Search Results for: video

Add Humor to Your Advertising Agency Marketing

Peter · June 7, 2023 · 2 Comments

Why Are Advertising Agencies So Boring? But, Not ADWEAK.

I wrote about the humorous ADWEAK in my book (yes, me promoting again, and why not?) My key point is that the #advertisingagency universe is so boring. Seldom do we see an agency use humor to grow awareness and get past sameness. My main point: Add Humor to Your Advertising Agency Marketing.

How Many Advertising Agencies Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb?

Once upon a time, I thought that it would be “different and unignorable” to have my agency’s website open with a video of a stand-up comedian riffing on the advertising industry and our wonderful agency.

Why would I consider using a comedian to introduce the agency? I am a believer in the power of humor to arrest attention and open up the mind. Plus, this angle gives the agency a personality in a generally personality-free zone. And I guarantee a comedian will keep a visitor on the home page for longer than 10 seconds.

Oh, to answer the question of how many “How many advertising agencies does it take to screw in a light bulb?” — “Oh well that all depends… what’s your budget?” OK, not a killer riff. But, you get the idea.

Yeah, I have an opinion. However, I’m not alone. From the Harvard Business Review:

The workplace needs laughter. According to research from institutions as serious as Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, every chuckle or guffaw brings with it a host of business benefits. Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.

Go ahead and take this humor-first idea… please.

A unique example of leading with humor is the creative / production studio ADWEAK. The agency drives interest—for example, it has 100,000 Twitter followers—via its unique look at agency and client life. They nail the idea of delivering truth via humor.

BREAKING: Agency Just Listing Anything They Can Think of on Capabilities Slide for New Business Pitch

BREAKING: Agency Staffers Still Have No Idea What Recently Hired “Thought Leader” Actually Does

BREAKING: VLMY&R Considers Adding Another Couple Letters to Name

The ADWEAKwebsite has few words but delivers this compelling key message:

We’re good, we’re smart, we’re fast and we’re not A-holes.

Now To PROVE That I Put My Money Where My Mouth Is. I Leverage ADWEAK’s Humor.

I am now “advertising / promoting” my book on ADWEAK’s LinkedIn and Twitter posts. Here is their reach… Twitter (99k followers) and LinkedIn (28K followers). See the image at the top to see how they are promoting me.

Does your agency use advertising for itself? Are you funny? If you have gotten this far, read and act on the next sentence. Thanks.

Here is a link to How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency. BUY it now – (lots of caps today).

WOW: A Chef Makes Big Bucks On TikTok

Peter · April 27, 2023 · 1 Comment

The Show “Chef Reactions” Is A Mega Hit On TikTok

How does this shit happen? All of a sudden I’m watching the TikTok show “Chef Reactions” every day. Somehow it arrived in my feed and because it is so cool I subscribed. In the show, an unnamed very glib chef reviews the cooking videos of other cooks. Some are good recipes and some just suck. The show is funny and kinda instructive. All C/O of a cool unnamed dude.

I just listened to an interview with the chef on Peter Kafka’s Recode Media podcast. Listen to it.

This guy has gone from zero to 3 million Followers. Is now also on Instagram and Twitter.

BUT! BUT! $$$ $$$

Hyundai is now a sponsor. He sells merch. And, was just signed by Endeavor. #TikTok == Congress, do not kill this.

SmarterChild Beat ChatGPT by 22 Years

Peter · January 25, 2023 · 1 Comment

As BuzzFeed Said About SmarterChild… (way before ChatGPT)

From BuzzFeed 2013: “50 Things That Look Just Like Your Childhood” – “A chat with an online robot”

Did you play with SmarterChild? I was one of the founders and CEO. Was nice to be part of the Internet’s childhood.Who knew then that ChatGPT was coming?

Here is a start-up video … 2000… (Microsoft eventually bought us – ActiveBuddy. And, now they own a chunk of ChatGPT) Yes, that’s me.

Advertising Agency Thought Leadership Distributition

Peter · January 3, 2023 · 13 Comments

How To Distribute Powerful Advertising Agency Thought Leadership

I am writing a new book about how to build and run a highly profitable advertising agency. Chapters of the book cover the art and science of developing impossible-to-resist, as in unignorable, thought leadership as an account-based marketing and inbound tool. Here is a quick list of advertising agency thought leadership distribution platforms. You can see more advertising agency resources right here.

