Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Insights

Adobe Helps With Ad Agency New Business

· · Leave a Comment

Adobe recently released the important insight-rich study, “Digital Distress: What Keeps Marketers Up At Night”,  on how marketers view digital marketing. I urge you to read the PDF of the full report: adobe-digital-distress-survey.

The good news for advertising agencies is that clients are not getting their 7 to 8 hours of REM a night. Tired means that you have significant pain points to aim at with your new business strategy.

Here is Adobe’s sleepless in marketing chart. It is rich with business development messaging points for agencies. The chart shows the gap between what marketers view as important vs. their level of satisfaction.

The first agency-related finding that jumps out to me is the gap between desire and fulfillment in marketing Creativity and Innovation. Hello, agencies, this is your sweet spot. But, you know that. In fact, there is so much fuel here that any agency could jump on just any one of these points (that means develop some relevant focused insights) to make a compelling case to get a meeting. Use some of my free insight tools to make that case.

what keeps marketers up at night

 

If you have a couple of minutes, check out Adobe’s animated infographic. It could be something to share with current or prospective clients.

The History Of Content Marketing

· · Leave a Comment

Yesterday I opined (yes, a Bill O’Riellyism) that we shouldn’t get all caught up in worrying about the definition of advertising. In my head, lets keep our lives simple and just believe that when marketers pay for our attention they are “advertising.”

I sited content marketing as not being a brand new “advertising” idea (think advertorials) and today found this infographic on the history of content marketing on the Content Marketing Institute website. So, how old is content marketing… Try 1885.

slide-1-638

 

 

Advertising Is, Well, Advertising

· · Leave a Comment

It’s Called Advertising ‹ Advertising Week Social ClubHere is my latest post for Advertising Week Social Club, Advertising Week’s blog.

The post discusses my take on what advertising means today. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion since the introduction of digital media platforms, social and mobile. But, I think that advertising continues to be about brands spending money to get consumer’s attention regardless of the platform. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of advertising. I don’t see why Twitter, iPhone apps or content marketing doesn’t fit in.

“Advertising is a form of communication for marketing and is used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience   (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action.”

For a bit more on this, head over to my post on how to position advertising agencies. I use some Google stats to help understand the value of the word “advertising.”

Advertising Agencies: “Do Not Pitch”

· · 1 Comment

Cruise around the world of advertising agency new business consultants and you will often hear that ad agencies shouldn’t ever have to pitch for new business. The “pitch” for not pitching is that if you do a well-targeted, brilliant in-bound marketing program you will get direct “I love you, I want you” incoming from all the qualified new clients you desire. Cool. You’ll get all the new business you want without the cost and hardship of pitching.

This “win without pitching” dream does come true for some agencies. And, I do discuss how to build and run targeted in-bound programs with my clients. These programs include the hyper-targeting of specific clients and selected categories and the employment of SEO best practices (understanding your target market; smart keyword strategies; use of longer posts; syncing your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Slideshare, channels; leveraging YouTube.)

However, for the vast majority of agencies, in-bound marketing simply isn’t enough.

Telling Advertising Agencies “Do Not Pitch” For New Business Is Simply BS

I’ve been involved in advertising agency new business since my first pitch (we won) for Western Union’s EasyLink email service in 1984 (yes, this was the first commercial email service — just a touch early.) I’ve run business development at Saatchi and my own agency. Guess what, unless you are the darling of ADWEEK; just won the Gold Lion and some Clios; do Apple or Samsung or Coke advertising; have some form of secret sauce (you are the first ad agency to actually get mobile advertising with ROI proof); have an outrageous database of marketing friends for continuous referrals or are well-know as a category expert…

Fuhgeddaboudit. Chances are rather high that you will have to pitch the accounts that you want. Sitting back and waiting for those love-child clients to call you ain’t going to keep your agency afloat. Wishing that you will never have to pitch is lunacy.

So, please, win without ever pitching? Maybe for the 1%. But, not the other 3,999 agencies.

My bottom line? Learn how to win more of the pitches you should be invited to. I’m going to start to write about how to pitch. It will be a good “pitch” for my business.

And…. Here is how to position your agency so you might win those pitches you are invited to.

Yo!… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter.

 

Nike+ Accelerator, TechStars, Wieden+Kennedy, Opal Labs and Moi

· · Leave a Comment

Nike Fuel Band Preorder Restock Nike InsiderShould advertising agencies get involved with the digital startup scene? Is going down this digital road a smart idea? What’s the payoff? I wanted to know so I assembled some of Portland’s leading accelerator (Nike+ Accelerator and UpStart Labs), advertising agency (Wieden+Kennedy) and very sharp startup (Opal Labs) leaders for a Portland Ad Federation session.

It grooved. Check it out. Oh, moi? I’m the moderator.

Here is how the Ad Fed announced the program:

GET STARTED:  PORTLAND’S CREATIVE COMMUNITY AND THE STARTUP SCENE

Portland has hit the radar: Business Week has noted the stunning growth of our tech scene. Local start-ups are actually being funded fueling awareness and rivaling Portland’s larger competitors (like San Francisco).

The fuel for the fire? Accelerators (PIE: Portland Incubator Experiment) in partnership with leading brands, technology innovators, and trend setting local agencies (Wieden+Kennedy); Upstart Labs is helping grow local companies Chirpify and Celly; and the Nike+ Accelerator is powering TechStars and Nike.

PAF’s GET STARTED gives you a front-row seat by bringing together the leaders of PIE, Upstart and Nike+ Accelerator. Unearthing the magic behind growing startups, they’ll outline how advertising and digital agencies can and are providing guidance and support to bring companies to life. You’ll learn how your agency/company can participate in this trend and how you’ll benefit and grow from your own tech chops alongside your startup partners.

Our panel of PORTLAND INSIDERS will add perspective to nurturing an internal startup:

DYLAN BOYD, Managing Director, Nike+ Accelerator
KEVIN TATE, General Partner, Upstart Labs
RENNY GLEESON, Co-Founder, PIE / Digital Guru at Wieden+Kennedy
STEVE GIANNINI, President & CFO, Opal Labs
GEORGE HUFF, CEO, Opal Labs
PETER LEVITAN, Peter Levitan & Co.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By the way, I was the founder and CEO of two Internet startups. Microsoft bought one. You can read about them and other fascinating facts right here.