Insights

Advertising Agency Interpersonal Chemistry

July 30, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Smile: Interpersonal Chemistry Is A Critical Factor In Winning New Advertising Accounts

I am updating a previous post about interpersonal chemistry. Why? Over and over and over again I hear that building and having interpersonal chemistry with an advertising agency new business prospect is the make or break element of a hopefully budding new business relationship. So, I’ll get to the point. How can you proactively build and grow advertising agency interpersonal chemistry?

Allow me to frame the conversation via a quote from the article “IInterpersonal Chemistry in Friendships and Romantic Relationships” care of Interpersona | An International Journal on Personal Relationships. To get things rolling, here is a primary quote about relationships:

Friendship Chemistry Reciprocal Candor

The most frequently mentioned quality of friendship chemistry was reciprocal candor, which referred to open and meaningful communication. Three subcategories emerged within this group including (in order of most to least common): Ease of interaction, sharing a deep connection, and predictability. As some male participants described, “Conversation just flows naturally” and “There are no awkward silences”; “Chemistry is when there is a spark or understanding that makes the relationship easy”; and “Chemistry in friends goes beyond just being an acquaintance. It’s like you are connected. Everything makes sense. Everything fits.”

Isn’t this what you want to happen in a new business meeting?

You Probably Look Like The Next Agency

Chances are good that you will be up against look-alike agencies. You all probably share similar attributes, skills, and histories. You might even be wearing the same Armani suit or Tory Burch shoes or, today, tee-shirt.

Because of this, the ultimate selection factor is often based on personal vibes. The client wants to feel comfortable with and inspired by the agency’s culture and people. They are looking for a dedicated partner who will care as much about their business as they do. They want a confident agency that looks, acts, and feels right.

I can’t stress the chemistry thing enough. Here is what Avidan Strategies’ 2012 survey of agency search consultants revealed:

“Practically every consultant, or 96% of the sample, pointed to “chemistry” as the key factor for winning. But what exactly is chemistry? Generally speaking, it is simpatico between the client and agency teams.”

So while you are thinking about how to express your agency’s core skills and style, remember that how you express who you are could be the make or break part of your pitch. I’ll talk more about chemistry later. But it is imperative that you keep personal chemistry in mind as you start to think through what this client really wants.

A Quickie On Online Video Meetings

As the author of a book on presentations and pitches, I have been asked about how to make an online video meeting work harder. I am going to write in detail about this but here are five key points.

Look into the camera.
Employ decent lighting and sound. That means use a pro constant light if you can and get that decent microphone. If you can, ditch the headphones. The big scary ones that make you look like Top Gun. Not a very interpersonal look.
Think hard about your background. Set the stage. No laundry bin, please. Or the barking dog.
Keep the meeting short. People space out after fifteen minutes. I know that this might be hard to control in a business meeting but discuss timing with the people you are presenting to ahead of the meeting. If people think you will talk and talk, they will tune you out.
Check your internet connection speed via a tool like Google Speed Check.

Thai TV Commercial Offers Some Feel Good During Covid-19

July 15, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Take Three Minutes To Feel Good

I don’t have much to say to add to this commercial. Just watch it.

But I do want to point out that my very socially conscious friend Russ Stoddard, who runs Oliver Russell, one of the more serious purpose-driven marketing firms, pointed out that he thinks that charitable donations are up in the world of Covid-19. This message is inside of our Advertising Stories podcast. After you watch the Thai TV commercial, listen to the podcast. One of my best.

Does Your Advertising Agency Advertise Itself?

July 6, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

An Advertising Agency Launches An Advertising Campaign – For Itself. Weirdly Wonderful.

I council my advertising agency clients to advertise. I mean, actually use on and offline advertising to advertise the agency to increase awareness within the marketing universe, own their own story, and drive incoming leads.

Oh, and be UNIGNORABLE. A weirdly wonderful thing to do.

Today, LONDON Advertising, an uber-cool, massively award-winning and strategic major league agency, has done just that. These guys are ballsy and not your mother’s advertising agency.

