New Business

Why I Love Vice, Motherboard & SmarterChild

Peter · March 18, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Motherboard, SmarterChild And An Interview

I moved on from founding NJ.com, one of the first online newspapers, to starting the company ActiveBuddy with Robert Hoffer (brains) and Tim Kay (CTO). I was the CEO (LOL).

By 2001, we raised over $15 million and became famous. SmarterChild, our proof of concept instant messaging app, ultimately had over thirty million IM relationships across AOL and other IM networks. People loved that they could talk with a computer that knew and remembered them and delivered instant results in the pre-WIFI age.

When I meet people in their late 20’s, it is not surprising that they played with SmarterChild. Apparently, Motherboard’s Ashwin Rodriguez did too.

SmarterChild had a persona and personality. It pains me that 16 years later, Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa are way boring.

In fact, our first paying customer (for the technology) was the band Radiohead.

The Article

Here is some copy from the top of the Motherboard article.

SmarterChild was a robot that lived in the buddy list of millions of American Online Instant Messenger (AIM) users. He was, as far as I know, my first interaction with artificial intelligence. I was a ripe 11 years old when SmarterChild was “born.” As we reflect on making machines in our image, and look to the future of AI, I can’t imagine this journey beginning without SmarterChild.

You could do many useful things when pinging the SmarterChild robot. Technically, I could ask him for stock quotes, movie times, weather, or other useful information. (When you asked whether SmarterChild was a male or female, I believe the answer was deflected. I always referred to the bot as a “he” in my mind. Perhaps because we try to see ourselves in technology. Maybe at the age where it was awkward to talk to girls, I could not fathom the pressure of speaking to a female robot.)

Read on to learn more. And… to hear me actually sound intelligent as one of the ActiveBuddy team just told me.

Should Your Advertising Agency Blog?

Peter · February 24, 2016 · 4 Comments

The Advertising Agency Blog? Worth The Effort?

You know all about blogging so I won’t go down the pedantic click-bait road of using a headline like: “24 Unbelievable Reasons That Your Advertising Agency Should Blog”.

But, do you actually know if your advertising agency should blog? Here are the pros and cons and a path beyond running and jumping through the hoops of doing it right… like writing over 7,000 words per month (I made that up, but it’s about right if you want Google to dig you).

Blogging: The Pro’s

Blogging is an incredibly powerful new business attractor tool. Virtually all of my incoming leads and new ad agency clients come to me because I have over 500 well-targeted blog posts… just like this one. It works for me.

What about you?

Your agency blog allows you to self-publish thought leadership on a daily or weekly basis.

Your blog delivers SEO chutzpah to your website that results in more repeat views than your ‘brochure’ website could ever generate.

You have a refined content plan based on agency objectives.

You target the right viewership (as in future clients) with targeted posts.

Your blog is Ta Da… 24/7 national owned media.

Your best blog posts will get shared accross the universe.

Your posts are designed to build your new business pipeline.

Your blog is used to reinforce agency culture and acts as a new employee attractor.

Blogging: The Con’s

Does Your Ad Agency Use Storytelling In Its Sales Pitch?

Peter · February 12, 2016 · 1 Comment

Agencies Do Storytelling

Advertising agencies love the idea of being storytellers. Storytelling skills have become one of the ways that agencies offer agency brand differentiation. To be clear, here’s a definition:

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, sound and/or images, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values.

I see three ways that agencies do storytelling:

The Agency itself has a story.

Frankly, this is an amazingly underused opportunity. Why don’t agencies use their own personal or business stories more often on their websites, in their new business programs and pitches? Need an example (yes, an obvious one): Ogilvy’s use of David. The

The Ogilvy website has David’s bio and the following ‘story’ about David that he wrote to his partners 3 years after he started the agency Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. He is writing about himself.

Will Any Agency Hire This Man?

He is 38, and unemployed. He dropped out of college.
He has been a cook, a salesman, a diplomatist and a farmer.
He knows nothing about marketing and had never written any copy.
He professes to be interested in advertising as a career (at the age of 38!) and is ready to go to work for $5,000 a year.

I doubt if any American agency will hire him.

However, a London agency did hire him. Three years later he became the most famous copywriter in the world, and in due course built the tenth biggest agency in the world.

The moral: it sometimes pays an agency to be imaginative and unorthodox in hiring.

My moral… This story reinforces the perception that Ogilvy is ‘imaginative and unorthodox.’ The agency delivers this compelling message neatly wrapped up in a founder story — not just saying it.

The agency sells its ‘storytelling’ prowess.

HubSpot published an interview “Have agencies Abused The Term Storytelling?” I did with Michael Donahue, ex-EVP of The American Association of Advertising Agencies about the art of brand storytelling . Is storytelling overused? My take? No, telling stories to help consumers build a better understanding of and a closer bond with brands works. However, how the agency describes this particular art must be distinctive. It’s the

Is The Stock Market Freaking Out Your Advertising Agency?

Peter · February 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

As In… Are We Heading Towards Another Recession??

I’ve been doing this advertising agency thing for a long time. Started in the 1980’s and have gone through 5 recessions. Each time, clients got nervous. Many pulled their advertising back but some (the ones we loved) actually added to their budgets to gain market share when their competitors pulled back.

Here is a chart of the recessions. Of course, the most recent recession was a major killer coming just as digital media hit. Traditional agencies really got smacked down.

Our 2016 401K Freakout

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google & The Death Of Advertising

Peter · February 9, 2016 · 1 Comment

Does Advertising Still Work In The World Of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google?

According to Scott Galloway, professor of Marketing and Brand Strategy at the NYU Stern School of Business, “The Gang of Four” (Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon) and the new world of digital (I actually don’t know what to call user owned media anymore) are killing your advertising agency. Or, at least dramatically decreasing its effectiveness. Watch the video.

By the way, read to the bottom and see how Galloway helped me to grow my agency.

“Advertising is a tax that only poor people pay.”

Yup, he said this. You have some bucks. Do you watch ads unless you put on your agency “I better pay attention” hat? Do you use an ad blocker? Do you record TV shows and skip the ads? Would you rather pay a ‘Netflix tax’ to watch almost anything and avoid the ads? Yes or no, watch this video. Especially at the 3:00 mark where Galloway shows how advertising does not work (or as hard) as it used to, especially for CPG brands. And, of course, note the tepid valuation growth of WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic.

Back To Me.

Two things.

One: Pay attention to what’s happening in the macro business universe. Clients are and you need to tailor your sales message to overcome, or better yet, leverage what is happening to advertising today.

Two: OK, how did Galloway help me grow my agency? I stole a very Big idea from his L2. Go here and see what I mean at “An Irresistible New Business Sales Pitch.”. I’ve stolen other great ideas to my advantage. Give me a shout and I’ll show you what I mean.