• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Peter Levitan & Co.

Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • My Story
  • Resources
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Ad Agency CEO

A Funny Advertising Agency Lawyer Story

January 19, 2021 By Peter Leave a Comment

Yes, The Often Dreaded Three Words “Advertising Agency Lawyer” Can Be Funny

I was speaking with an advertising agency client this morning and she told me that they just got off a call with their advertising agency lawyer and it appears that the agency, for competitive reasons, has to rename one of their in-house developed tech applications. It is an important app for their clients and it also represents real smart intellectual property for the agency. OK, this stuff happens. Plus, it reminded me of a funny conversation I had about trademark infringement.

Citrus Vs. Citrus + The Advertising Agency Lawyer

About fifteen years ago my Ralston360 Portland advertising agency bought the graphic design firm Citrus. We liked their name so much we took it as our own. Citrus the advertising agency was born.

I sold Citrus the agency in 2014. A couple of weeks after the deal closed, a close where the name Citrus was dissolved, I am sitting in my room at L.A.’s The Standard Hotel and I check my voice mail. An unknown lawyer says that I have to call him immediately about a serious company issue. So, I give him a call. [Read more…] about A Funny Advertising Agency Lawyer Story

Minimalist Business Development Plan

December 25, 2020 By Peter 1 Comment

How To Build Your Minimalist Business Development Plan

minimalist business developmentWhen I write what I call a minimalist business development plan for an advertising, digital agency client I split the plan’s deliverables into two documents. One is a comprehensive 360-degree look at my client’s business objectives, current market position, brand positioning and attributes, target market pain-points, existing biz dev plan, and a range of tailored inbound and outbound, i.e. account-based marketing approaches.

After we review the master plan document, I create a more simplified two-phase plan that is designed so that it actually gets implemented. I say actually gets implemented because many, too many, marketing communications companies do not run the business development plan they have. I have seen this at mega agencies and two-person shops. My two-phase plan, yes a minimalist business development plan, is designed to focus on a small set of marketing programs, to be highly efficient, and to be built on a clear process.

My minimalist business development mantra is KISS (keep it simple stupid) + focus on a small number of core marketing programs + be efficient + make sure that whatever you say (an agency’s positioning, sales proposition, and marketing messages) is UNIGORABLE.

OK, one more. Agency management must be dedicated to running the business development program. 24/7. Dedication to agency growth must come from the top.

8 Smart Elements Of A Minimalist Business Development Program

[Read more…] about Minimalist Business Development Plan

6 Unignorable Advertising Quotes

December 21, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Why Do People Like Advertising Quotes? Who knows. Here Are 6 Just For Y’all.

advertising quotesActually, I do know cause I use these unignorable advertising quotes all the time with my agency clients to make some points. My points are directed at their business development programs and even their personal brands. Feel free to steal them from me. I stole them.

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

Mario Andretti

My take: It is OK to drive past your comfort zone. In fact, you won’t win without doing it. Oh, Mario? Indy, F1, and NASCAR champ.

“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

General Eric Shinseki

My take: Advertising, PR, digital and mobile marketing is changing so fast that it makes me think of another go-fast quote.

“Lead, follow or get out of the way.”

Ted Turner

You do not need me to explain. Ted has been the man since the late 70’s when he won the America’s Cup. You know, fast boats. Launched CNN and married Jane Fonda. Not bad, huh?

“The world’s best selling book.”

This is from the front and back of Paul Arden’s rather best-selling book… “Whatever You Think Think The Opposite.” Of course, he is bullshitting. Or not. Paul was one of the great British Creative Directors which means, a great bullshitter. A winning bullshitter unless he is talking about whacking baby seals. As in the worst advertising agency presentation ever. 

“Steal Like An Artist.”

Another book. This time from Austin Kleon who’s book cover says… “10 things nobody told you about being creative.”

OK, One More.

“The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.”

My book’s title. Yes, I am a bit cheeky…. well, I stole the idea of being way bold and in your face from Paul. If you want to buy this BEST SELLING book, just go to the top of this page and see for yourself.

You Got A Quote?

