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The QR Code Menu And Covid-19

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Digital Acceleration Baby: The QR Code Menu And Covid-19

QR Code MenuThis post is about the increasingly ubiquitous QR Code menu as an indicator of digital acceleration in the time of Covid-19. There are few things I personally dislike more than mobile phone usage at the table. However, your mobile is now a critical element in the restaurant experience.

First, a bit of Nike. A few years ago I had a really depressing meeting with my long-term client Nike about the use of a graphical QR code on their worldwide packaging. I gave Nike a very doable idea about what I absolutely knew was a brilliant, low cost, and potentially powerful global marketing mobile experience. Simply embed a QR code into every Swoosh logo on every box that found its way into every house in every country. Turn every dumb box into in-house 24/7 mobile marketing. Bring Jordan into the home.

Yes, QR codes can be graphical. The digital watermark QR code idea was developed by Digimark, another agency client. The idea was to replace the funky black and white code with an interactive logo, picture, or word. I am talking about having an interactive Swoosh mobile marketing tool hand-carried into millions of homes. Easy, cheap, doable. And why the fuck not? Did Nike buy this idea? No. They just stared at me – “Why would we want to send a digital experience into homes vs. our current “dumb, do nothing paper box?’ I was like. “Are you kidding me?”  That was the day I decided after giving really smart ideas to clients over my 30-year global advertising career, including winning programs that delivered lots of EFFIES, that I was done with owning an agency. Frankly, it felt like pearls before swine. Am I being harsh? Sure. Read all about the experience and see the Nike presentation here:

Nike Made Me Sell My Advertising Agency.

The QR Code Menu As Indicator

I first noticed the use of QR codes in Tokyo in the early 2000s. I was standing on a street corner in Shibuya and saw some teens pointing their phones up at a QR code on an outdoor board. I went over and saw that their aiming triggered a digital experience appearing on their phones. Whoa!!!

I said, we gotta have some of that.

Cut to like 8 years later and my advertising / digital agency started working with the tech leader Digimarc which owned the patents for digital watermarking. That is how I came to the idea of creating an interactive “smart box”.

Restaurants. Way back in 2018 there were over 600,000 restaurants and 54,000 hotel properties in the USA. All of these businesses are barely touching the opportunities embedded in mobile marketing.

Why just a menu? Digital check-in? Why not more remarketing? Diner or guest data? And, on.

Covid-19 As Accelerant

Cut to 2020. What more can be done?. Covid-19 is acting as a digital accelerant. More people are buying online, ordering food delivery, communicating with brands online, and now using their phones to read a digital menu. We are studying more online and getting digital healthcare, using exercise apps, ordering in.

Less touching and breathing all around.

As more and more people of all ages are becoming even more slavish to their Androids and iPhones… shouldn’t we be seeing more and more uses of the handy mobile code as a marketing tool?

Side note. China, as an example of the future, has gone like 100% mobile. You even scan and pay by phone for the low-cost bao bun on Shanghai’s food street Fangbang Road. We, MAGA focussed Americans, will get there sooner or later.

Your Digital Agency & The Code, And Big Ideas: GO!

OK folks. Your agency should always be looking for new ideas to excite your clients. What can you do with THE CODE?

Advertising, mobile events, packaging, in-store, on the street… For Burger King or your local pizza chain?

Should I send this blog post to Nike? Adidas, Amazon, any brand with a box at a time when in-store interactions are down?

OH!!!! Maybe your agency should!!!

Best Advertising Podcast List

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advertising podcast listThe  Advertising Stories podcast program publishes smart, funny, and useful interviews with advertising and marketing leaders. There are a LOT of podcasts out there. So, to make life a bit easier, here is my very own best advertising podcast list.

I have produced 35 episodes since June. And, As you know WOM rocks, so tell your friends all about Advertising Stories. Thank you.

Oh, and please subscribe via Apple Podcasts or use the subscribe links on this page to get to your favorite players.

The Best Advertising Podcast List – Handy Dandy.

