Insights

Ted Leonsis, The Capitals and My Advertising Career

Peter · June 8, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Ted’s Digital Advertising Advice

I don’t usually talk about career development on this website. But, last night’s Washington Capital’s hockey game and their owner Ted Leonsis made me think of my own advertising career. More on this later.

Watching Ted Leonsis’s Washington Capitals win the Stanly Cup was exhilarating for two reasons (for my international audience, the Stanley Cup is the National Hockey League’s 60-year-old champions cup).

First, hockey is the only sport that equals the second by second excitement of football (for my USA audience, football means soccer).

Second, Ted had a great impact on my career because he helped give it/me purpose.

Ted And My Purpose

In 1994 I returned from working at Saatchi & Saatchi London to our New York office to run business development with my buddy Beau Fraser. Unfortunately, 1994 was the worst year in the history of the agency with poor management, very bad USA press, loss of any new client interest and the ultimate departure of Maurice and Charles, the founding brothers. We couldn’t sell a damn thing. I even got laughs from Goodby and Silverstein in a shared NYC cab when they heard that my job was selling Saatchi’s services.

BUT… another thing that happened in 1994 was that I “discovered” digital marketing and the Internet. Coming from Luddite-rich Great Britain and seeing what was going on in the states with CD-Roms (LOL) and the graphical web, delivered a HUGE WOW. I sensed that digital was the future (duh!).

I used my Saatchi credential to go down to Florida to meet with Ted Leonsis and his Redgate Communications – as far as I knew, Redgate was the first digital agency. Ted explained what a digital agency did and informed me that AOL had just bought Redgate and that he was going to be AOL’s president. How did Ted do at AOL? Well, he now owns Washington’s hockey and basketball teams. Here’s the AdAge annountment.

Most importantly, he gave me this advice:

“Get the fuck out of traditional advertising and get into digital.”

I did. Ted’s advice was instrumental in helping me find my purpose – and at that time, it was not working at a failing full-service advertising agency. My true purpose was becoming a brilliant marketer. I think I did grow into that. I won’t bore you with the bio details. You can see the post-Saatchi digital bio here.

Peter, What’s The Point?

The point is that you need to locate the one or two people that can help you find your purpose and light the light. It wasn’t an accident that I flew down to Florida on Saatchi’s dime to meet Ted. I went to learn about digital marketing for the agency. But, I knew quite well that I needed to hear what a digital agency was, what digital marketing was going to be (the promise) to help me get to my next stage. FYI, Saatchi management did not agree with me about digital marketing at that time.

Last night… So, when I saw Ted’s team win, there was a bit of extra personal satisfaction and “hey, that’s some cool shit.”

I listened to the right guy in 1994. He is a winner.

By the way, a few years later Ted, as president of AOL, called me up to tell me that AOL was not going to buy my early-stage bot companyActiveBuddy. But, that’s another story.

La Gente Pronto

Peter · June 3, 2018 · Leave a Comment

La Gente – La Belleza de Mexico

I’ve been working on La Gente – a 210 portrait photo series in San Miguel de Allende for 18 months. More to come soon.

Amsterdam Is Fun

Peter · May 27, 2018 · Leave a Comment

KesselsKramer Makes Amsterdam Fun

Yeah, you know Amsterdam is fun. I’ve just had that confirmed: spring weather; the gorgeous canals; tall blondes; really fine design; marijuana is legal (but, I am from Portland so who cares.) And the two best photography museums I’ve been to. Foam and Huis Marseilles. I’ll put links to them at the bottom.

Getting to the real point… there is an Amsterdam agency that has never been boring. Never been unignorable. From their website history to their publications, they act different.

Different in a world of zillions of agencies. This is a good thing.

KesselsKramer

On my first day in Amsterdam, I took a random walk and found an excellent photography bookstore that had books by Erik Kessels, one of KesselsKramer’s founders. I already own a couple from his series In Almost Every Picture. My books include a flat-headed rabbit and a woman that never gets out of her car. Erik’s books are mostly sold out but you can find some on the KesselsKramer website and on Amazon.

Back To Fun

I’ve written about KesselsKramer’s approach to acting and looking and sounding different (rare in the agency world). This was way apparent when they had an ever-changing website plus an absurdist angle. You can see my take on their approach here.

The agency’s current website is tamer. However, take a hard look and you’ll see that these guys understand the power of the different thing. This makes it way easier for a future client or employee to want to make contact. Yo, good vibes and contact are what an agency website is all about.

Why is fun excluded from the way most agencies represent themselves? This has always baffled me. Sure agencies need to be serious as they help marketers market and have to be prudent with client budgets. But, unlike accountants, agencies can offer a bit of humor, fun and even sound a bit over the top creative. Afterall, creativity and fun are what the client organization does not have.

Things I like:

Clean, simple graphic approach.

To the point agency description: “Established in 1996, KesselsKramer is an independent communications agency in Amsterdam, London and now in Los Angeles with about 50 people of 10 different nationalities. We bring brands and communities together by creating meaningful experiences in every media imagined.”

Need more? Here is what the L.A. office says (Hmm, I’d like to meet and eat with these guys.): “KK Los Angeles is a communications agency, original content studio and art gallery all under one roof. We set up shop in the heart of gallery row in Chinatown and promise to blur the lines between culture, commerce, content and collaboration.”

KK leads with the work. (Though, I am not a huge fan of carousels.)

Their work + cases make me want to work with them. Here is one sweet client case + work. It’s for ONZV, a healthcare insurer. Not the usual.

The Exhibitions and Publishing sections deliver proof that this is not your ordinary agency. Please dig in. When many agencies think that brewing their own beer is the cool thing to do, KK has been a serious member of the Amsterdam art scene for years.

Read their 100 FAQ’s.

The Photography Bookshop & Museums

Foam and Huis Marseilles.

PhotoQbookshop.

Yup, Amsterdam is fun. Especially the art.

Show And Tell Works

Peter · May 11, 2018 · Leave a Comment

I Use Show And Tell To Massage Brains

OK, what the hell does Show and Tell mean?

One of the sections of the customized marketing & sales plan that I write for my clients includes a look at a range of agencies based on their positioning and sales proposition. I call these agencies Benchmark Agencies and by pointing them out, I deliver real-world teachable moments. These show and tell examples help agency leader brains to digest my main points. Plus, ad agencies love looking at other ad agencies.

Here is the lead-in to the show and tell section from one of my agency recommendation documents…

Benchmark Agencies

I view these agencies as being worthy of benchmarking based on Agency X’s (as in my agency client) business development objectives. In my estimation, these agencies have broken out from the competitive pack.

They deliver messaging that is: well targeted, succinct and competitive.

Because of this, they help clients to quickly recognize their expertise and value. A clear enunciation of value is critical at the early stages of a hoped-for relationship. This helps them stand out and then break out.

For the sake of clarity, I’ve put these benchmark agencies into three buckets: ‘what we do’, ‘how we do it’ and ‘who we do it for’ to illustrate the strength of their individual positioning strategy.

Show and tell works because I frame my recommendations in the real world. The benchmark agencies are proof that smart, crystal clear, focused agency positions, plus supporting marketing programs, work harder than trying to be everything to any client that raises their hand. I know you know this.

BUT

But, my biggest point is that a focused positioning, actually a distinctive + competitive sales proposition, will get both more client hands and the right client hands to rise up and contact you.

Give me a shout and I’ll share a couple of my favorite benchmark agencies with you.