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The New Business of Advertising

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Does Your Advertising Agency Advertise Itself?

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An Advertising Agency Launches An Advertising Campaign – For Itself. Weirdly Wonderful.

I council my advertising agency clients to advertise. I mean, actually use on and offline advertising to advertise the agency to increase awareness within the marketing universe, own their own story, and drive incoming leads.

Oh, and be UNIGNORABLE. A weirdly wonderful thing to do.

Today, LONDON Advertising, an uber-cool, massively award-winning and strategic major league agency, has done just that. These guys are ballsy and not your mother’s advertising agency.

The ad I am highlighting says, “How many advertising agencies can you name? Well, now you can name one more.”

A bit more about LONDON – note how focussed their positioning is:

LONDON Advertising is a global agency with just one office. It was set up in 2008 (two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers) to disrupt the traditional network agency model. Since then it has worked with clients based on every continent and run campaigns in more countries than WPP has offices. The agency’s iconic “I’m a fan” campaign for Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental has proven to achieve the highest ad recall ever recorded by Ipsos Mori.

LONDON Advertising has been voted Agency of the Year for six out of the last seven years.

The Advertising Deal.

Agencies have historically told their clients to advertise into the headwinds of a recession. Reasons include hold your share or voice; increase your share of voice; be one of the winners while your competitors hunker down; make sure your brands don’t die a slow death. You get this picture. Well here is an agency putting their money where their mouth is. A rarity even in the good days.

I am going to let the LONDON Advertising press release speak for itself.

Ad Agency launches major campaign day after lockdown for a highly unusual client – itself

Ad agencies often tell their clients, brands that advertise in a downturn increase market share.

However, few agencies take their own advice.

LONDON Advertising is taking its own advice and is today launching a major campaign with
10 TV ads, starring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, on 9,000 spots on Sky News.

The TV is supported by super-premium digital posters across Ocean Outdoor’s UK portfolio and Linked-in. The campaign is running from 6th July to 2nd August and will reach 30 million people.

Michael Moszynski, Founder and CEO, said:

“Our campaign, launching on the first working day after the easing of Lockdown, is a call to arms to all businesses to get Britain going again. We believe in ‘by example shalt thou lead’ and that we all have a duty to help rebuild our economy.”

‘Advertising Legend’ Rupert Howell (Founder HHCL, MD ITV) commented:

“This is the first time I have seen an ad agency do a major campaign like this for itself.
The ads are bloody brilliant!”.

 The agency’s Founder and Creative Director, Alan Jarvie, explains the rationale:

“It is a fact advertising builds brands and fame. We believe the current situation provides a rare opportunity. Audiences are currently higher than normal and media is cheaper, as many companies have cancelled their campaigns. So, we’re doing what we would advise our clients to do; advertise now.

Our campaign demonstrates the three criteria we believe work must satisfy to be effective: Is it simple? Does it stand out? Can you remember who it’s for? A lot of advertising fails to do one, two or all three of these things.

We also wanted to show it’s the size of your idea that matters, not the size of your production budget. We would like to thank Dame Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, OBE, for making themselves available to take part in the campaign.”

Here Is The Advertising.

Videos of all 10 TV ads featuring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson can be downloaded here 

Hi-res image of the poster ads can be downloaded here

If you are a serious client… contact: michael@LONDONadvertising.com +44 7968 063 155

If You Are An Advertising Agency That Wants To Grow Its Client List… Contact Me.

Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

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Yes, Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Might Be Doomed. A 2020 Update.

The interview below was done in 2014. It remains 100% right on.

Some updated thinking. I am asked on a high-frequency basis by agency management, that means CEO types, if their advertising agency should have a business development director. Because of this question, I thought I’d update this evergreen interview with Brooks Gilley who knows what’s up.

My current thinking based on talking with many agencies is that, at best, only 50% of advertising agency business development directors succeed. I am about to do some haranguing. Why?

  1. As is pointed out below, most advertising agencies have a low to a non-competitive brand position. The degree of positioning sameness –  “we are a digital agency” or “we are creative thinkers” – and messaging sameness – as in no soul or a distinctive opinion or having the goal of being unignorable – is crazy. How could even a competent business director sell the 50% of agencies that cannot define a strong sales proposition? Or not have a well-considered target market?
  2. A huge chunk of agencies (it has been reported that up to 75% of agencies) do not have a master business development plan, think of it as a sales plan. How is this possible? And, worse, who is supposed to write the plan? I do not think that a business development director alone can write this plan. It should be an agency self-preservation and growth project.
  3. Many advertising agency leaders have little experience in writing a sales manager compensation plan. Here is a compensation plan you can use.
  4. Too many agency leaders hand off the role of business development to the director. I owned my own agency and I devoted at least half of my time to business development. And, I provided daily support and thinking and budget.

Give me a shout if you want to discuss your agency and its specifics.

Back To The Interview About The Doomed Business Development Director.

To quote the Beach Boys… Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to have a business development director that brought in more business for your advertising agency than you can handle? But is your business development director doomed from the start?

