Insights

The Richards Group And Your Advertising Agency

Peter · October 21, 2020 · 1 Comment

The Richards Group – A Teachable Moment

No, 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.

Peter · October 19, 2020 · Leave a Comment

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

Months 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

Peter · October 15, 2020 · Leave a Comment

An Advertising Agency Business Plan Thought Starter.

Ten 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.

LONDON Advertising Kicks Ass

Peter · September 26, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The LONDON Advertising Case Study

I’ve written a couple of blog posts about the LONDON Advertising self-run and crafted advertising campaign. I’ll put those links below.

My bottom line is that in the cutthroat world of advertising and digital agency business development, a critical goal should be to want to stand out. To be what I call Unignorable. These guys are Unignorable. And famous.

But, before looking at my prior posts, here is the video case study. Yes, that is me inside.

Strange, But True. An Advertising Agency Actually Likes Advertising

The LONDON program is an “interesting” story because, well, most advertising agencies do not advertise themselves. Why? Well, first many advertising and digital agencies do not have a well-crafted business development program (beyond WOM and referrals). Second, I’ll guess here, they might not actually think that “traditional” advertising works. Hey, I’m just guessing here.

Here is what I do know… advertising does work; even after 30 years of the growth of digital marketing, The good old fashioned TV commercial and out-of-home ad/poster/now digital still grab attention and sell. I can say this because I have done it all. And, I admit it. I started to invent digital advertising in 1995.

Earlier LONDON Advertising Blog Posts

Is Your Advertising Agency Famous And Unignorable

Does Your Advertising Agency Advertise Itself?

Want A List of The best Advertising Podcasts? Sure You Do.

How To Sell A Business

Peter · September 4, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Want To Know How To Sell A Business? Many Want To Do That Right Now.

I Wrote The Book: ‘How To Sell Your Advertising Agency. And, How To Buy One.” It Is Built For Anyone That Wants To Sell A Business.

I wrote the free, yes free, 57-page “How To Sell Your Advertising Agency” book so you will learn how to add significant value to your advertising, digital, and I mean it, whatever kind of company you have. Do you want the book? Just ask me or subscribe below or to the side. Yes, even free has its cost. But, hey, just do it.

How To Sell A Business & How To Buy One.

I bought and sold three advertising agencies. I also had two VC backed Internet startups. I get it. Here is a start for you – The Why and how of my buying an agency in 2002. The deal is to really know why you want to buy or sell and what you will do after the deal.

I will post about the other deals very soon.

Deal Number One – 2002. From New York To Oregon.

This deal had multiple objectives. I wanted to leverage my deep advertising and digital skills + buy a successful advertising agency + move out of the New York area to much greener, mellower pastures. The deal I was looking for would meet both business and personal needs.

I bought the Bend, Oregon advertising agency Ralston Group in 2002. At that time, I was living in New York and had left the position of CEO and founder of ActiveBuddy, a highflying Internet startup. We had raised over $30 million from VCs and individual investors and had patented natural language technology (earlier than SIRI) that we used to create the incredibly successful Instant Messenger Bot, SmarterChild. It ran on AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo. That was our “sample” Bot that had millions of followers because people liked to talk to a smart computer. The business goal was to create natural language Bots for brands and media. These Bots allowed people to talk directly with brands and information resources. Interestingly, our first paying technology customer was Warner Records’ hot band Radiohead. I could not have invented a cooler market entry.

Our company goal, like many other dotcom boom companies, was to sell the company to one of the majors. We in fact had deep negotiations with all when the dotcom dam burst. To make a long story very short, I did not get my “fuck you” money from a sale. Oh, don’t worry about me. I actually came out OK. Microsoft bought our technology.

After the dotcom bust debacle, I started to look for a company to buy. As an ex-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising executive, owning an advertising agency was one of my options. I found Oregon’s Ralston Group though a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal – how 2002. Advertising in the WSJ was a smart move by Ralston Group’s owner. Here are the four main reasons I bought the agency.

The Ralston Group was a very smart and creative agency. Kevin, who would be my partner after I bought out the majority owner, was one of the best Creative Directors I had ever seen. The agency staff was also top notch. Without question equal to the talent I had worked with at Saatchi London.

The agency had a strong client list in Oregon and Idaho. Big community banks; major healthcare companies (hospital groups and Blue Cross); Sunriver Resort and Idaho Power and more. These clients came with recurring revenues. I knew that the addition of my Saatchi and digital startup background would help us grow.

The owner, who was looking to get on with her life after building the agency, was realistic in respect to agency valuation and – important to say – was easy to work with.

The agency was in the soon to be very famous Bend, Oregon. The idea of my wife and me raising our children near a ski mountain, rivers, fly fishing, mountain bike trails and, yes, even great restaurants and brewpubs, solidified the deal. We gladly gave up the usual two-month wait for a table at New York’s hottest new restaurant for 6,000 feet of fresh air.

Years later, I still view this as a very good business and personal deal.

Stay Tuned For More Stories On How To Buy Or Sell A Business. Plus More Expert M&A Podcast Interviews.

The next story will be about how I bought a design company that got me Nike as a major client. And after that one, how I sold my agency – and got lost in Mexico.

Oh, more… Here is a link to my podcast interview with a major M&A expert. You’ll hear how to sell – the details about how to do it that is.