ad agency

Me As A Sherpa Guide

Peter · February 16, 2023 · Leave a Comment

SHERPA The Book Is Almost There

I chose the title SHERPA for my upcoming book because it will soon be the ultimate guide to building and running a kick-ass advertising agency.

I just asked ChatGPT for a definition of Sherpa:

“A Sherpa is a member of an ethnic group of people who primarily live in the Himalayas of Nepal. They are known for their expertise in mountaineering and guiding climbers and trekkers through the mountainous terrain of the region. Sherpas are often employed as guides, porters, and helpers by mountaineering expeditions seeking to climb the many peaks in the region, including Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

The term “Sherpa” has also come to be used more broadly to refer to anyone who serves as a guide or assistant, particularly in a cultural or social context. For example, in business or politics, a “sherpa” may be someone who helps to guide or facilitate negotiations or decision-making processes.”

I’ve guided before via “The Levitan Pitch”.

Yes, I Know.

Calling the book SHERPA and by relationship, me as a sherpa guide might be a bit much. But, hey, it is my book. Stay tuned.

Solo Design Agency Makes More Money Than Ad Agencies

Peter · February 10, 2023 · Leave a Comment

This Solo Design Agency Kicks Ass

The design agency Designjoy, a solo practitioner, has a much higher profit margin than most agencies. A lesson for advertising agencies follows.

I am writing a new book about how to build and run a kick-ass advertising agency. An important chapter discusses how an advertising agency can productize its services. To, yes, make more money at a much higher profit margin. Lots of ideas. But, here is a big one.

A Bold Productization Idea… Subscriptions

The design agency Designjoy offers design as a subscription. A design product. Billing starts at $4,995/m.

This one-man shop has reported annual recurring revenues of over $1.5 million. From Brett Williams’s LinkedIn profile:

Designjoy is a one-person premium design service currently serving 40+ clients with a + $1.5M ARR. One guy.

On his website:

A design agency with a twist.

Apps, websites, logos & more.

From his FAQ:

“Why wouldn’t I just hire a full-time designer?

Good question! For starters, the annual cost of a full-time senior-level designer now exceeds $100,000, plus benefits (and good luck finding one available). Aside from that, you may not always have enough work to keep them busy at all times, so you’re stuck paying for time you aren’t able to utilize.

With the monthly plan, you can pause and resume your subscription as often as you need to ensure you’re only paying your designer when you have work available for them.”

Big + Big Design Agency Numbers

Brett’s solo Instagram has over 74K Followers. 35K Followers on Twitter. The mega-agency VMLY&R has 57K followers and, get this, 16K employees.

Now the very serious stuff. From a 2023 Tweet at @designjoy:

“Just started tracking my spending habits and budgeting. Designjoy now costs less than $400/m to run. That’s it. That’s my overhead. And half of that is a Shutterstock subscription. Agencies are doing it all wrong.”

Yikes.

Wait. Wait. There’s More $.

You can now dive into Brett’s Productize Yourself course for $99. Of course, you should sign up your design agency, or any agency for that matter, for his productized course.

A Sad Advertising Agency Business Development Story

Peter · December 4, 2022 · Leave a Comment

A Very Sad Advertising Agency Story From Keurig Dr Pepper.

Start here: By now, most people in advertising know that Kuerig Dr Pepper’s marketing team (and I must assume their procurement department) are assholes. Why AHOLES? Here is their advertising agency business development story. This from the UK’s IPA, its leader Paul Bainsfair…

“UK agencies react in horror to the bizarre Keurig Dr Pepper 360-day payment terms”

“Global consumer products giant Keurig Dr Pepper is currently running a PR agency search in the United States, where part of the ask is for agencies tendering to accept 360-day payment terms. Those that cannot are being offered the option of financing, at their own cost, through Atlanta-based, Prime Revenue.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Why Is This Important? Cause An Advertising Agency Pitch Can Hep Your Agency Go Out Of Business

OK, yes you know that this kind of lame client shit is important to pay attention to. But, playing along with this stuff can put your agency out of business…

The cost and effectiveness of agency business development can make or break an agency. Let me give you a – real-world – worst-case example.

A few years ago a Pacific Northwest agency was one of a set of agencies trying to land a major digital account. The client’s pitch team wanted to see each agency’s strategic approach to the client’s marketing goals and the northwest agency built a comprehensive plan that included performing some market research and even the leasing of related technology. The pitch dragged on forever and the agency was racking up staff and hard costs.

The good news… the agency won the account.

Bad news… the pitch became so expensive that the agency almost went out of business – in this case, after winning the account. The agency’s costs included the cost of the initial RFP response and a four-month pitch. Add in the agency’s actual client work plus the client’s 90-day payment schedule. Yikes. The RFP response, managing and crafting the pitch itself (mega labor hours), and the actual work, once won, all added to have the agency essentially working for free for more than six months.

Could the agency have managed this insane scenario? Not sure. Every pitch and client engagement is unique. That said, the agency could have had a better handle on what was coming when they initially interviewed the client. However, I’m not sure that the client was actually forthcoming. Or worse, really knew what they needed in the first place. Or skilled in running a pitch. or skilled in working with an agency.

The takeaway is that agencies should not pitch everything. Period. Spend the time to understand the client’s needs and motivations, its past agency history, know why you should be the winner, and what the search/pitch details are – including payment terms (yes, often hard to gauge) but if anything does not feel right or professional, then bail.

Always keep in mind the cost of pitching and that, at best, an agency will only win 30% of the time.

Now ask yourself, why would an advertising agency pitch that Keurig Dr Pepper account?

