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The Internet – A New Discovery

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The Internet – Great Music

I’m heading to Mexico City for a few days. So, here is something to keep you busy. It’s about the Internet.

I discovered The Internet in 1994. I had been working in Saatchi’s London office. An office sans any discussion of the Internet, or better yet digital marketing platforms like CD-ROM’s (look them up if you are way young.) Luddite land.

My discovery happened when I returned to New York. I remember watching my first CD-ROM and said, ‘Whoa” what is this stuff and, yup it’s a marketing platform. This discovery got me to meet with digital guys like Ted Leonsis.

Digital Native

I love the term ‘digital native’. It describes my kids. I am not sure that they remember the days pre AOL and the birth of the graphical browser – the ever-present mobile phone. A definition…

Digital native: a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and therefore familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age.

Why mention this? I view myself as a digital native. While not “born or brought up during the age of digital technology”, I cannot remember the days pre-digital. OK, that’s bullshit. I do remember. Most importantly for my audience, we seem to have forgotten some of what actually makes marketing work – stuff from the old days. I’ll keep it simple… I mean having a big idea, something that resonates with your audience, something that a creative mind (not an algorithm) serves up — I know you know this. Therefore here is a creative organization that might get your creative juices flowing.

Today’s The Internet.

Heard of The Internet? Um, the band?

Here’s the band’s Come Over video. Very cool. They are simply in the groove – a modern take on R&B. What Pitchfork has to say,

The fourth album from the R&B collective is a peak example of their combined powers. It simplifies their sound with soft-focus blues, plush arrangements, and deep-in-the-ground grooves.

The video. While you are at it, check out the band’s other videos. Maybe you’ll get an idea for your ad agency videos.

Ted Leonsis, The Capitals and My Advertising Career

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Ted’s Digital Advertising Advice

I don’t usually talk about career development on this website. But, last night’s Washington Capital’s hockey game and their owner Ted Leonsis made me think of my own advertising career. More on this later.

Watching Ted Leonsis’s Washington Capitals win the Stanly Cup was exhilarating for two reasons (for my international audience, the Stanley Cup is the National Hockey League’s 60-year-old champions cup).

First, hockey is the only sport that equals the second by second excitement of football (for my USA audience, football means soccer).

Second, Ted had a great impact on my career because he helped give it/me purpose.

Ted And My Purpose

In 1994 I returned from working at Saatchi & Saatchi London to our New York office to run business development with my buddy Beau Fraser. Unfortunately, 1994 was the worst year in the history of the agency with poor management, very bad USA press, loss of any new client interest and the ultimate departure of Maurice and Charles, the founding brothers. We couldn’t sell a damn thing. I even got laughs from Goodby and Silverstein in a shared NYC cab when they heard that my job was selling Saatchi’s services.

BUT… another thing that happened in 1994 was that I “discovered” digital marketing and the Internet. Coming from Luddite-rich Great Britain and seeing what was going on in the states with CD-Roms (LOL) and the graphical web, delivered a HUGE WOW. I sensed that digital was the future (duh!).

I used my Saatchi credential to go down to Florida to meet with Ted Leonsis and his Redgate Communications – as far as I knew, Redgate was the first digital agency. Ted explained what a digital agency did and informed me that AOL had just bought Redgate and that he was going to be AOL’s president. How did Ted do at AOL? Well, he now owns Washington’s hockey and basketball teams. Here’s the AdAge annountment.

Most importantly, he gave me this advice:

“Get the fuck out of traditional advertising and get into digital.”

I did. Ted’s advice was instrumental in helping me find my purpose – and at that time, it was not working at a failing full-service advertising agency. My true purpose was becoming a brilliant marketer. I think I did grow into that. I won’t bore you with the bio details. You can see the post-Saatchi digital bio here.

Peter, What’s The Point?

The point is that you need to locate the one or two people that can help you find your purpose and light the light. It wasn’t an accident that I flew down to Florida on Saatchi’s dime to meet Ted. I went to learn about digital marketing for the agency. But, I knew quite well that I needed to hear what a digital agency was, what digital marketing was going to be (the promise) to help me get to my next stage. FYI, Saatchi management did not agree with me about digital marketing at that time.

Last night… So, when I saw Ted’s team win, there was a bit of extra personal satisfaction and “hey, that’s some cool shit.”

I listened to the right guy in 1994. He is a winner.

By the way, a few years later Ted, as president of AOL, called me up to tell me that AOL was not going to buy my early-stage bot companyActiveBuddy. But, that’s another story.

 

Will You Sell Your Advertising Agency?

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The Big Question: Will You Sell Your Advertising Agency?

Will you be able to sell your advertising agency someday? The simple answer… probably not. That said, see below for two Portland “advertising” agencies that just got bought.

