Search Results for: pitch

Ad Agency New Business Conferences

Peter · April 3, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I am going to be speaking about ad agency new business, how to attract the attention of the right clients and how to win the pitch at a couple of ad agency new business conferences.

I’ll be in Miami in late April for AHAA’s annual conference. AHAA is the association of Hispanic ad agencies.

I’ll head north in May to speak to the membership of Canada’s ICA, the Institute of Advertising Agencies.

This Conference Is For You

I’ll be a speaker at Michael Gass’s Fuel Lines New Business Conference 2015 in Nashville in October. Michael has assembled a fine cast of speakers that will, without question, spark business building ideas and, more importantly, action plans.

Registration is now open and there is an early bird deal. As the website says, “Super Early Tickets are available for $650 until May 1st, a $300 savings!.’ from this link:

The conference website… Scroll down on that site to see the venue (very cool) and speakers.

Agenda

Inspiring insights, top-notch sessions from the best and brightest new business thought leaders with a laser focus on the NEW drivers of business development. It’s now more important to be found than to chase new business.

Who Should Attend

This premiere two-day conference will include everything needed to create new business success for advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.

If you are charged with developing a new business program for your agency, this conference is for you.

For a more personal experience, the conference is limited to the first 200 registrants. This will allow for greater access to speakers, sponsors, partners, networking opportunities and a greater sense of community.

I hope to see you in the land of bourbon.

Fame and Advertising Agency Business Development

Peter · March 31, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Fame For Advertising Agency Business Development

I have an objective that I give to all of my advertising agency clients. I tell them that they need to include FAME as an agency marketing objective. My primary point is that in a universe of 4,000 agency brands in the USA and possibly dozens in their home town, standing out from the clutter is an essential goal. Sounds obvious, right? However, most agencies do not actually have FAME as an objective. Or, maybe more to the point, they don’t actually work hard to be famous.

I put David Ogilvy’s’s photo on the left because he just might be the most famous man in the history of advertising. He worked it. In addition to founding one of the world’s most well-known agencies, he wrote three seminal advertising books that propelled his FAME: “Confessions of an Advertising Man” (1963), “Blood, Brains and Beer” (1978), and “Ogilvy on Advertising” (1983). These books formed the platform for his agency’s thinking and awareness. This is an important point. I’ll come back to it.

What is Fame?

Google defines fame as, “the condition of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements.”

Known and talked about. Interesting, right? One of those easier said than done things. But, I can virtually guarantee you that if you do not make fame an agency objective, chances are you will not get there. [Read more…] about Fame and Advertising Agency Business Development

Is (Was) Advertising Cool? Yes, Said Mad Men

Peter · March 30, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Mad Men – RIP.

We are about to see the last episodes of Mad Men. What a ride – especially for advertising folks.

The very last days of the show and its era synced with the first days of my advertising career so I got to work with people like Don, Peggy, and Roger.

Stay with me on this one. Yes, it will sound a bit all-about-me. But, there is a point at the end.

I joined, Dancer Fitgerald Sample (DFS), the largest agency in New York, as an AAE on the General Mills account in 1980. So, just for the hell of it… what was that period like for for an ad guy newbie?:

I felt like a superstar. I got to work at New York’s largest ad agency. In those days, advertising had today’s Internet startup vibes.
It was a really cool way to earn a living. Imagine the alternatives.
I worked with really, really smart and talented people.
My bosses were named: Sheffield Halsey, Michael Jeary, Robert L. Ficks III, Marion D. (Skip) Sims and E. Freeman Bunn. They looked like the Mad Men guys. It was fun to be the ‘token Jew’ in the land of WASP’s.
DFS taught me about the value of strategy and consumer research.
The agency has serious clients like P&G, Toyota, Nabisco, Yoplait, Wrangler, HP and made great ads like Wendy’s ‘Where’s the beef?’
DFS was the ‘Agency Of The Year.’
I got go to work in the art deco Chrysler Building. A fucking brilliant way to start the day.
Our corporate culture was benevolent.
Our mantra was: ‘Ambitious Advertising’.
Our most senior clients valued powerful advertising.
We won 90% of our new business pitches. That’s how I learned to pitch.
I got to dress up in great suits and ties. Note: I grew up in Manhattan, so looking good was part of my ethos.
Everyone was good looking.
By my third year, I was flying around the world.
Yes, we drank and many snorted coke. It was, after all, the 1980’s.
In the late 1980’s we were bought by Saatchi & Saatchi.
The purchase allowed me to move to our London office – our creative epicenter – in 1990. There were English Dons, Peggys and Rogers over there too. They just drank much more red wine.