Go forth and find your own advertising quotes to prove your points and to grow your agency. Sometimes you just need to steal someone else’s words to get YOUR point across.

Advertising Agency Management 101

December 10, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

22 Advertising Agency Management Lessons

advertising agency managementI’ve had deep conversations with hundreds of advertising agency management leaders on how to manage and grow their agencies — full-service, specialists, digital, and PR. I am about to condense these down to 22 core lessons.

Me.

I’ve been working in the advertising, digital, and Internet startup worlds since the end of the Mad Men era. My global and regional clients and new business wins include J&J, Intel, Nabisco, Northwest Airlines, and Nike. I’ve build websites and digital programs for Microsoft, Nabisco, Honda, LegalZoom and more. I founded, invented, and ran the best read online news website and invented industry-leading marketing bots.

I’ve made hundreds of business decisions. Some were brilliant and some were “learning experiences.” I’ve decided to share my top 22 business-building and management lessons with you. No, I am not so crazy to think that these will instantly make your advertising agency the next Droga 5. But, I do know that most of these lessons represent best practices that, if followed, can help make you more successful. That means richer and happier.

Quick Advertising Agency Management History

The path that got me here included sixteen years at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide as Business Development Director North America, General Manager Minneapolis, European Director in London, and Management Director in New York. I left advertising for seven years to be CEO and founder of two Internet publishing and technology startups. One, NJ.com, was a major online newspaper that was larger than the NYT for a couple of years. Microsoft bought the other company that created technology that allowed people to have meaningful ‘human’ conversations with a computer (pre-SIRI). If you were online in the early 2000’s you might have talked with our SmarterChild bot on instant messaging platforms. Over 20 million people did.

After my digital sojourn, I moved from New York to Oregon in 2002 to buy the advertising agency RalstonGroup. In the ten years that I ran the 2-office agency, we bought the sports marketing agency Citrus, took their name, and added clients like Dr. Martens, Legalzoom, Montana Lottery, Nike’s college and Major League Baseball AOR accounts, university accounts, and the U.N.

I sold Citrus in 20013 and write about that sale and the other buys and sells I’ve done plus how to add value to your agency in the PDF book you can get by signing up for my newsletter or just ask me via email – peter@peterlevitan.com.

By the way, I now run an agency consultation business. Hopefully, that’s why you are here on my website. I help agencies find their positioning sweet spot and build action-oriented business development plans that create significant market differentiation and make the agencies Unignorable. My experience as a consultant and the opportunity to look under the hood of many agencies has confirmed that the following ideas can help add value to most, if not all, agencies.

22 Lessons (OK, Advice)

I offer my advertising agency management thinking as advice. There are many types of agencies and not every pearl of wisdom will work for every agency. However, there are some basics that I think you should listen to and modify accordingly. I know this because I have done planning with two-person agencies up to the holding company level.

OK – GO

1

Have a two-year agency business plan. You’d be surprised how many agencies do not have even a basic business plan – like knowing how they make money. My agency’s plan helped us grow the agency’s valuation through an acquisition, open a second office, pitch and add Nike AOR business (which helped us gain even more desirable clients) and develop a focused; high-energy; 24/7 new business program based on direct marketing and social media. —- Note to the 45+ crowd. The plan also acted as a framework to begin to position the agency for an eventual sale.

2

Create an agency brand positioning that differentiates your agency from the other 4,000 agencies out there. I know, I know, you’ve heard this one before. But, having a viable agency brand positioning is critical. More importantly, have a powerful & unignorable brand positioning — in reality, it’s really a sales proposition. One that actively attracts and stimulates interest from the right new clients. Here is the most critical thing I learned in my own agency’s positioning development process: Just trying to find yet another new way to say “digital” or “full-service” agency isn’t good enough. It’s really difficult for any agency to find a brand new way to enunciate the same old, and generally non-competitive pitch like “full-service.” Some potential clients might want full-service but find a way to say it with style. Note, I  have a great example from a London agency that runs global Fortune 500 campaigns out of one office.

Maybe you should go even further. Given the rapid pace of change in our industry, it might be time to think through some agency of the future scenarios and business models that will more effectively get you to a   truly distinctive and compelling sales proposition that lasts more than six months. Double-digit growth areas like mobile or video marketing might be smart places to start.