The ad I am highlighting says, “How many advertising agencies can you name? Well, now you can name one more.”

A bit more about LONDON – note how focussed their positioning is:

LONDON Advertising is a global agency with just one office. It was set up in 2008 (two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers) to disrupt the traditional network agency model. Since then it has worked with clients based on every continent and run campaigns in more countries than WPP has offices. The agency’s iconic “I’m a fan” campaign for Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental has proven to achieve the highest ad recall ever recorded by Ipsos Mori.

LONDON Advertising has been voted Agency of the Year for six out of the last seven years.

The Advertising Deal.

Agencies have historically told their clients to advertise into the headwinds of a recession. Reasons include hold your share or voice; increase your share of voice; be one of the winners while your competitors hunker down; make sure your brands don’t die a slow death. You get this picture. Well here is an agency putting their money where their mouth is. A rarity even in the good days.

I am going to let the LONDON Advertising press release speak for itself.

Ad Agency launches major campaign day after lockdown for a highly unusual client – itself

Ad agencies often tell their clients, brands that advertise in a downturn increase market share.

However, few agencies take their own advice.

LONDON Advertising is taking its own advice and is today launching a major campaign with
10 TV ads, starring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, on 9,000 spots on Sky News.

The TV is supported by super-premium digital posters across Ocean Outdoor’s UK portfolio and Linked-in. The campaign is running from 6^th July to 2^nd August and will reach 30 million people.

Michael Moszynski, Founder and CEO, said:

“Our campaign, launching on the first working day after the easing of Lockdown, is a call to arms to all businesses to get Britain going again. We believe in ‘by example shalt thou lead’ and that we all have a duty to help rebuild our economy.”

‘Advertising Legend’ Rupert Howell (Founder HHCL, MD ITV) commented:

“This is the first time I have seen an ad agency do a major campaign like this for itself.
The ads are bloody brilliant!”.

The agency’s Founder and Creative Director, Alan Jarvie, explains the rationale:

“It is a fact advertising builds brands and fame. We believe the current situation provides a rare opportunity. Audiences are currently higher than normal and media is cheaper, as many companies have cancelled their campaigns. So, we’re doing what we would advise our clients to do; advertise now.

Our campaign demonstrates the three criteria we believe work must satisfy to be effective: Is it simple? Does it stand out? Can you remember who it’s for? A lot of advertising fails to do one, two or all three of these things.

We also wanted to show it’s the size of your idea that matters, not the size of your production budget. We would like to thank Dame Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, OBE, for making themselves available to take part in the campaign.”

Here Is The Advertising.

Videos of all 10 TV ads featuring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson can be downloaded here

Hi-res image of the poster ads can be downloaded here

If you are a serious client… contact: michael@LONDONadvertising.com +44 7968 063 155

If You Are An Advertising Agency That Wants To Grow Its Client List… Contact Me.

Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

June 29, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Yes, Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Might Be Doomed. A 2020 Update.

The interview below was done in 2014. It remains 100% right on.

Some updated thinking. I am asked on a high-frequency basis by agency management, that means CEO types, if their advertising agency should have a business development director. Because of this question, I thought I’d update this evergreen interview with Brooks Gilley who knows what’s up.

My current thinking based on talking with many agencies is that, at best, only 50% of advertising agency business development directors succeed. I am about to do some haranguing. Why?

As is pointed out below, most advertising agencies have a low to a non-competitive brand position. The degree of positioning sameness – “we are a digital agency” or “we are creative thinkers” – and messaging sameness – as in no soul or a distinctive opinion or having the goal of being unignorable – is crazy. How could even a competent business director sell the 50% of agencies that cannot define a strong sales proposition? Or not have a well-considered target market?
A huge chunk of agencies (it has been reported that up to 75% of agencies) do not have a master business development plan, think of it as a sales plan. How is this possible? And, worse, who is supposed to write the plan? I do not think that a business development director alone can write this plan. It should be an agency self-preservation and growth project.
Many advertising agency leaders have little experience in writing a sales manager compensation plan. Here is a compensation plan you can use.
Too many agency leaders hand off the role of business development to the director. I owned my own agency and I devoted at least half of my time to business development. And, I provided daily support and thinking and budget.

