Ad Agency CEO

Why I Dig Advertising: Part 1

Peter · March 28, 2014 · Leave a Comment

The thing that most jazzed me in my advertising agency days was that I got to work with so many different clients and their varied issues. My client categories included:

Land line companies.

Mobile phone companies.

Breakfast cereals.

Yogurt.

New food products.

Snacks.

Restaurants.

Computers.

Email services.

Hosiery (in the days when it was a billion $ industry.)

Sporting goods.

Sports teams.

Ski resorts.

Hotels.

Airlines.

Record companies.

Musicians.

Publishers.

Health care.

Automobiles.

Boats.

Wine. Yes, wine was fun.

OK, I’ll stop. It was this diversity that made me love working in advertising rather than worrying about one brand or product day in and day out like many of our clients do.

Droga, Esquire And An Advertising Industry Take-Down

Peter · December 10, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Its my guess that the profession of “advertising” is slightly more loved by Americans than “Congress.” It is therefore fascinating that David Droga, an advertising industry superstar (according to the people that make these pronouncements), has chosen to use his access to Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest series to tell the other people in his industry that they are lazy. L A Z Y. Cool! And, speaking for the advertising industry, thanks so very much.

I’ve read Droga’s “Where Advertising Will Go Next” a couple of times. I’ve been trying to assess the value of his spew. I can’t seem to find much in it beyond enjoying his art of self-promotion. Lets parse some of the key Droga thinking. Here are the article’s section headlines and my perspective.

The Strongest Story Wins

Droga says that today’s advertising “is more about interruption and intrusion than compelling narratives or a good laugh.” He says, advertising agencies don’t add value. If anything, agencies often take it away.” OK, I’m sorry, is there news here? Have I missed over 70 years of interruptive radio and TV advertising? Did viewers ever want leave their programming to go to a commercial break? And, speaking for the industry, thank you for alerting all of us to the idea that delivering a compelling story is a good idea.

Surprise, Advertising Works When Its Relevant.

Droga rails at today’s lack of creativity. He says, “The ingredients for great advertising haven’t changed since the Mad Men era: Brands win if their advertising is relevant and people like it.”

The fact is most advertising has never been great or even very good, or worse, effective. OK. I’ll give the industry a break and say that 50% is good. We also know that 50% of all advertising dollars are wasted. I’ve always agreed with that ratio and am not sure that the times have changed. So, David, where is the news here?

“No industry works harder at being lazy.”

Why is 50% of all advertising wasted? Droga tells us its because,

No industry works harder at being lazy.

Droga says he can tell the difference between the 50% of advertising that works and the 50% that doesn’t — and, guess what, his Droga5 advertising is in the top 50%! Obviously, Droga5 ain’t lazy. Cue the real reason for the article – its in my last sentence.

Back to the the lazy point. Are lots of ads ineffective because Creative Directors are lazy? No. Its because only 50% are really good at creating compelling, relevant advertising.

I’ve been doing advertising at multi-nationals, my own agency and as a client for 30 years. Creating less than optimal advertising has never been about being lazy; It’s always been about talent. In my experience, most of the people I’ve worked with in advertising have been hard working high-energy types. However, as is the case with all creative endeavors, some Creative Directors are talented and some aren’t. But, in my experience, talented or not, they’ve all worked hard. Lazy? No.

David Versus Goliath (Spoiler Alert: David Wins.)

Droga’s David vs. Goliath rant (essentially that big multi-national agencies suck) has been going on since the mergers of early 1980’s. Do we need to hear more about this internal industry battle? Some clients want and think they need big, others don’t. Are there geniuses at large agencies? Yes. Are there lazy losers? Yes. Ditto for many medium sized agencies.

Figure Out Mobile. Now.

Finally, Droga wants us to please figure out mobile marketing…. Sure thing Dave, coming right up.

