Ad Agency CEO

Nike Made Me Sell My Advertising Agency

Peter · June 29, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How Shortsightedness Helped Me Sell My Nike Advertising Agency.

YO, here’s how Nike blew my mind and reinforced my desire to sell my advertising agency. At the time, we were a Nike advertising agency.

I talk to agency owners a couple of times a month about their plans (hopes, that is) for selling their advertising agency sooner or later. Some are young and are being smart about how to begin to create value for a future sale and some are simply ready to move on – ASAP. All ask me why and how I sold my Portland agency in 2011.

There were many reasons for my heading to the exit. I wanted to move on from running an agency (I had been in advertising and marketing since the 1980’s); I was burnt out by the effects of the recession on our profit margin; I didn’t want to hear about the next increase in my employee health plan; I did not like watching advertising becoming viewed as a ‘commodity’; there were simply too many agencies chasing too few clients; I had some pretty good ideas for creating the “agency of the future” but didn’t have the energy to make that happen and, finally, I got way tired of poor client decision-making.

How Nike Blew My Mind

One of my agency’s’ more intelligent clients was Digimarc, the technology firm that essentially owned the QR code market (even the technology behind SoundHound) and, more importantly, a technology that could turn a graphic or logo into an active QR code. Aim your phone at a ‘QR’d’ logo (a logo, not a bar code) and it could launch a mobile marketing event. They called it “The barcode of everything.”

Nike was another agency client. We handled their Major League Baseball and college sports programs. As you might suspect, it was very cool to be a Nike advertising agency – especially an AOR agency.

One day I brought home a Nike running shoe box and thought that Nike should use the Digimarc technology to activate the Swoosh from being a static graphic to being a very active mobile event launcher. The program was simple and global. Over time, Nike would alert its buyers that there was information and promotional value in aiming their phone at the Swoosh logo. I’m talking millions of boxes that could be brought to life, to tell stories, to sell more stuff.

Just think what Nike could do with the box and related videos – a video message from LeBron, new product intros, and on and on. I’m like thinking that every one of the millions of currently “DUMB” Nike boxes would all of a sudden become a “SMART” marketing tool.

I asked our direct Nike clients if they’d make an introduction to some senior marketers to show them how easily and inexpensively (I stress easy and low cost) they could kinda invent a whole new way to add significant value to their packaging. Note, Nike sells… 120,000,000 pairs of shoes a year.

I’m thinking… No-Brainer

We had the meeting, showed the presentation (see below) and instead of pats on our agency backs… we got blank stares. Blank stares! I’m sitting there thinking that this is a major high-value / low-cost no-brainer and these guys didn’t get it. Did not get that for virtually no cost, they could turn their packaging into a significant brand-owned mobile media device. A media and marketing tool that was perfectly targeted to excite Nike’s core market which are, of course, major mobile users.

Frankly, this was close to my last agency-life straw.

I’ll try to be kind here. I guess the Nike marketers were busy. But, I did have a sense of pearls before swine. Am I being harsh? Maybe. That said, I couldn’t believe that one of the smartest marketing organizations in the world preferred to maintain sending DUMB vs. SMART packaging into millions of homes.

Here is one of our “Smart” box presentations.

The Post-Purchase Mobile Experience.

You tell me, is this idea hard to get?

How NOT To Build A Winning Advertising Agency New Business Program

Peter · June 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How Not To Win While Losing

A friend in advertising sent me the following email. I’ll follow it with some thoughts. I removed names to protect the innocent (actually, not so innocent).

“I read your long blog post, “How to Build A Winning Advertising Agency New Business Program“. Every sentence is worthwhile.

I did new business at Big NYC and Big L.A. agencies, and then at BlahBlah/SF, where it was my sole responsibility for 3 years. The biggest thing I noticed at BlahBlah was that they lost their biggest client every year. If they had shut down the new business operation and had me, or someone like me, be the client retention and client delight manager, the agency would’ve doubled in size just by not losing the biggest account.

What a piece of insight! But, being digital geeks, the principals didn’t like to leave their desks, screenss and their HQ meetings. Instead of wandering the halls of their biggest clients, cementing the relationship and pulling in even more business, they stayed in the office talking about getting new clients, which, as we know, is a low-odds practice.”

My Unpack

Business Development Is A Must Do

I tell all of my agency clients that they must have a business development plan that runs 24/7 because they will lose large clients every year. This inevitable loss has accelerated over the past few years because an ever increasing number of client assignments are now ‘projects.’ Larger, longer Agency Of Record accounts are becoming scarce. Is the need for a BD plan a secret? No. But, half of all agencies don’t have a sustained sales effort that will replace those lost clients.

Grow Your Current Clients

My Friend David Bowie On My Personal Mantra

Peter · June 3, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Just Watch & Listen To His’ Advice.

Hey, you could be reading a bunch of marketing… advertising… ad agency… how to do social media, etc. stuff. This is much better advice.

My Friend David Bowie On My Personal Mantra

“If I feel a little unsafe where I am going – I am going in the right direction…”

The 4 Worst Habits Of Advertising Agency Sales

Peter · April 25, 2016 · Leave a Comment

The 4 Worst Habits Of Advertising Agency Sales

Yes, just 4 ~~worst~~ bad sales habits.