Note that anything you produce can be efficiently sliced and diced and put on other platforms. Think content amplification.

13 Advertising Agency Thought Leadership Distribution Platforms

Your website. In a blog post or via a downloadable white paper, webinar offer, or podcast page. The advantage of a PDF offer is that you can ask the interested party for their contact information. Gently, please.
Your company newsletter. Build the list via website offers and gentle outreach. I’ve employed contractors in the Philippines to help build mailing lists.
LinkedIn. Three basic opportunities: 1) Post on LinkedIn (note that LinkedIn loves video). 2) Put your thinking in LinkedIn groups (for example I am a member of Digital Marketing – 2 million members). 3) Use LinkedIn Navigator to make direct connections.
Publish a LinkedIn newsletter. Your connections and followers will be invited to subscribe, and LinkedIn will alert your network whenever you publish new editions.
TikTok. TikTok has become a new gen search engine. It is currently an underutilized ad agency universe.
Video platforms. Australia’s Tiny Hunter agency has over 210 videos. They tell me that the videos help them close deals with the right new clients (right is the operative word), client types that spend time watching Tiny Hunter’s advice. The agency’s founders are more about closing the deal than racking up huge indiscriminate view numbers.
Audio platforms. Build and distribute your own podcast then transcribe it into bite-sized content and roll it out.
Leverage OPA = Other People’s Audience. Guest blog. Guest podcast. Why work to build an audience when you can borrow it?
Paper: Zines and, yes, old-fashioned letters. Hmm, or a targeted very cool (has to be cool) postcard series. So, 1986. However, so 2023 clutter busting. Paper breaks through
Write a book. Both paper and digital. The ultimate proof of expertise. Go self-published. There is no need for a time-consuming traditional publisher to write that B2B book.
Advertising. You use advertising to generate awareness for your clients, right? See What LONDON Advertising did.
Conferences. Go where your next client hangs out. Give that insight talk and make friends. Hand out that book.
Doughnuts? My agency once delivered insights directly to prospects in Portland and San Francisco using a customized and personalized Krispy Kreme box. Free doughnuts to grab attention. The box delivered awareness, actionable insights, and the offer to get some recently launched Krispy Kreme stock. It made us friends.
Write and produce your advertising agency thought leadership and get it out in the world to the right clients. They will love the good stuff.

More to come… in the new book.

How Does A Personal Brand Work? Ask Gary Vaynerchuk & David Droga

Peter · July 29, 2022 · 5 Comments

The Powerful Advertising Agency Building Personal Brand c/o Gary Vaynerchuk, David Droga, and David Ogilvy

I’ve been thinking about the power of the personal brand of Gary Vaynerchuk, David Droga, and David Ogilvy. The power of their brands to drive advertising agency awareness, expertise, and new business.

What is a personal brand? There are many definitions. I went to the website PersonalBrand.com for this definition (why not go to a company smart enough to have bought the URL PersonalBrand?)

“A personal brand is a widely-recognized and largely-uniform perception or impression of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large.”

Kinda wordy but you get the idea. My definition: “How people perceive you.”

I am keen on the idea of building and managing a personal brand for agency leaders and senior managers.

One’s personal brand is how you present and control your image to your market – your current and potential clients, your competition, and your staff (and, I can’t stress this enough, your future staff.) Your personal brand puts you in charge of your professional perception and lets you highlight your skills, thought leadership, strengths, and history.

The Advertising Agency and the Power of the Personal Brand

A master… David Ogilvy.

As I’ve discussed in my agency naming chapter, many agencies are named after their founder. In most of these cases, the founder is the face of the agency. The founder embodies the agency mission and soul of the agency.

Ogilvy the global agency continues to use the brand essence of its founder David Ogilvy who passed away in 1999. The agency’s Careers page quotes David and leverages his personal brand to help sell the agency’s creative street cred and soul to future employees:

“As out founder David Ogilvy put it, we seek people who are bigger and smarter than ourselves. That’s how we create a company of giants. We’re always looking for modern marketing and brand experts with big hearts and enormous talent.”

How is this for branding? In 1962, Time Magazine called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry“. Believe me, this recognition did not happen by accident. Ogilvy was a PR brand master. [Read more…] about How Does A Personal Brand Work? Ask Gary Vaynerchuk & David Droga