Can you spell “duh?” Of course we need to figure out mobile, but we’ll at best get mobile 50% right (only got TV 50% right so far), so be cool. Unfortunately for the ad industry, mobile is about communications and applications and TV is about entertainment. Neither of these mediums have ever been primarily about “advertising.” By the way, has Droga5 figured out mobile? Has it?

PR Rocks

My ultimate takeaway from this Esquire piece? It’s a good “ad” for “Droga5. It will get them more attention from prospective clients (despite talking down to Esquire’s audience and buggering all other agencies) and it proves that Droga5’s PR works at getting ink.

But, did Droga present any new, big ideas? Really, any? No. Did he add to the perception that the advertising industry is lame? Yes.

Thanks, buddy.

____

By the way, I’d rather be Sam Kinison than Droga… Go check out a real good laugh.

While you are at it… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

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WTF? A Quick Business Development Lesson

Peter · July 29, 2013 · 3 Comments

Last week I got two calls from clients looking for advertising agencies. Two in one week and I am not positioned as an agency search consultant. Interesting. OK, it might have something to do with my agency directory.

One is based in Europe and is developing an international pet brand, they are well-funded and I am turing them on to a great west coast digital shop.

The other is in LA and is an HBA account that’s associated with Target (you know, that small retailer.) They are looking for an agency that gets women and retail. So, I call a friend at a “creative” Portland agency with the right national experience, tell her about the account and she tells me that her CEO will call me. He calls me a couple of hours later and leaves a message. I call back within minutes but he’s not there.

Here is the WTF part. I made the first call last Wednesday (today is Monday), he called back that afternoon… but, no word since then. What? I call with a Target related lead and its been 4 days since the first call and he hasn’t made contact or looked all that interested.

Are creative agencies lame? Or, just this case?

All I know is that when I get a lead, I jump on it. Don’t you?

How to Get Rich In Advertising

Peter · July 18, 2013 · Leave a Comment

I really don’t have to mention that it has gotten harder to get rich in the advertising, design, digital and PR business. The good old days of the 15% commission are long gone (I lived it and it was glorious – Bordeaux anyone?) But, some agencies and agency workers are winning big accounts and are making big money. There are a some smart paths to get there.

Here are a five get rich ideas:

Be creative. Everyone want some creative. But first, some thoughts on being “creative.” I can’t tell you how many agencies are all about being “creative.” That’s their agency positioning (peruse my agency directory to see what I mean.) The problem with this positioning is that its universal, isn’t distinctive, is way too subjective and well, sorry to say this but most agencies are just not creative enough to live up to the promise. That said, some agencies can pull this off. 72andSunny is one of the current crop of creative agencies and they are making real money. They are helped in highlighting their creativity by showing you work for famous clients, i.e. Samsung on the SuperBowl. And, this points to a key issue. There are lots of creative agencies but because we all need that extra kick that come from having a famous campaign (you know, one that runs nationally) many of the creative efforts fail to get noticed. I know lots of small regional agencies that do creative work but don’t get noticed. So, you smaller agencies, you need to add famous to creative to get the moolah.

Be famous. Wow, this is a tough one and it could be the basis for a Seth Godin book (um, maybe it has been i.e. Purple Cow.) The deal here is that most agencies look and sound like all the other B&W heifers. Despite telling all their clients that they need some brand distinction, most agencies can’t muster this up for themselves. So, how to become famous? You are going to have to pay me for that advice. But, here is what not to do. Have a me-to agency positioning and website. Have a navel gazing agency blog. Tweet about your fun party. Spend heavily on cool offices. Have an on again / off again business development program. Don’t write targeted thought-leadership white papers, SlideShare presentations, blog posts. Don’t create a compelling agency story. Don’t build lists of prospective clients and the press to consistently beat your chest (but be cool and respectful.) Don’t have a really creative Creative Director (yikes, a tough one, Ja?.) Don’t understand the shift to mobile. Don’t work really hard to overcome the Accepted Consumer Belief that lives in the hearts minds of you target CMO audience: They don’t really care all that much about you. Unfortunate, but often very true.

