Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Agency of the Week

I Bet You Can’t Read or Write (Code)

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Sorry, You Can’t Read Or Write

FT-150611-Ford.png.CROP.promovar-mediumlargeI can’t and neither can you (most likely).

Here’s the drill. Virtually everything you do or rely on these days is controlled by computer code. You phone, your car, your house, your relationships, your business, your leisure time, even the blueberries you buy in summer.

Oh, and, yes, all of the advertising and marketing you do for your clients.

So, when I say you can’t read or write I mean…

You Don’t Know What Code Is (And, Of Course, You Can’t Write It)

Look, I get it. My companies published early stage websites in the 1990’s = New Jersey Online (for Advance Publications) and websites for Microsoft and Nabisco (ala Journal Square Interactive). I was also the founder and CEO of ActiveBuddy which did natural language years ahead of Apple’s Siri and my agency dove head first into all things digital.

BUT… I am code  illiterate and it held me back.  [Read more…] about I Bet You Can’t Read or Write (Code)

Finally, A Fcking Ad Agency Blog Worth Reading

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I’m talking about The Escape Pod’s blog.

The Escape Pod

Ok, its not the only ad agency blog worth reading, but, hey, lets face it, how many of these word-rich-self-loving missives ever enrich anything? Ooops, I’m being harsh.

 

In my line of work I read (well, actually scan) a bunch of ad agency blogs. Note to my clients: I actually do read your blogs, I swear it!

Ok, for all of you other ad agencies. Here are some thoughts on what to do and some reasons I like The Escape Pod’s blog.

  1. Please be fun to read. Fun does not have to mean witty (although Escape Pod is witty) — it just means fun (which can also, for me, mean intellectually stimulating.)
  2. Have a (fresh) point of view.
  3. Have a personality. Its OK if your blog sounds like a human wrote it.
  4. Don’t parrot everyone else. We’all don’t need more words on how to blog; the joy of  responsive design; Twitter for marketers; or the post (this is real) -> “The New Landscape of Content Marketing” from one of Chicago’s leading agencies. Note to self: I might err on this “don’t parrot” thing, since this post is about an agency’s blog.
  5. Enlighten me: Like “Behold the Power of  Video Demonstration” does, even if it isn’t what you’d expect a creative agency to love.
  6. Get the idea of Portland.
  7. Oh, and have a really smart kid.

One more point. Have an agency About page that moves the reader.

Bottom line? The Escape Pod is interesting and makes interesting advertising. Interesting is good. Interesting sells.

_______________________

Email me – look up and left for an email link – and lets discuss how your agency will never do irrelevant (as in not strategic) blog postings.

Is Likeable Media The Best Social Media Agency?

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Likeable is a Good Thing.

About — likeable mediaI just wrote a blog post for Agency Post on the social media agency Likeable Media. I like Likeable media because they make themselves so likeable. Most agencies don’t try that hard at being liked. Personally, I think that you can project a professional image and be liked at the same time. It’s so social.

Likeable has a very strategic approach to how they present the agency and its messaging across what seems to be every social media channel. As I write in the post…

I’ve liked watching Likeable for the past seven years because it aggressively walks the social media walk. I view them as an instructive benchmark for how an agency should be using integrated social media as a high-energy business development platform.

If you need some proof of their success, Likeable’s Alexa website ranking (lower is better) is 89,889, while BBDO’s is 256,867 and Saatchi & Saatchi’s is 185,871. Both agencies are decades older than Likeable.

In addition to having a very well-developed agency story (its, yes, Likeable, cute and memorable in a very sweet human way that’s rare for agencies), Likeable is everywhere:

SlideShare (67 SlideShares)

Facebook (32,000 Likes)

YouTube (137,000 views)

Pinterest (2 Pinterest sites)

Tumblr.

Google+ (a rather Google friendly social tool that most agencies ignore)

Twitter (29,000 Followers)

Vine

iTunes

On their website with their active Blog and White Papers

Even Amazon where they sell their two social media best sellers

You can find out about even more things that I like by talking with me. Just click here for my Vito Corleone offer.

Wasserman + Partners: Ad Agency of The Week (Gets Blogging)

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I am building a presentation for the 4A’s on good, bad and ugly advertising agency websites and social media programs from the perspective of business development. In my travels across the globe and my Pinterest advertising agency directory, I happend upon Vancouver’s Wasserman + Partners Advertising.

Wasserman + Partners is the largest full-service agency in British Columbia (that’s in the upper left hand corner of Canada.) Their message:

LET’S LAY IT ALL OUT ON THE TABLE HERE, SHALL WE. WE ARE WESTERN CANADA’S LOCALLY OWNED, LOCALLY OPERATED, SILO-FREE, EGO-FREE, CREATIVELY STRATEGIC, STRATEGICALLY CREATIVE, CAFFEINE GUZZLING, COFFEE-CUP RECYCLING, MILK DRINKING, HIGH ENERGY, LOW DRAMA, KARAOKE SINGING, MICROPHONE SWINGING, FULLY INTEGRATED, FULL-SERVICE, AND FULL-ON INDEPENDENT ADVERTISING AGENCY. ANYTHING WE MISSED THAT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW?

What I like:

Wasserman’s website is simple, easy to navigate and gets out their brand message without complexity. Look at dozens of agency websites and ask yourself why so much clutter? These guys are into simplicity and isn’t that what much advertising is built on?

Blogs Wasserman Partners AdvertisingI think my favorite section is the blog. While it is built into the home page, an element that is often overdone, Wasserman has done an excellent job of incorporating the blog into the page that essentially has two sections: the work and what people are saying. Click on Saying and you go to one of the very rare blogs that delivers personality and a who’s who of the agency staff. In most blogland cases, and this goes for the entire world of blogging, the person or people creating the content are somewhat invisible. Not here. In Wasserman’s case, the blog has become a central part of the web experience and not an appendage. If I had a nock, I’d ask for more post frequency. But, at leaset I am not inundated.

Want more Agencies Of The Week? They are here.