Insights

Minimalist Advertising Agency Websites

Peter · February 1, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Minimalist (Advertising Agency) Websites

Say this out loud:

“Your advertising, digital or design agency has only about 8 seconds to get the attention, interest and then drive an action from a website visitor.”

That is what 8 seconds in the land of website lead gen looks like.

I have been studying the design and sales savvy of advertising agency websites since the mid-1990’s. Over time the advertising world has seen the gamut of design directions. Super static to (over-used) FLASH to today’s (over-used) WordPress themes with their ubiquitous vertical scrolling. After looking at hundreds of websites, I’ve concluded that minimalist websites that deliver easy to digest interest win.

Sameness.

While every agency wants to have a truly kick-ass website, many, if not most, look alike – or, at least, share a small range of key elements. There are many reasons for this. Agencies love the latest shiny design object (back to scrolling and carousels); agencies essentially say the same thing (note the similarity of brand positions and sales propositions) and many website designers are looking at competitor sites for inspiration. They also scour the website awards sites including:

Awwwards.

CSS Design Awards.

CSS Winner.

FWA.

The Webby Awards.

Communication Arts.

Wow, that should keep you busy.

It’s Sales Stupid.

Design sameness aside. Regardless of what design direction an advertising agency is using – the agency website must first and foremost act as an effective sales tool. You’d think this would go without saying. But…

As I have pointed out, your agency website might get no more than a 8 second ‘hard’ look by a prospect. Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that the most effective approach is for an advertising agency to design with one thought in mind: K.I.S.S., Keep It Simple Stupid. I will highlight a few lean and mean websites below. But first, here is my one-note advertising agency website design wish list.

Simple (and fast) is good. I am a fan of simple, fast read design. If all you have is a few seconds, you better use that brief time to your advantage. While there is no ‘perfect’ home page, I suggest that this is when you better tell your story. Just to point to one website that gets this need for simplicity, I point you to M&C Saatchi’s website. This agency simply wants you to know that they are important.

Deliver Your Sales Message. Virtually every agency I work with points to Droga5 as being a favorite. OK, we know that they are good at what they do. But, as of today, one thing they do do is to tell a website visitor that they win awards. I don’t care how sophisticated a client is. They love agencies that win third-party awards. Proof of success. Full stop.

Chemistry wins. I made a big point in my book on presenting and pitching that interpersonal chemistry is often the deciding factor in agency selection. Why is this? Well, again, most agencies are kinda alike and when pitching they share very similar attributes based on the client’s initial selection criteria. And, let’s face it, pixels aside,… people buy people. Being liked is nice. So, why not use your website to introduce your interpersonal chemicals. London Advertising does this.

A Minimal Minimalist Website List.

I am not going to re-belabor the minimalist point. Here are just a few that work for me. This isn’t an extensive list. I am just providing a look at UBER minimal to show that less can be more. Sorry, I had to say that.

(By the way, sorry for the spacing below. WordPress is failing me — funny in a post about website design.)

Humanaut – A ‘cool” agency.

Anonimo – ~~Possibly~~ Mexico’s leading creative agency. They, um, do not need to overpopulate their website.

Cropmark – Yes, a European design agency.

HDF.LA – A fashionable L.A. based lifestyle agency.

Bolden – Impossible to ignore.

Digital In 2017

Peter · January 31, 2017 · Leave a Comment

107 Slides On What Is Coming In Digital in 2017

Good stuff and some sweet facts. Read on. Share the best tidbits with your clients.

This report is from Simon Kemp. If you want the whole enchilada, go right here. His words…

If you’re looking for more in-depth numbers, the following 19 presentations are probably what you’re looking for.

To make the 3,000+ slides that make up this year’s study more manageable, we’ve clustered individual countries into the various sub-regions used by the United Nations; each presentation has an ‘index’ on the third slide detailing which countries that report contains, with links to all the other reports on the next slide (#4).