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The Richards Group And Your Advertising Agency

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The Richards Group – A Teachable Moment

The Richards GroupNo, I am not going to comment on Stan Richard’s big mistake that had The Richards Group, the leading Dallas agency, quickly lose major accounts including Motel 6, Keurig Dr. Pepper, HEB, Motel 6, The Salvation Army, and The Home Depot. These are huge account losses that could destroy virtually any agency – in weeks.

But, What About Your Agency?

I was interviewed this week by ADWEEK’s Doug Zanger for my take on what the future might hold for The Richards Group. Specifically, what could they do to hold on to existing accounts and if and how they could find and land new business. I suggested that job #1 is for the agency to work hard to maintain the accounts they still have. Here is my quote:

What it might take to get back in the game

According to agency business development consultant Peter Levitan, the first step is to look inward.

“A part of business development that many agencies don’t understand or spend time and energy working on is growing existing accounts,” said Levitan. “In the case of The Richards Group, they have to save as many accounts as they can, and be totally upfront in dealing with the problem. There are sharks in the waters circling the accounts, so the pressure is on holding what remains.”

Your Agency – The Learning

I counsel my advertising and digital agency clients that the single best, and most efficient source of new business, read that as incremental profits, comes from existing client relationships. Why? Well, you already have the client in-house; you are well beyond the initial cost of pitching; you know their business; objectives, and opportunities inside and out; and, I assume that they love you.

Also, note that account retention is critical. In our land of doing specific projects vs. long-term agency of record relationships, it is imperative to be a client’s ideas and tech go-to leader. Keep the client’s marketing moving forward. Happy clients stay put.

This is clearly logical. However, I need to point out two recurring agency fails. One is complacency. You have the account, think that it will stay put and leadership moves their focus to landing that new account.

The other fail is the universal issue of not training agency account management. When I started in the business, I was trained in how to run accounts, how to communicate with clients, how to build long-term relationships, how to think of new ideas, how to present those ideas (and sell them)… Sadly, too many 2020 agencies do not stop to train their account managers. Believe me, the cost of losing an account is much higher than a few hours of training.

Back To The Richard’s Group

As I stated in ADWEEK, The Richard’s Group should, today, have a total focus on retaining the remaining clients. A well-trained account services team and involved media and creative departments should be having the right business-growth conversations and be perceived as brand builders. Agency staff will need to reinforce the reasons the client works with the agency in the first place and be looking future-forward. Client’s can be like lemmings willing to join others and jump off the cliff. While the team focuses on the future, agency management should allay any client concerns. Proactivity is critical. Split up the duties.

OK, one more …. the agency has to make sure that everyone is on message. “We are all sorry about what Stan Richards said and it does not reflect our agency culture”… and, on. Get on the same page and get on with business as usual.

 

 

Yikes. Donald Trump Loves Me. The Videos.

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I Admit It. I Am Not Sure That My Donald Trump ‘Loves Me’ Endorsements Are Good For Me. Ever. However.

Donald Trump EndorsementMonths ago The Donald made a couple of video endorsements for me. One about my business development consultancy… “Levitan’s The Best”. And, one about my Advertising Stories podcast. Here is the podcast list.

To put it mildly, The Donald is a bit divisive. However, he cannot be ignored, and therefore at the time, I thought what the heck, if he is going to do a couple of personal non-political videos, why not let him. I won’t get political either (plus I am an Independent). My goal was and is to be Unignorable. So, here is a bit of borrowed interest just for you.

Oh, Mahatma Gandhi also endorsed me as well. I had visited one of his homes in Mumbai last January. Does Mr. Gandhi help me find the center – for you? I mean, who was EVER liked by both Gandhi and Trump? You can see Gandhi’s pitch for me here on my Contact page.

Ta Da, Donald Trump For Levitan’s Expertise. #1.

 

Ta Da, Donald Trump For Levitan’s Podcasts. #2.