I Know You Want It

Most of the advertising agencies I talk with want to get bought – sooner or later. Who wouldn’t? However, most will not. There are a range of reasons. But here is the big (rather obvious) one:

Most agencies have not created enough value for a second party to want to buy them. A key question I ask agency owners is, “Would you buy your agency?” You can imagine the general answer once the CEO puts her thinking cap on.

Value is created by having one or more of the following:

  1. Your agency is a revenue powerhouse and is very profitable.
  2. Your specialty is unignorable. Example: you are a brilliant mobile marketing agency or specialize like this Boise agency.
  3. Your client list is spectacular.
  4. Your strategy and creative chops are notable and world-class.
  5. Your leadership is super smart.
  6. You are in a geography that a major agency network needs to be. This benefit has been diminished over the years but can still generate interest. How is your Saigon office doing?

OK, On To Portland

I’ll start with me. I sold my agency six years ago. I did this because I was realistic. We were not cool enough for WPP or large enough for Publicis or special enough for MDC. But, we were very attractive to another Portland agency that needed to grow faster. They bought our revenues, clients (from Nike AOR to major healthcare, to a lottery and casinos and hospitality accounts), our very sharp staff (all of them) and it was all made easy since we were in town. I also wanted to get the fuck out of the industry (I had been it for close to 30 years) and did not want to go through another reinvention so I took a reasonable offer.

Instrument Bought By MDC Partners

Here is the first paragraph of the press release.

MDC Partners announced today that it has acquired a majority partnership interest in Portland, Oregon-based digital agency Instrument. Founded in 2002, Instrument is one of the largest independent, digital brand and experience innovation companies in the U.S. The agency’s 175-person team of strategists, producers, designers, engineers and content creators helps drive businesses and engage consumers. This new partnership accelerates MDC’s growth and builds its portfolio of modern, innovative and digital-first agencies.

WPP’s POSSIBLE Acquires Digital Agency Swift

The press release…

WPP announces that its wholly-owned company, POSSIBLE, the global creative digital agency that is part of WPP Digital, has acquired The Swift Collective, Inc. (“Swift”) in the United States.

Swift’s revenues for 2014 will be over US$13 million and its clients include HTC Corporation, Starbucks, Nestle USA and REI. Based in Portland, Oregon, Swift employs over 70 people. Swift is a digital agency that specializes in creative and strategy, branded content creation and social media.

The acquisition continues WPP’s strategy of investing in fast-growing markets and sectors such as mobile and digital.

OK, What’s Up?

A few things.

  • Portland is a hot “creative” geography.
  • These are both VERY digital shops.
  • They each have strong client lists. Google, Sonos, Levi’s.
  • They have decent (higher than most independents) revenues.
  • They are run by smart people.

So, you want to sell? Create value that someone else wants to buy. Start today and make creating agency value an objective. This goes beyond just adding clients. It means standing out in a sea of advertising agencies.

 

 

How A Boise Advertising Agency Went Global

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Get Past Local. Go Global.

If you are a Melbourne, Dallas, Cardiff, Charlotte or Boise ad agency you just might be stuck herding smallish clients in your regional market. Becoming a global advertising agency is simply not going to be an option if you position yourself as a generic full-service or digital agency. Bottom line, a New York or Sydney client is not going to take a second look at you (or find you) unless you have a very specific service specialty that crosses borders – even states. Clients are willing to rule out the need for a local agency if they perceive that you have a specialty that they need – regardless of geography. Having a specialty will also make you stand out and drive your search engine marketing – as you will see below.

Boise’s Oliver Russell figured this out three years ago and blasted past their western state borders to become a global player.

Here is my interview with Oliver Russell’s CEO Russ Stoddard. Russ started Oliver Russell in 1991 and he and his agency have become leaders in the world of marketing purpose-driven companies, sustainability initiatives, and socially responsible organizations to help them better compete in the marketplace. Russ’s dedication to a category focus has delivered on his objective of becoming a global player.

Russ Stoddard Has Gone Global

Peter: What’s up?

Russ: I’m Russ Stoddard, and I’m a social entrepreneur. I have a creative marketing agency in Boise, Idaho, that works with purpose-driven companies.

Peter: How is business these days?

Russ: For us, it’s going remarkably well. We’ve got an area of specialty and differentiation, which means we actually have people coming to us, rather than having to chase clients down.

Peter: That’s great news. In terms of agency history, has that always been the case, or did you switch to a more specialized perspective at some point in recent history?

Russ: We’ve been around 27 years, and it took me 23 of those to finally take the medicine.

Four years ago, we repositioned very strongly around working with purpose-driven companies, which we define as those that have a very intentional bent around creating a product, service or business model that benefits society. [Read more…] about How A Boise Advertising Agency Went Global

Just Watch This L2 Video

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Watch, Please

I hope you pay attention to L2. Great thinking, delivery and they got bought. There is learning here for any advertising agency that has something of value to share, wants to grow, make good bucks, stand out and get bought someday.

Here are L2’s 2018 predictions. Advertising is in there about 1/2 way.