Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Agency of the Future

Magazines & Advertising Agencies Are Doing Marijuana

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Marijuana Market Poised To Grow Faster Than Smartphones A friend recently gave me two copies of Northwest Leaf, the Pacific Northwest’s leading medical marijuana magazine. Get this: four-year-old Northwest Leaf ‘s May 2014 issue is 104 pages of jam-packed original content and … an unbelievable amount of marijuana industry advertising. Its monthly circulation is 30,000. Check out the issue here.

Should Magazines Be Doing Marijuana?

Should they? Well, you are some of the last people that I have tell that the print publication industry’s circulation and advertising are in steep decline. The FIPP World Magazine Trends 2013-14 chart (sorry about the fuzziness) shows what the future has in store for the print industry. Clearly no big news here.

2014-01-12-CONSUMERMAGAZINEPUBLISHINGREVENUEcourtesyFIPP

The big(ist) news for me is that that the marijuana industry is driving the fast-paced growth of a local publication in a state where one of its major daily newspapers shut down a couple of years ago. There is so much interest in this new advertising category that the publisher of Northwest Leaf will be launching Oregon Leaf in July. How many print publishers are launching new publications in these digital times? Not too many.

Should Advertising Agencies Be Doing Marijuana?

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2 Advertising Agency Facts

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Advertising Age reports that digital is now 35.3% of U.S. agency revenue. This is up 73% since 2009. In fact, digital revenue is the only growth area. Radio anyone?

Mobile ad spending is reported to be $44.8 billion in 2017. It was $4.4 billion in…. Ta Da: 2012.

So? Watcha gonna do?

Where Am I?

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Look, if you have your act together, you will eventually sell your advertising or design agency and get to work from San Miguel de Allende (I just had drinks from this bar.) Dig?

This is not an impossible dream, it just takes some planning. Don’t be a me-too agency. Me-too has no value. Zip. So, you 50+ agency owners, give me a shout.

wow photo

How To Sell Your Advertising Agency

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I talk with advertising and digital agencies every week that want to “sell in five or fewer years.” We discuss how they can begin to position themselves for a future sale. Well, one way isn’t to be “full-service” or another “social media guru.” These generalist brand positions are not going to get the attention of a WPP or even the larger shop down the street.

One of the paths to SOLD! is to find a niche to own. A niche that a larger company might want. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, a technology niche is what the bigger boys are looking for. Portland’s not yet three year-old tech niche-owning Vizify (“Vizify turns your social media data into interactive infographics, videos, and more”) just got bought by Yahoo!

Vizify found a data visualization niche and worked it.

I know. They aren’t an advertising agency. But… so what. There is still a lesson here for you ad guys.

What is Yahoo! gonna do with Vizify? Who the hell knows. (OK, it might have been a talent acquisition since Vizify is shutting down.)

As Selena Larson on readwrite writes… “Yahoo is shutting down innovative apps and services right and left as it snaps up startups—to no clear purpose.” So, go figure. But, the guys that sold the company are smiling.

Vizify has been acquired by Yahoo

One Hour Advertising Agency

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Ah, an advertising agency with a promise and a distinctive message.

Sweden’s One Hour Agency makes a very simple promise to potential clients:

You give us one hour.
We generate quality ideas.

As ADWEEK says:

“If the meeting works from both sides, then we offer different kinds of packages depending on the brief,” says Larsen. The crew is currently working on a project for Swedish Public Radio.

OHA has a handy pie-chart that breaks down the first hour: 10 minutes each for greetings, evaluation and presentation, and 30 minutes for ideation. That’s pretty packed. Demands for bigger logos and “guaranteed viral” videos presumably require buying more time.

One Hour AgencyWhat works? It is a simple message, it is intriguing, it works because (OK, I am about to tell all of those advertisers out there a big secret), your marketing issues aren’t that difficult (well, at least for most clients – just try to sell Cadillacs to anyone under 55+) and most super savvy agency folks can probably suss out your issues and at least one smart idea in an hour. All One Hour Agency wants is for the advertising client to want to talk more. And, why not?

The one hour offer reminds me of my Corleone Offer. I know that I can talk with you and your agency leaders for 30 minutes and I will give you at least one business building new business program idea. I can do this because I am coming at understanding  your advertising agency’s positioning and marketing from an outsider’s perspective. Coupled with my experience, we can get to some smart thinking fast.

This is why I know that One Hour Agency can do for you what they have done for Spotify:

‘Impressed about how many great ideas came out of a single hour session! There’s no threshold to work with you guys. I don’t think you need good luck, just keep on working the way you do’ – Joel Brosjo, Spotify