Some kids put on plays.

When Midwesterner Lori Turner was 7, she staged and promoted her own dog show.

As an adult, she worked as senior communications director/corporate editor for TCBY Enterprises Inc. and vice president of marketing for First National Banking Co. before moving to Memphis to serve as marketing director for the Hampton Hotels division of Hilton Hotels Corp.

Dave Darnell/The Commercial Appeal

Lori D. Turner is managing partner of the Memphis office of RedRover, a company she started with a friend, Julie Lunn.

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In 2006, Turner and her friend and fellow dog lover, Julie Lunn, left the corporate world to co-found RedRover, a marketing and communications firm with offices in Memphis and Nashville.

"Working for corporations was a great experience, but we both had a need to fulfill our creative side, and getting out and forming our own agency has allowed us to do that," Turner said.

So far, so good -- Turner, now 37, estimated that client billings have increased 170 percent in RedRover's first year. Already nominated for two of Memphis Advertising Federation's Addy Awards, she expects to hit 200 percent in 2008.

In January, Turner relocated her office from suburban Bartlett to an edgy space in EmergeMemphis' Downtown incubator, where she shares copiers, a lobby and networking capabilities with 25 like-minded firms. And, as a ghostwriter, she's contributed four chapters to "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Guerrilla Marketing," currently available at Amazon.com.

"I'm intrigued," EmergeMemphis president Gwin Scott said of Turner's marketing acumen. "When we choose companies to work with, we not only go through their business plan and pull numbers -- we try to mix the tangible with the intangible.

"Lori's got personality and charisma, and I feel confident that her concept will succeed because of her drive and commitment."

This year, Turner plans to hire two full-time employees for the Memphis office, including a marketing coordinator and an account executive.

"2008 is going to be critical for us," she said. "We're at capacity with our clients, but we want slow, smart growth.

"We'll never be a mega-agency," Turner said, even as she counted a list of clients that includes the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Harbor of Health, Phillips Printing Company, Express Scripts and Miss Cordelia's.

Describing her work as "a lot more steak and a lot less sizzle," Turner said that while RedRover provides many traditional marketing and communications services, from penning bios of account executives to preparing annual reports, the company excels in the sales development arena.

Put simply, Turner helps other companies with accelerated growth, taking a soup-to-nuts approach when working with small businesses.

"We've used the full range of her agency's talents," said Harbor of Health executive director Steele Ford. "We have a lot of education to do, and we needed an agency's support to make sure our message is on point and that we're communicating with our target population.

"We're a small business, and I thought it was important to partner with another small business," Ford said. "It's worked out well -- I've had a direct line to the owner of RedRover, and vice-versa."

Turner is passionate about her career -- and her pets, a miniature dachshund named Einstein and Pixie, a shih tzu, who helped inspire RedRover's canine-friendly identity.

"I don't like to take myself too seriously," Turner said.

"RedRover has been a perfect name for the company, because a lot of our clients are dog lovers, too. That's been a big point of connection, along with the childhood game, Red Rover, with the objective to get everybody on the same team."

RedRover

Address: 516 Tennessee Street, Suite 124

Managing Partners: Lori Turner and Julie Lunn

Employees: Two

Web site: redrovercompany.com