Digital in 2017 Global Overview from We Are Social Singapore

Will Marijuana Get Advertising Agencies High?

Peter · January 17, 2017 · 1 Comment

Will Marijuana Get Advertising Agencies High?

This is an update to a post I wrote in July, 2015. I must admit that I was right then that marijuana will get advertising agencies high. High as in offering a brand new multi-billion dollar product category that needs agency services. All of them – product design, PR, PPC, SEM, website design, social media, print advertising and on and on. The reason for this update is the Newsweek article, “Here are the businesses taking marijuana products into the mainstream”. Here is a bit from the article. I suggest that your savvy agency will figure out how to get on board this fast moving train.

“With roughly 22 million Americans consuming marijuana on a monthly basis in 2015 and nearly 37 million people admitting to using pot at least once a year, marijuana brands and companies are increasingly looking to reach new consumers with upscale products that go beyond weed’s reputation as an easy high for people who like to wear tie-dye shirts and listen to mellow music. The push is aimed at offering a greater variety of ways for people to consume cannabis, whether they are first-time users or people who may have smoked grass back in the day and are looking to ease back into the drug now that it is legal.

“If you look at what traditionally people think of when they think of a pot shop, they’re thinking of a place with Bob Marley posters in it. There’s nothing mainstream about that. That’s not how you sell anything, but for some reason, that’s how people think you sell pot. That’s got to evolve,” Adam Bierman, CEO and co-creator of MedMen, a California-based marijuana management firm, said during a phone interview.

The marijuana industry is now a $6.7 billion business, according to Forbes. Figures this high aren’t easily achieved, especially not with down-market products sold in cramped stores covered in marijuana symbols, Bierman said.”

FYI, the photo of the Bob Marley product above is from Portland’s Bridge City Collective, a two-shop business that I invested in two years ago. I saw the marijuana train coming down the track and got on board very early. I am including the photo because it is an excellent example of where marijuana industry branding is heading.

—

So, Will Marijuana Get Advertising Agencies High?

Yes.

But, do not take my word for it. 502DATA is a website that reports on Washington State’s marijuana industry. Take a look at the sales numbers and… you tell me? Will marijuana get advertising agencies high? Um, drive advertising agency revenues higher? Seems logical.

Here are sales numbers for Washington’s producers, processors and retailers in today’s early-stage market. Then imagine that this is a national business that will inevitably experience consolidation.

But, for now just be amazed at the growth of a brand-new product and service category. A big one. Total 2015 Washington marijuana sales could go beyond $400,000,000 in 2015. [Read more…] about Will Marijuana Get Advertising Agencies High?

Death Of The Brand?

Peter · January 5, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Death Of The Brand… What Does This Mean For Your Advertising Agency?

Watch this L2 video on 2017 predictions. What does it mean for your advertising / digital / design / PR / experiential agency?

I know…. these predictions are both an opportunity and a big problem. I’d grab the opportunity (I love pain points) and I think it is huge. You?

https://www.l2inc.com/video/scott-galloway-and-maureen-mullen-predictions-for-2017

Is Advertising Art?

Peter · January 4, 2017 · 3 Comments

Is Advertising Art? Yes and No. Thoughts on 2017.

Here are some thoughts about the business of advertising that I will explore in 2017. A key one for me is thinking about the value-oriented question: “is advertising art” or is “advertising science” and how the recent move to data-love effects what you are selling to your agency’s current and future clients.

What I Think We I Will Be Talking About This Year

Is advertising art or science? We’ll it used to be very much art. Today, it has become, in my estimation, too scientific. I find that it is getting harder to find the big advertising ideas (name five from 2016). You know, the ideas that resonate, hit the emotions, get talked about. These big, brand-building, sales-generating “ideas” seem to be lost in a world of ever evolving tech / digital platforms and data mining.