3

You are a business first. Control all costs. This sounds obvious, but it is critical in an increasingly low-margin service business like advertising. My metric was that every dollar I paid to someone else was a dollar I couldn’t hand to my kids.

4

Stare at your financial numbers – often. We, advertising people, are visual types so Citrus used dashboards as a graphical agency management tool. We had detailed monthly financial dashboards tied to our P&L, balance sheet, accounts receivables, and owner compensation (this one tended to focus our business decisions.) We also used a real-time agency SWOT assessment for all major agency decisions like mergers and acquisitions, go-no on RFP’s and to help manage existing accounts and staff.

5

Be concerned if any single client accounts for more than 25% of your revenues. When we added two Nike AOR assignments, I got nervous in addition to elated and accelerated our new business outreach to add other accounts. Give me a shout and I’ll tell you how we added Harrah’s Casinos during that effort.

6

Learn how to say no to clients and prospects that want too much free or low-cost brainpower. Your brains, ideas, and pixels are all you have to sell. Charge like a lawyer or even SEO specialists that charge like lawyers. It is time for our industry to exhibit some self-control. If you have to give too much away for free, it might be time to examine the value of what you are selling and the mindset of your client or prospect.

Also, say no to the wrong RFPs and pitches.

7

Think about an alternative to the notion that brainpower and creativity are all you have to sell. Take some of that brainpower to find out how to create a product or service of your own that can easily be replicated and sold over and over. Create or buy some Intellectual Property. This can be done and does not require scientists from SpaceX. Think like a “start-up” and hey, “let’s build some IP” can sound like an obvious panacea. However, there is gold in them thar hills that do not require moon landings. There are agencies teaming up with brewers to create new craft beer brands; agencies moving into valuable yet fast and cheap research and agencies like Wieden+Kennedy and RGA becoming start-up incubators. I asked W+K why they are doing this. The answer… they are investing their brains and experience to make more money in a world that Mad Men couldn’t have conceived. If you need seed money for a new venture try crowdfunding.

Think big like the kid down the street. I bet your team could build one of the more effective Kickstarter sites.

8

Hire only exceptional people – that’s what Google does so why not you? Do not rush to fill an open position. You will pay in the long run. You can train people but you cannot increase their IQ. Once on the team, make sure to keep all employees are firmly in the loop via scheduled agency meetings and email agency updates. It takes more than a foosball table to build a business building culture. CEO’s need to talk it up. I have always subscribed to Tom Peter’s management concept of MBWA. Look it up.

9

Reward only your best employees. You don’t owe anyone anything. There is no question that an exceptional employee is as valuable as two marginal people. Does this sound harsh? This approach beats not having investment capital for growth or having to go out of business because you were a bit too magnanimous.

10

Miscast or problem employees should be dealt with earlier than later. Gary Vaynerchuk has fired the “wrong” hires within their first two weeks.

11

Grow your digital assets faster. Bring on more technologists (FTE or freelance) to leapfrog even early-adopter digital agencies. Pick a growth area. It’s not too late to become the smartest TikTok agency (no one is yet.) Not even the big boys have TikTok figured out. However, it may be too late to be known as the best “social media agency” given the vast sea of social experts. One more digital point, and I know that you know this — digital agencies have a higher multiple than full-service agencies. If you want to sell in the next three years, you best add MORE valuable digital skill-sets.

12

Please provide exceptional client service. All AE’s must know how to think like a client in order to anticipate client needs and address any potential issues before they materialize and metastasize. Consider sending your AE’s to an AE class where they learn advertising agency management, customer care, how to intelligently upsell clients, how to retain clients, and how to charm. The worst call I could ever imagine is a client telling me that our account service sucked. It’s just too easy to fix. Fixing creativity is much harder.