 

 

A New Business Plan For An Advertising Agency

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An Advertising Agency Business Plan Thought Starter.

advertising agency business planTen years ago I was the owner and CEO of Citrus, a Portland and Bend Oregon advertising and digital agency. Just so you get the picture, our clients included AOR work for Nike; the Montana Lottery; Harrah’s; Providence Health & Services (5 states), and lots more. As you will see below, I knew that we needed to change our approach to the business. We needed a new advertising agency business plan. A radical shift from what was starting to look like a way too traditional advertising agency business model. My team and I looked at different approaches and ultimately, I determined that I (that means me) did not want to make the required revisions. At that point, I decided to craft the agency for sale. I wrote about how I sold the agency in my 57-page PDF, “How To Sell An Advertising Agency.” Links to it are on this page.

2020. Is It Time For You To Invent A New Business Plan?

I talk to lots of advertising agencies. Many are looking very hard at how to reinvent their agency. This is driven by ongoing factors like waves of recessions; clients asking for more and more for less money; lower profits; unhappy and overworked staff and, of course, the results of the pandemic. I talked yesterday with a New York agency buddy that is shutting down his office, asking his landlord for rent concessions, and will go full-time virtual. He is not alone. Again, in many cases, the need for a new business plan is being forced on agency leaders. Being forced is OK. Not changing is not OK.

Back to my past as one model for the future.

10/12/10: Twas Time For A New Business Plan

Before I sold my Portland agency, I spent some time thinking through what a new, an evolutionary, a smarter, competitive, and higher profit advertising agency business plan might look like. Simply put, how could we make more money? This is what I was thinking a few years ago.

I think that my thought process at that time might help you think hard about your agency’s business plan.

A bit of background. Citrus was a successful Northwest agency. We had offices in Portland and Bend, Oregon. Our clients included Nike (we were an AOR agency for major league baseball and college sports); Oregon State Football, Harrah’s Las Vegas; Wildhorse (a large Oregon casino); the Montana Lottery; LegalZoom; a couple of major west coast banks and Providence Health and Services (a multi-state hospital and healthcare company) and a range of leisure accounts.

Background

I bought the majority share of Oregon’s full-service advertising agency Ralston Group in 2002. I had just left being CEO of ActiveBuddy, a serious natural language company that proceeded Siri and Alexa. It was time for me to get out of New York and get some fresh air. Over the course of the next 8 years, we bought Portland’s Citrus, renamed the agency, and grew our account base across the USA.

However, by 2008, after the horrible recession, clients driving down profits, the increase of workload from digital and social media, the increasing cost of running a marketing company (ala healthcare costs), I decided that we had to either reinvent the agency or I’d move on.

The Birth Of “Portland”

Ok, what should we do? I needed to reinvent the agency via a new advertising agency business plan to be more competitive; leaner; more nimble; lower cost; and NEW. As in, new and improved to get the attention of more of the high-profit clients we wanted.

Here is the document, the 2010 think-piece that I used to help guide me. I hope you find it, um, maybe inspiring.

My 2010 Plan – A New Agency Model: Food-For-Thought For Your Agency

Citrus needs to change.

The agency industry (especially full-service agencies) knows it must explore new business models. The old 15% commission + 16.5% mark-up is so long gone. Plus, we know that finding a way for clients to pay up for “big ideas” is difficult.

Within this context, clients are confronted by fast-paced changes, are skittish and are understaffed. Media options have grown exponentially, clients are asking for program metrics, they need smart digital solutions, can’t figure out how to manage integration and do not fully understand social marketing. They still want big ideas but want all of this for less. All of this is compounded by the view that “agencies” are costly and inefficient. Many prospects don’t even want to take our calls.

To further compound the issues, a sea of agency industry sameness and lack of clear brand and service differentiation confronts us. It is very difficult for small full-service agencies to stand out from the crowd. Defining a unique and focused agency brand for a non-specialist agency isn’t easy.

Citrus shares these issues and at present does not have a clear and compelling brand story. We have our “Move” positioning but we need to express this beyond just words.

There must be a new way.

An idea…Move To Small + Smart.

In my mind, a Small + Smart Citrus is the smartest customized agency in the world.

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