Is your agency pitching too much? Read this…

One more point: Buy this book and win more pitches… I mean it.

Advertising Agency Recruiting and Culture

Peter · November 13, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Corporate Culture Drives Effective Advertising Agency Recruiting

If you’re a CEO/COO/General Manager/Boss or Whatever Leader Title you got… you know that one of the most important things to a company’s success is attracting and retaining top talent. In the marketing and advertising agency world, this is CRITICAL. To do this in 2022, you need to have a corporate culture that prospective employees will want to be a part of.

First. What Is Corporate Culture?

Corporate culture is the set of values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that characterize a company and its employees. It’s what makes a company unique and is reflected in everything from the way employees interact with each other to the company’s core values and mission statement.

A strong corporate culture can be the difference between a company that is able to attract and retain top talent and one that is not. This is especially true in the case of Gen X and millennials, who place a high value on finding a job with a company that shares their values

Define Your Agency Culture to Drive Advertising Agency Recruiting.

Three reasons why having a human-oriented culture will deliver success.

It attracts top talent: As we noted before, corporate culture can be the deciding factor for candidates who are trying to choose between two similar job offers. If Company A has a corporate culture that appeals to the candidate more than Company B, then the candidate is more likely to accept a job offer from Company A.
It promotes employee retention: Once you’ve attracted top talent, you want to keep them around. A strong corporate culture can help with employee retention by fostering loyalty and commitment among employees. Employees who feel like they belong to a supportive community are less likely to look for new opportunities elsewhere.
It attracts passive candidates: Passive candidates are those who are not actively looking for new job opportunities but might be open to hearing about new ones. A strong corporate culture can help attract passive candidates by making your company more attractive than others in your industry. If your company has a reputation for having a ‘humanesque’ corporate culture, you’ll have an easier time convincing passive candidates to interview with you.

Yes, be human. Just like Patagonia.

Proof? Some Research.

A study by Glassdoor found that 60% of job seekers would not apply for a job with a company if they didn’t like the look of its website*, and another study found that 78% of employers believe that a prospective employee’s cultural fit is more important than their skillset.

What does this mean? It means that if your company doesn’t have a well-defined corporate culture, you’re going to have a hard time attracting the best and the brightest.

* Make sure that you discuss your culture on your wonderful website.

No Not That Ping Pong-Table.

To appeal to the ‘younger’ demographic (yes, even older demos), companies need to make sure that their corporate culture is one that would be attractive – caring. Sure, this sounds obvious. But getting there takes a bit of strategic thinking and action.

Your corporate culture should be more than just a bunch of ping-pong tables and free lunches (although those things don’t hurt). It should be reflective of your company’s values and mission. This is what prospective employees are looking for when they’re considering whether or not to apply for a job with your company. They want to know that they’ll be working somewhere that aligns with their own personal values.

Personal Value Food For Thought.

Here are some ideas, and thought starters to get your advertising agency culture in gear. Riff on these. Discuss the value of each idea. Get internal feedback, read about what works, and study your competitors. Defining your culture is not the best area to be dictatorial. Yes, being dictatorial ain’t a good corporate culture thang.

Have a new employee onboarding system that recognizes your agency ‘space’. Are you all in one office? Running a three-day in-office system? Are y’all distributed around the world? Create meet-and-greet opportunities. Have department leaders talk about their objectives.
Consider having a platform (in person or digital) that allows employees to share ideas, personal info, and dreams with each other… Build that culture.
Have offsite group meetings. In many cases, this will cost less than keeping all of that expensive office space.
Provide your staff with learning opportunities. Size matters so you will need to tailor your training to your agency’s size and resources.
Develop a paid employee volunteer program to address community issues. Walk the talk.
Invest in a training and development program. Show employees that you want them to grow. A triple win – this works for the employee and you. And, yup, your advertising agency clients.

ADWEEK Fastest Growing Advertising Agencies

Peter · November 7, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Here Is A List Of The ADWEEK Fastest Growing Advertising Agencies

As ADWEEK promises: “Ranking 75 global companies that thrived in uncertain times.”

Fastest growing is a good thing. I wondered what these agencies say about themselves – how they try to stand out – quickly. As in on their home page. Here you go.

Movers+Shakers: Connect To culture. Spread Joy.

ALTO: A creative company for courageous brands s

The Stable: Forging The Future Of Commerce.

The MRN: Eliminating Random Acts Of Marketing.

Headlight: We power breakthrough growth marketing for disruptive consumer brands.

Socium Media: We specialize in digital marketing, backed by data, and executed from strategies developed over years of digital marketing experience.

The Snow Agency: The Snow Agency is a full-service digital marketing agency for businesses looking to grow.

Refinery89: Digital Advertising Specialists.

Media Matters Worldwide: Your Experienced, Independent Media Strategy., Planning, Buying and Analytics partner. Women-Owned.

Bray & Co.: We are The StoryBuilders.

hunterblu: hunterblu is a full-service media partner that makes media simple. You know what your message is. We know where and how to place it to reach your audience.

Elumynt: Objectively Better Advertising.

Eyeful Media: Proven digital marketers delivering value and earning the trust of our partners every day.

Supply: The Persuasion Planning Media Agency.

NP Digital: The alternative to the agency status quo.

My favorite agency brand promise? Did these messages help them to be leaders in the ADWEEK fastest?

I’ll go with these two since they push a competitive message that makes me want to learn more:

The MRN: Eliminating Random Acts Of Marketing.

Elumynt: Objectively Better Advertising.

The full list.

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