13

Process rules. Create an agency work process that is dedicated to profitability. Manage your scope of work promises.  Then stick with it. The ever-elastic creative process must be tamed. Agencies that do not manage scope of work die. If you need a work process template ask me and I’ll shoot you one. [Read more…] about Advertising Agency Management 101

The Richards Group And Your Advertising Agency

October 21, 2020 By Peter 1 Comment

The Richards Group – A Teachable Moment

The Richards GroupNo, I am not going to comment on Stan Richard’s big mistake that had The Richards Group, the leading Dallas agency, quickly lose major accounts including Motel 6, Keurig Dr. Pepper, HEB, Motel 6, The Salvation Army, and The Home Depot. These are huge account losses that could destroy virtually any agency – in weeks.

But, What About Your Agency?

I was interviewed this week by ADWEEK’s Doug Zanger for my take on what the future might hold for The Richards Group. Specifically, what could they do to hold on to existing accounts and if and how they could find and land new business. I suggested that job #1 is for the agency to work hard to maintain the accounts they still have. Here is my quote:

What it might take to get back in the game

According to agency business development consultant Peter Levitan, the first step is to look inward.

“A part of business development that many agencies don’t understand or spend time and energy working on is growing existing accounts,” said Levitan. “In the case of The Richards Group, they have to save as many accounts as they can, and be totally upfront in dealing with the problem. There are sharks in the waters circling the accounts, so the pressure is on holding what remains.”

Your Agency – The Learning

I counsel my advertising and digital agency clients that the single best, and most efficient source of new business, read that as incremental profits, comes from existing client relationships. Why? Well, you already have the client in-house; you are well beyond the initial cost of pitching; you know their business; objectives, and opportunities inside and out; and, I assume that they love you.

Also, note that account retention is critical. In our land of doing specific projects vs. long-term agency of record relationships, it is imperative to be a client’s ideas and tech go-to leader. Keep the client’s marketing moving forward. Happy clients stay put.

This is clearly logical. However, I need to point out two recurring agency fails. One is complacency. You have the account, think that it will stay put and leadership moves their focus to landing that new account.

The other fail is the universal issue of not training agency account management. When I started in the business, I was trained in how to run accounts, how to communicate with clients, how to build long-term relationships, how to think of new ideas, how to present those ideas (and sell them)… Sadly, too many 2020 agencies do not stop to train their account managers. Believe me, the cost of losing an account is much higher than a few hours of training.

Back To The Richard’s Group

As I stated in ADWEEK, The Richard’s Group should, today, have a total focus on retaining the remaining clients. A well-trained account services team and involved media and creative departments should be having the right business-growth conversations and be perceived as brand builders. Agency staff will need to reinforce the reasons the client works with the agency in the first place and be looking future-forward. Client’s can be like lemmings willing to join others and jump off the cliff. While the team focuses on the future, agency management should allay any client concerns. Proactivity is critical. Split up the duties.

OK, one more …. the agency has to make sure that everyone is on message. “We are all sorry about what Stan Richards said and it does not reflect our agency culture”… and, on. Get on the same page and get on with business as usual.

 

 

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 15
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • Featured
  • Resources
  • Podcast
  • How Does A Personal Brand Work? Ask Gary Vaynerchuk & David Droga
  • Is Your Advertising Agency Findable?
  • The Big Advertising Agency Resource List
  • The 9 Best Consumer Insight Definitions
  • Advertising Agency PR 1.0
  • The Perfect Advertising Agency Pitch
  • The Big Advertising Agency Resource List
  • Moving To Mexico
  • Advertising Agency Process and Profitability
  • What Is Your Elevator Pitch
  • Random Marketing And Advertising Resources
  • Advertising Agency Podcast Guide
  • Bob Hoffman | The Ad Contrarian On Advertising Agency Presentations And Pitching
  • How To Be A Brilliant Podcast Guest
  • Want Advertising Agency New Business Leads? The Ratti Report Delivers
  • How To Manage A Brain On A Zoom Sales Meeting
  • YES! You Can Run A Powerful Zoom Meeting
  • How To Win A Mobile Dating App Client – On Zoom

Post Archive

Subscribe

Subscribe to the Advertising Stories Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify

Contact

Email Peter
Connect on LinkedIn

Peter Levitan & Co.

Copyright © 2020 Peter Levitan & Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved. · Contact Peter · Log in