New Business

Advertising Agency New Business: A Personal Update

Peter · July 8, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Here is a quick update on my business life. I’ll be on a mini-vacation for a few days

I started to spin my advertising agency new business consultancy in late February by loading up my blog with keyword-rich “advertising agency new business / business development” content. Around 15,000 words or so in a bunch of evergreen posts. I supported that with tweets for both my posts and retweets of related content.

I continued the inbound marketing program and now have 184 posts.

These include some posts for my book, “Boomercide: From Woodstock to Suicide.”

I supplemented this blog activity with guest posts on the highly visited AdPulp and Agency Post blogs to start to build authority for peterlevitan.com. I am about to start a series on how clients find and choose advertising agencies for Advertising Week.

I built my agency directory on Pinterest using outsourced help from a great assistant in the Philippines via Odesk. Agencies now send me information on their new websites.

I wrote a couple of white papers on how Seattle and Portland agencies use (or overuse) social media on their websites. I sent Seattle Advertising and Digital Agencies and Their Love Of Social Media and a Portland version to Seattle and Portland agencies. Despite how brilliant the white papers are, I wasn’t surprised that I only got a 5% response (as in, thanks.) Why? I don’t think most agencies are sufficiently curious about virtually anything but their own navel. (I only write this because people tell me they enjoy my honesty.)

I built “The Good, Bad & Ugly”, a review of advertising agency websites and how agencies do or do not do a good job with their interent marketing programs. I gave the presentation in New York to a group of agency CEO’s. I’ve also presented this in Seattle and Portland.

I just ran a Portland Advertising Federation event about how advertising agencies could / should work with startups. I interviewed folks from Wieden+Kennedy, Nike+ Accelerator, Upstart Labs and Opal, a very smart startup that a Portland agency launched. I’ll put up a video of the event soon.

The net.. you may be wondering…

I’ve got agency clients in Portland, New York, Milan and hopefully Mexico (care of a recent discussion.) I’ve worked on agency positioning, agency Internet marketing, the whole enchilada advertising agency new business plan and RFP management. I have been helpful. Or, so they say.

So far so good.

Nerds.com

In the past couple of weeks a team from the USA (that’s me plus one more), Budapest, Scotland and soon Thailand launched a new business based on the power of Nerds (its now in alpha for testing purposes.) Nerds will be a website plus for nerds and the people interested in the nerd lifestyle. Here is a great stat… there are over 2.2 million monthly broad matches for the term “nerds” on Google. This is huge. The goal of the business is to “own” the idea of nerd and monetize it. I’d like to think of the business as becoming a Fab meets Betches Love This.

Cartoon / comics characters might play a large role. We are meeting with a LARGE animation company this week in California. Who knows.

This is my third internet start-up.

Stay way tuned.

IDL Worldwide & Best Ad Agency Sign

Peter · July 2, 2013 · Leave a Comment

One could argue that coming up with recognition for “Best Agency Sign” is not that relevant to the ad business. But, IDL Worldwide, as they say on Twitter: “@IDLWorldwide. Brand in Real Life”, is about experiences. To kinda prove the point to people walking through Portland’s trendy North Park Blocks (I say trendy just to piss off Portland folks) that IDL lives up to “real life”, they have a Working / Playing neon sign over their front door.

Since sizable crowds walk by the agency during Portland’s First Thursday Art Walk, the agency proudly declares PLAYING while serving free beers to people who come into see IDL’s art show.

So, what I dig is that they are living and declaring the agency’s stated mantra and reason for being.

Here is their neon sign which changes from…

Leagas Delaney + Booz & Company + Snowden

Peter · June 26, 2013 · 1 Comment

From the June 26th edition of Britain’s advertising industry Campaign Magazine comes this rather timely headline:

Leagas Delaney launches tech alliance with Booz & Company

Teams from the two companies will be created to work on designing customer experience, crafting technology solutions and working with clients to launch these solutions. Discussions with potential clients have begun.

Delaney said: “Our combined model with Booz Digital will bring CEOs and CMOs the confidence that their vision for transforming their business can be realised because we understand the accelerated change that consumers’ digital demands create.”

Imagine. You are Leagas’ founder Tim Delaney and you are sitting on this big news and you wake up a week earlier to this headline:

Booz Allen Hamilton: Edward Snowden News ‘Shocking’, ‘A Grave Violation’

Now, to be factual, Booz and Booz Allen Hamilton (Snowden’s employer and earner of $3.8 billion in secretive U.S. defense contracts) are separate companies. Booz was spun out a few years ago. But, its all a bit confusing. And the branding issue, like who knows that Booz and Booz aren’t the same…. well, you know.

So, whether Leagas likes it or not*, to the unknowing, they are now associated with America’s latest whistle-blower / traitor-type.

*By the way, timing and unfortunate branding issues aside, the idea of an advertising agency teaming up with a smart tech company is brilliant. I have been preaching this type of alliance since 1995 when I left Saatchi to found my first Internet start-up.

Zillow Advertising: Nice New TV Commercial. But, Why Leave Seattle?

Peter · June 18, 2013 · 1 Comment

I am starting to think about selling my house so I’m paying attention to real estate advertising. This new TV spot from Zillow hit the spot. The :60 commercial stars a family looking at homes while living in different cites. Or is dad just traveling? You’ll have to see the surprise (rather) emotional ending to find out.

The commercial was done by Deutsch L.A. (a nice advertising agency.) But, since Zillow is in Seattle…. why did they have to take their business out of town? I could have helped them find at least 5 very sharp agencies in Seattle. They live here.

I’d love to ask Amy Bohutinsky, Zillow’s chief marketing officer, the Seattle question. Did she explore the Seattle ad agency market? Did Seattle advertising agencies not reach out – she’s been at Zillow for 7 years? Did she need a trip to L.A.? I know a few sensitive ad folks up north who could have delivered some sharp advertising — and a decent bottle of wine. When I owned my Portland agency it always killed me when a local client took their business out of town.

Oh well, never mind – at least it’s well-branded advertising that tells a sweet story. Here is a smart quote from Amy about the ad strategy:

“The process of shopping for a home today is emotional, absorbing, collaborative, and driven by technology and online information. Our ‘Find Your Way Home’ campaign chronicles modern families in ways that most home shoppers can relate — as they search for not just a home, but a place for their life to happen.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o3bZz_JHyyA