After a few years of digging deep into the business development plans and the daily habits of a range of advertising, PR, design and digital agencies, a few common bad habits rear their heads all too often. Here are what I think are the 4 primary bad habits that can be avoided with sound planning and an ongoing system that yields agency-wide ‘sales consciousness.’

Bad Habits Be Gone

1. No Business Development Plan – I Mean Sales Plan

Over 60% of agencies do not have a detailed market-ready business development plan. This plan must be objectives driven and reflect the changes in market behaviors – how marketers think and the evolving world of marketing tools – that are going on in B2B marketing.

When I say objectives, I mean the business development plan must be a part of a sound business plan. I tell my agency clients that they must start with a business plan – even if it is one page long. One concise page can be a good thing. Admission: I could never get my agency’s plan on one page.

Back to sales. Here are some lean and mean bullet points:

You must know what you are selling. Just saying digital or social is not enough. Some form of specialization is warranted. Read this on agency positioning.
Be able to express why you are unique. I won’t bore you by saying that you need a distinctive brand – you know that. The good news is that most of your competitors are not distinctive. And, most do not have messaging systems that bring the agency positioning alive.
Know how what you are selling will (must) resonate with the needs of your target clients. Obvious point: put yourself in their shoes. Today’s marketing director type is nervous. Help them do their job. Ongoing thought leadership rules in this space. It is also very SEO-friendly. Like, um, that’s probably how you got to this page.
Plan on how your agency, its story, work and thinking will get found via both in and outbound strategies (you will need both).
Be competitive.
Going slow will not win. Here is a great quote from Mario Andretti:

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

2. Taking The Eye Of The Ball

We all know this one.

Our unwavering desire to please our clients means that they most often come first. OK, I get it. But, the fact is that running a healthy profitable agency with positive skilled employees has to come before client service. If you don’t have a well-run agency that is financially secure, the idea of paying attention to client needs will be a doomed effort. Your company comes first because the client hired your wonderfulness in the first place.

In my opinion, the only way that you can get to well-run is to have a very positive cash flow and ROI. You’ll get there two ways. 1. Build a service package (agency management, pricing and costs) that helps to make your P&L sing. 2. Run a very smart 24/7 new business program that gets the right clients (you must clearly define right for your agency) in the door. As you know, older clients will walk out the back door. So keeping your front door top of mind is rather important.

3. You Do Not Have A Business Development Sales Culture

First, a point. We call it business development. But, it is sales. And getting it right inside of your company that lives in one of the most competitive service categories is critical. Just imagine a category where your competition are all expert marketers and have super articulate glib management that usually dresses real well. That’s your sales universe.

Yikes, I’ll repeat the obvious: Business development can be daunting. It is a team sport.

It is essential that everyone at the agency understands that growth is a primary objective and that they play a role in agency sales. They will be asked to help with marketing programs, RFP’s and pitches. They need to be aware of any opportunity that floats by via friends, ex-clients and reading the press. It is all about instilling a culture of sales- consciousness. Much of this will come from agency management’s focus on new business efforts, talking to the agency about what is going on in and outside the agency and by acting as a positive role model.

4. You Hire A Business Development Director And Cross Your Fingers

One of the first things agencies say to me is that they have not had a positive business development director experience. Having been Saatchi’s business development director, running two internet firms and my own agency that had sales staff, I have a few thoughts on why this happens.

First of all, reread the first 3 bad habits. If you do not have a sales plan, an agency with the will and time to execute, and an agency that recognizes that growth is critical and is to a certain degree, everyone’s job, virtually any good sales person will fail.

I have a couple of important blog posts on the business development function and how to help make them successful. Here you go:

Is Your Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

As you might expect, the answer is no.

How To Aim Your Agency Business Development Director.

This is the blog post with a sample contract.

That’s it. No, No! That Isn’t It.

Read my best-read blog posts – they are all about advertising agency sales. I’ve designed them to help you win. And, hey, while you are at it, why not call me? You might have nothing to lose except one or two nasty habits.

Top 11 Marketing Podcasts

Peter · April 13, 2016 · Leave a Comment

My Favorite 11 Marketing Podcasts

This blog post is the latest installment of my growing Advertising Agency Resources list. I’ll get to the Top 11 essential marketing podcasts below. But, first, a bit of my personal podcasting history. I’ve been hot – then cold – then hot on this subject.

I was early into the podcasting arena starting a series of podcasts for my Oregon agency Ralston360 (it eventually became Citrus) the mid-2000’s. I fell in love with podcasting because a producing a weekly audio podcast series was relatively easy and being early into podcasting made our agency look like we were ahead of the curve. Sometimes I get ahead of the market – I think we were in the case of podcasting. It was one of my ‘shiny pennies’.

Our audio content included 1:1 interviews and episodes based on our thought leadership white papers. I liked that the podcasts could be delivered via RSS and it got my agency on the global iTunes platform. It also gave the agency something fairly new to talk about to our clients and prospects – looking like you have your agency’s finger on the digital pulse is a very good thing.

