clients include MassMutual, Aetna, Union Savings Bank and Connecticut Technical High School System.
Richard Sugarman, founding president of The Connecticut Forum and executive director of Hartford Promise, has known Pita for about 12 years and said he and his firm have done great work for the Forum.
“I would say that he is one of the most solid, enjoyable, creative people that I've known in the advertising/marketing field,” Sugarman said. “He always pours himself fully into projects. He brings an openness and range of ideas to any project.”
At home, Pita enjoys the therapeutic creativity of playing music and painting. He plays drums he took up in sixth grade and recorded DVDs with a jazz group, Glory Box, he played with in the late-1990s and early 2000s. His 13-year-old son, Jordan, plays drums, too. Pita also has a daughter, Alexandra, 10.
“Contemporary folk music and jazz is probably my forte,” Pita said.
He returned to painting recently, pointing to one of his earlier works in the conference room, saying, “I'm actually going into more contemporary art, still impressionistic, but more contemporary, abstract.”
The company's evolution reflects Pita's. He spent significant time examining what he stood for as a brand, which includes constant evolution and appreciation.
“If I stay focused on being who I can be and deliver on that promise to say I'm about integrity, values and inspiring creativity and mentoring, then I'm happy,” he said.