Sure, this could simply be ‘good-old-days ad veteran speak’. But, no… While I grew up on mega-buck TV shoots, I also moved into the digital world in 1996 (founding NJ.com then ActiveBuddy) and ran a ‘digital’ agency in Oregon – so, I’m not too-stuck-on-good-old-days afterall. I just miss the time when people stood around the company water fountain and talked about advertising.

Today… we are simply not spending enough time thinking about the BIG ideas that drive humans to pay attention and to act (to give a shit) and then to want to do the action you, as a marketer, want them to do. We spend too much time talking about the technology and targeting that puts boring ad ideas in front of people. Boring.

Does the technology work? Facebook advertising fibbing / bullshit – again and again (the BIG 2016 story). And then there is ad fraud. Billions? Wasted? Clients have woken up. This should be interesting.

The business of advertising sucks (Part I). I talk with dozens of agencies. Most, even shops up to 200 people (I won’t even get into the networks) are barely making it. Why? Well, most do not really know what business they are in. They like making ‘ads’ and using the latest ad tech. But, they do not know how to make money. Most, the vast majority of agencies, do not even have a business plan that spells out the path to success. Please, start with a plan. And, given the pace of change, review the plan every year.

Ultimate bottomline: Most agencies do not have a marketing plan.

ADHD. In addition to not having a business plan, many agencies do not run a consitant marketing program. Many (most agencies) do not run their sales plan with any consistancy. They: Start – Stop – Start – Stop. They clearly have some form of attention deficit problem. Agency leaders have to treat business development like they treat an agency client. Do not take your eyes off the new business ball.

The business of advertising sucks (Part II.) I was blessed during the first half of my advertising career. We got paid well by the 15% commission system. This ended for me about 1989 when a new CMO at my Northwest Airlines client wanted to reduce that to 8%. Get this, this cut took us from $9 million in revenue and $3 million in profits to about $4.5 million in revenue. All of a sudden we were opporating at a loss – if we did not cut back on our service. We didn’t and it didn’t matter because, of course, the new CMO wanted to hand the account to another (read: his) new agency. OK, its 2016 and you guys are now chargeing by the hour. I witnessed this problem at my Oregon agency. The problem? Not so much that we got paid less. But… the problem of getting paid by labor hours for creative sevices. The value my agency provided clients far exceeded the hourly rates we could provide in an industry that had become based on low costs. There was always another agency that would work for a lower hourly rate.

Ready? Sell your agency? Sorry, most owners will never be able to sell their agency. Ever.

Why? Most agency owners are not building a business for sale. That means that they do not have a product or service that someone else will want and want to pay big bucks for. You can build a valuable agency. But, you have to make the goal of building value part of your plan. A part of your business plan. To get there, figure out what kind of agencies are getting bought (most sales are local) and have the type of agency that another wants to buy.

Process equals success. Having a clear, well-managed agency process is critical. Agencies have to find as many repeatable systems as possible. Otherwise, you are doomed to the world of over-work and low-margins. Read this: Advertising Agency Process and Profitability. It is long. It is based on how my agency built a system for profitability. An agency I was able to sell.

There is much more. But, I have to go now. Adios and —– Feilz Ano Nuevo!!!

OK, Back To The Art Of Advertising

One more thought. You are in the advertising industry. This means that you have to connect with hearts and minds in order to cause the action you seek. This means that a form of art is involved.

Sure you have to use advertising technology to get the word out (that’s all that overwhelming stuff in the Lumascape at the left). But, you will not get the results you want until you spend some time making advertising art that connects, inspires and informs.

Soooooo, as a New Year’s gift, I give you a very brief definition of art. Think of this Richard Serra video the next time you crawl into the ad tech wormhole. Who is Richard Serra? From Gagosian, his dealer…

“Richard Serra is one of the most significant artists of his generation. He has produced large-scale, site-specific sculptures for architectural, urban, and landscape settings spanning the globe, from Iceland to New Zealand.”