Here’s a review on how we promoted our podcasting skills from a 2006 article on our program from BuzzSonic.

Podcasting FAQ Via the Virtual iPod

Here’s a clever idea. Marketing and design specialists Ralston360 have come up with a great angle to market their services, a streaming video that explains all the basics of podcasting all wrapped up in a ‘virtual ipod’.

There’s also a free 14 page whitepaper, ‘Podcasting-the Pod Has Landed’ (in PDF format) on the website (in exchange for your email, natch!) which explains a bit more. They also have another free download, ‘To Blog or Not to Blog’ which kind of speaks for itself but is worth a look for newbies if you’re thinking of starting your own.

We promoted our podcast skill set via a website that featured an interactive iPod that you could scroll to get to various ‘how to’ sections. That’s the scrollable iPod to the left. It was one of the agency’s coolest and best promotional efforts and got us lots of attention. Here is a link to the podcasting white paper on SlideShare mentioned above. Remember, this was written over ten years ago.

The Shiny Penny Has Landed: Podcasting is Hot

Podcasting has seen a recent surge. Much of it, unlike the olden days, is now slickly produced by large media companies like NPR. Here are a couple of resources that help to explain the current positive interest in podcasting. That said, take a look at the Six Degrees of Separation podcast below. There is at least one major agency cranking these out on a very consistent basis.

TechCrunch.

TechCrunch’s article “The Future Of Podcasting” is a smart article on where podcasting is going and why. As you can see from their chart, podcasting is rising after a fall from grace (remember my shiny penny dates) in the mid-2000’s.

PEW.

Additionally, PEW Research center published its Podcasting factsheet in 2015 that shows the growth of podcasting.

In the fall of 2014, the medium of podcasting achieved a milestone moment. The podcast Serial – which reinvestigated the 1999 murder of Maryland high school student Hae Min Lee – became the fastest podcast to reach 5 million streams or downloads in iTunes history. Although the success of Serial – a spinoff of WBEZ’s This American Life – clearly represented a new peak in the popularity of podcasts, Pew Research Center data show that the medium has, in fact, been steadily growing its audience over the past two years.

Read the factsheet here.

11 Best Advertising and Marketing Podcasts

Finally…the list of the top 11 advertising related podcasts. Like most of you, I listen in my car or at the health club. I was a major listener when I lived in New York and had a lovely hour-long commute. My Portland commute is now only ten minutes. This has severely reduced the amount of time I listen. I wonder if the use of podcasting is higher where people spend more time in their cars = Los Angeles and even Montana or on the subway.

Build A Better Agency. Drew Mclellan’s series is dedicated to the art of advertising agency management and new business. Listen up.

Tim Ferris. I became a Tim Ferris addict after reading his brilliantly titled best seller, “The Four Hour Work Week.” Tim combines a very active and curious mind, an effervescent talent for self-promotion in the best sense and a very long list of talented friends to interview. I find at least 75% of his podcasts (and blog posts) to fall in the zone of high mental stimulation. Of course, one of his recent interviews is with Seth Godin.

Duct Tape Marketing. Another serious and broad look at the tools and techniques marketers are employing today.

Foundr Magazine. Nathan Chan interviews some of the most successful founders in the world to find out what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. Go for the osmosis.

TED Radio Hour. If you don’t have the time to watch TED Talks, then listen to them via their podcast.

Six Pixels Of Separation. A secret… Leverage the power of social media to grow your agency. One of the most active advertising agency leaders using social media is Canada’s Mitch Joel (CEO of WPP’s Mirum) and his Six Pixels Of Separation podcast which, as of today, get this, has 508 podcasts. Clearly a record and what should be an inspiration to any agency CEO who values the marketing power of looking smart and building fame for his agency. Oh, you’ll see just one of the reasons why I love this podcast by clicking on the link.

Sound Opinions. Now that we’ve killed the record / CD store, it seems like it is more difficult (as in time consuming) to know what’s going on in music. I get my fix from MBEZ’s Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. Listen to this and have something other than Steph Curry to talk about at those client dinners.

Freakonomics Radio. The Freakonomics team explores “the hidden side of everything”. From the economy, headline news to pop culture. A great example is the “Economics of Sleep” show.

#ASKGARYVEE. Best-selling books, one of the fastest growing advertising agencies, and a renowned wine business. Gary is the energizer bunny of agency CEO’s. Listen to this show about how to accelerate business growth. Your clients are probably listening to him.

Smart Passive Income. This podcast series from Pat Flynn will do two things for you. 1. It will make you much smarter about the universe of digital strategies and tactics (even how to do a podcast series). But, more importantly, 2. It will help you figure out how to make money by building your own online business. Pat made over $171,000 last month – not working for the MAN and he will tell you how. A way to get past advertising.

Social Media Marketing. Michael Stelzner’s podcast is designed to deliver the latest news and perspectives on social media. There is a very good chance your clients listen, so you better too. Need an up to date Facebook strategy? Listen to this show.

More & More Online Resources

This post is just one more element of my Big Advertising Agency Resource List. Let me know if I am missing anything.