She or he could be if you do not have agency objectives, a competitive agency brand positioning, something to sell beyond, “Hey we are a full-service/digital/social media agency”. Or, not having a list of clients and categories you want to nail; an active up-to-date CRM system or you are now in a state of panic because you just lost your largest client.

I know that this is a tough job to fill and do. I managed my agency’s business development director at my own ad agency; for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in New York and London and as CEO at two Internet start-ups. I have hired ten business development directors over the past twenty years. Some worked out and some, well, not so well. Again, this is one of, if not the toughest, agency jobs to position for success.

But, don’t take my word for it. Before you read on for an expert interview, you might also want to go to my blog post on how to pay an agency business development director.

An Expert Interview With Brooks Gilley On How To Hire A Business Development Director.

Brooks Gilley is the Founder and CEO of Portland’s 52 Limited. 52 LTD is a 15-year-old creative resource company that connects world-class talent with leading brands, marketing departments, design firms, advertising and digital agencies.

In addition to running one of the west coast’s leading creative talent agencies, Brooks ran the Portland Advertising Federation and worked at advertising agencies.

Peter: According to the RSW/US 2014 RSW/US Agency-Marketer Business Report, the tenure of agency business development directors was two years or less. ADWEEK reports that people in this position at large agencies last less than one year. Is this surprising to you?

Brooks: It’s not surprising at all, largely for the fact that agencies I have worked with on business development director searches come to us in a moment of panic, and that’s usually where the ask starts. It’s a role that is needed now but was probably needed at least twelve months before new business gains became an issue. Additionally, it’s not necessarily a strategic role that is esteemed at and supported within a ‘creative’ organization. [Read more…] about Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

An Advertising Agency Survival Guide

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My Advertising Agency Survival Guide. 2020 Version.

I am republishing this April Advertising agency survival guide blog post. Why? The Association of National Advertisers, the ANA, is going to pass it along to their membership. So, I figure why not try to make sure that you as an advertising agency has a chance to see it or better, re-read it.

Frankly, I thought that there has been too much “what to do about the Covid-19 pandemic and the future of the advertising agency future”… But, I think that this is a good summary that has stood the test of time.

Tough Question. Will Your Advertising Agency Survive?

Here is my educated take on which advertising agencies will survive and how they will make it happen. It is my advertising agency survival guide.

Having gone through the 2007 – 2008 recession as an agency owner, I saw approximately one-third of advertising agencies fail or shrivel. My current survival advice is based on watching that storm as well as recent deep conversations with small and medium-sized agencies. I did not choose to rush out my thoughts. I actually thought about my thoughts. LOL.

Plus, this is not short and sweet. You will actually have to read all of it. OK, it is sweet.

Quickie… I am giving away my 30 years of huge and small agency experience, guidance and coaching for free – for awhile – the right thing to do. If you want smart advice, go here. It will open a new window for this offer.

Two Quick & Very Important Points.

How long will the shit-storm last?

Like you, I have no clue when any semblance of normality will return. I have to assume it will. Plan accordingly.

Chamath Palihapitiya is one of my most respected “advisors”. He has said that companies should be able to adjust and make new plans to survive 36 months. 36! Yes.

He says, think like this is another depression. Whoa. Are you ready?

This is what I do know… If you want to be in the top 1/3, you can’t lose all or even some marketing energy or brand awareness. Why make your voyage back too uphill?

You will get my marketing recommendations below. But first, the big question.

Will Your Advertising Agency Fail?

Here is what an advertising agency principle should be doing right now. I admit that this is generalized given the diversity of the types of advertising agencies. But generalized does not mean its not an effective how-to for virtually any agency.

Two Definitions

  1. “Advertising Agency”: This is my universal term for most types of communications marketing firms.
  2. “Client”: A client is a company that has consistently used any form of advertising or digital marketing. In your case, it is a client that meets your target criteria (you have that, right) and you think would want to hire you. Sorry, Nike and Adidas do not want to hire you.

OK, Advertising Agency… What Are You Going To Do About it?

I am going to be tough here. At least 30% of advertising agencies will fail in the next twelve to eighteen months.

This post provides my take on how to survive, my advertising agency survival guide. For the winners, how to set yourself up for growth.

6 Advertising Agency Pain Points – I Know You Know This. But, It Is Worth Restating.

  1. Your current and future clients are freaked out.
  2. Some current clients have already reduced or canceled advertising and project spend.
  3. Agency profitability sucks.
  4. You will be too slow to manage your costs.
  5. Agencies, too many, are already poorly positioned, and, worse, are unbelievably ignorable.
  6. Prospective clients “probably” do not want to hear from you.

Advertising Agency Survival Strategies

I know what I am talking about. I’ve won and lost. My advertising agency survived the 2007-2008 recession. My $30 million VC funded digital business did not survive the 2001 dot-com bust. Don’t feel bad for me, Microsoft eventually bought our technology.

Current Client Opportunities

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