Give me a shout if you want to discuss your agency and its specifics.

Back To The Interview About The Doomed Business Development Director.

To quote the Beach Boys… Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to have a business development director that brought in more business for your advertising agency than you can handle? But is your business development director doomed from the start?

She or he could be if you do not have agency objectives, a competitive agency brand positioning, something to sell beyond, “Hey we are a full-service/digital/social media agency”. Or, not having a list of clients and categories you want to nail; an active up-to-date CRM system or you are now in a state of panic because you just lost your largest client.

I know that this is a tough job to fill and do. I managed my agency’s business development director at my own ad agency; for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in New York and London and as CEO at two Internet start-ups. I have hired ten business development directors over the past twenty years. Some worked out and some, well, not so well. Again, this is one of, if not the toughest, agency jobs to position for success.

But, don’t take my word for it. Before you read on for an expert interview, you might also want to go to my blog post on how to pay an agency business development director.

An Expert Interview With Brooks Gilley On How To Hire A Business Development Director.

Brooks Gilley is the Founder and CEO of Portland’s 52 Limited. 52 LTD is a 15-year-old creative resource company that connects world-class talent with leading brands, marketing departments, design firms, advertising and digital agencies.

In addition to running one of the west coast’s leading creative talent agencies, Brooks ran the Portland Advertising Federation and worked at advertising agencies.

Peter: According to the RSW/US 2014 RSW/US Agency-Marketer Business Report, the tenure of agency business development directors was two years or less. ADWEEK reports that people in this position at large agencies last less than one year. Is this surprising to you?

Brooks: It’s not surprising at all, largely for the fact that agencies I have worked with on business development director searches come to us in a moment of panic, and that’s usually where the ask starts. It’s a role that is needed now but was probably needed at least twelve months before new business gains became an issue. Additionally, it’s not necessarily a strategic role that is esteemed at and supported within a ‘creative’ organization. [Read more…] about Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

Should Your Advertising Agency Podcast?

June 24, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Does The World Need A New Advertising Agency Podcast?

The big question… Should an advertising agency create and publish a podcast – now, in 2020? Read this before you launch your new advertising agency podcast. I’ll try to get to the heart of the decision – using me as an example. Here are my first eleven episodes. I did these in a bit more than three weeks.

Check out my Advertising Stories podcast list.

Back To 2006.

My first podcast series was launched in 2006. I was a bit early. Ya think? But, the podcast did support my advertising agency’s brand and helped us to market the agency. After all, it showed the world of prospective clients that we were ahead of the curve.

The podcast was The 360 View, the agency, at that time, Ralston360 (‘360’ = very 2006). I interviewed a range of people including an AOL exec; Rob Walsh the podcasting genius from Podcast 411 (now of Libsyn); a Saatchi & Saatchi president; a major agency search consultant and an ADWEEK editor on what was coming in digital marketing. I also included me just talking about marketing. The show was professionally produced. I’ll be adding a couple of the old audio shows to my new series. Nice to take a look back to what people were thinking in 2006.

Oh, I added the copy from a 2006 show on podcasting, the white paper version, at the bottom of this blog post. I admit it, a good history lesson.

Another podcast history lesson is for you to listen to my two 2006 interviews with podcasting world leader Rob Walch – now of the major podcasting publisher Libsyn. These interviews are informative and have insights that are relevant 24 years later.

My New Podcast – Advertising Stories

Advertising Stories, my new podcast series launched three weeks ago. Go here to see what Advertising Stories will be talking about.

It is 2020 @home-style… No more “professional” production as I am recording myself by myself from my home office in my Mexican house. I am currently getting listed on all of the podcasting platforms (that takes up to two weeks) and I am recording a bunch of early series episodes so I launch with some bulk.

More on what it is and the launch later. However, my personal activity does bring up the question:

Should advertising agencies podcast? Which brings me to this…