Win a car account. According to Ian Beavis, Nielsen’s EVP, Global Automotive Group and ex-auto CMO: “good luck.” But, some agencies, mostly specialists, can get into the door. Do the right thing (a not me-to thing like JESS3 – see next) and you could actually begin to get awareness for your creativity. Do this specialist work in automotive and WPP just might buy you.

Own a segment. I wrote about JESS3 in February. They became famous – and a winner of famous accounts – for being focussed:

“JESS3 is a creative interactive agency that specializes in data visualization. JESS3 continues to push the limits of what creativity and storytelling mean, providing services that range from UI / UX, animation, and social media strategy to developing large-scale installations, data visualizations and infographics.”

You could pluck out a specific specialty and go for it. Why not? I’ve been writing about mobile and Vine. But, there are lots more specialties and many hit the big industry pain-points. Hey, why not just forget about winning the Honda account and become the best B-to-B agency. There is more bordeaux in that than in full-service.

Marry up. I’ve seen this one work well.

Then there is just plain hard work. As Yahoo! Finance reported in “Daily Habits of Rich People“:

“If you think becoming rich is about luck, think again. It may have more to do with how you spend your day, beginning with the hour you wake up.

Financial planner Tom Corley spent five years observing more than 350 “rich” and “poor” people, how they live, work and even sleep and captured them all in his book, “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.” He defined “wealthy” as earning at least $160,000 annually and holding at least $3.2 million in assets. “Poor” was income under $30,000 a year and less than $5,000 in assets.”

The article goes on to mention: early risers, no long lunches, calorie counting, no gossiping and (my favorite) limited Internet.

Back to rich.

Yes, you can make a decent living (and have fun) in marketing services. But, if rich (like Internet rich) is what you want then you’ll have to have a plan. A critical element of that plan is to have, guess what, a business development plan. This, for some very hard to understand reason, is something that the great majority of agencies do not have.

I had one (at both Saatchi and my own agency) and Corleone can help you get there.

The 10 Most Important Ad Agency New Business Actions

Peter · June 7, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Here are the 10 most important actions that an ad agency must do to build a killer new business program:

Have a business development plan. The plan could be a one-pager but it must include objectives, target criteria for categories and individual clients, strategies and actions.
Treat your agency’s new business program like a client job. Have timetables, crystal clear internal staff assignments and responsibilities. A business development calendar with deadlines will help with planning and implementation.
Put a senior manager in charge. Give this person the time to do the job. Consider a way to get past the billable hours issue. This job is too important to the health of your P&L.
Think really hard about how to use and manage the power of social media for inbound marketing. The key here is to have a sub-plan for your social media efforts. This is how I rank the value of social media on a need to have basis: search engine optimized blog posts (and agency website copy), then Twitter and LinkedIn (both tied to broadcast your blogs), YouTube, Pinterest, SlideShare and then Facebook.
Build a client prospect database (Excel works. Salesforce works even better — if someone has been assigned to manage it) and, most importantly, track all in and outbound marketing activities. Data is good.
Be consistant. Don’t wait until you lose business to ramp up your new business program. Here is a guarantee – you will eventually lose business so keep filling the pipeline.
Hold periodic status meetings. But, not too many.
Track all activities. Data and analytics are your best friend. Do what works over and over. Kill what dosen’t.
Make sure your CEO is involved. Hungry CEO’s are a very good thing. In my experience, No CEO attention = No ACTIVE business development program.
Stay hungry. Be audacious. Kick ass. This is your chance to look and sound different from the other 3,999 advertising agencies and to drive awareness of a unique door opening message. Need some idea stimulation? Take a look at how London’s Joint uses humor to drive home the idea that they have a few open client categories.

If you need some help developing your program, building your lists or managing your process give me a call.