Fuck yeah.

That’s why I dig Mad Men.

It was both real (I witnessed their era) and the show did a decent job, well sort of, showing the ad-man lifestyle. We were very much about being very creative. Not…

…programmatic buying drones.

Which brings me to a final point. I’d love to see us bring back the sexy bits. I fear that pixels and apps are simply not as much fun as my favorite Northwest Airlines shoot which spanned Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Ah, 1980’s expense accounts (and the profits from the 15% commission.)

OK, last point.

I didn’t totally mean what I just said about the ‘good old days’. I believe that given the complexities of today’s analog and digital advertising world… today can be the most exciting time to be in marketing. Just don’t forget to stop, take a breath and have a drink and toast Matthew Weiner.

Advertising, digital, social still has the coolest people to down a beer with.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Ad Clutter & Urinals

Peter · March 9, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Urinals = Ad Clutter

I was in New York recently and noticed, actually re-noticed and re-noticed, that advertising messages are everywhere. This hit home when I went to a restaurant urinal after a fine lunch and had to face an ad, you know, one of those framed ads. Not very high tech but very much in my face — like about 6 inches away.

I thought two things: 1) why do I have to look at this ad and, I have other things that I should be paying attention to right now. 2) it doesn’t stop. A few minutes later I was speeding up to a thirtieth floor meeting in an elevator equipped with one of those relentless video screens and more ads.

No peace! No chance to reflect on my upcoming meeting. No moment to be alone in my thoughts in places that used to be ad free. I’ve been attacked by, yes, dreaded ad clutter.

The Cost of Paying Attention

The New York Times’s “Sunday Review” ran the excellent excellent op-ed piece, “The Cost Of Paying Attention” by Matthew B. Crawford, author the upcoming book “The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction”. Mr. Crawford points out that we are bombarded by ads. No news here. But, he makes the strong case that “attention is a resource.” A very scarce resource and the advertising world (that means you and me) are destroying our individual chance to be introspective, alone in our own thoughts and focussed on our own being rather that yet another freakin ad or wannabe social media relationship. Bathroom and elevator advertising isn’t a new phenomenon. However, in Mr. Crawford’s view, they are a form of pollution. I have to agree. Here is how the article begins. [Read more…] about Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Ad Clutter & Urinals

Is It OK For Ad Agencies To Shout?

Peter · February 25, 2015 · 4 Comments

Yes, it is OK for ad agencies to shout.

First, a story.

I received an email last week from a reader that told me that he thought that I was promoting my book on presenting and pitching too hard. I found this comment thought provoking for a few reasons.

I have, like most of you, been ‘selling’ something for years. I’ve sold creative, strategic thinking, internet startup ideas, ad agency services, an ad agency itself and two books. Selling comes naturally to me. Not hard selling. But, selling nonetheless.

Why shouldn’t I be promoting my book? It is after-all my book; a new business tool for me (I get new clients because they have read the book) and it is a great read, if I do say so myself. OK, I’ll let others talk about its value at the bottom of this post.

I wrote the book as a marketing tactic and ‘publishing event’. It delivers credibility and gives me an outbound marketing tool (I send it to the right people) and an inbound source of lots of content. It has 70,000 words that I can repurpose on this blog, as guest posts, on LinkedIn and on SlideShare.

The book forms the basis of one of my strongest recommendations to my ad agency clients: help your agency stand out by writing a book. [Read more…] about Is It OK For Ad Agencies To Shout?