ad agency

Your New Advertising Agency Business Plan

Peter · March 14, 2014 · Leave a Comment

I admit it. I am a bit buzzed. The Formula 1 season just started its first race in sunny Melbourne (it will be crazy and unpredictable this year, by the way.) I had a glass or two of Malbec and then I saw these numbers that show the shift from desktop to mobile advertising from the nice folks at eMarketer. These numbers are dramatic:

Overall desktop ad spending is set to decline in 2014 while mobile grows 83.0%. Not surprising. You knew what is going on, right?

So, why should I be jumping on the desktop to mobile bandwagon? Why? Because advertising agencies, primarily the medium to small, have not yet figured out how to leverage this shift. Well, folks, it is time. Your advertising business plan better take into account what is happening.

Here are my three primary take aways that I think advertising agencies (and digital shops as well. OK, video production companies too) need to incorporate into their business plan…

Video is way hot and WE know how to do this.
Video is hot.
Mobile is the future.

Now, you’d think that a lot of agencies are putting “We know mobile” on their home pages. They are not. Which means they don’t get it yet and that is good for you. Need a crash course in mobile marketing? If you live in Portland go to Mobile Portland events. If not, find your local mobile developer community and make friends.

Do Not Put Your Advertising Portfolio On Your Website. Really?

Peter · March 11, 2014 · Leave a Comment

I am working with a Canadian advertising and design agency and am doing a competitive analysis. I came across the website of Halifax’s Burke & Burke agency and found this amazing page where Burke & Burke tells its website visitors that it…

Won’t Show You its Advertising Portfolio!

I thought that I’ve seen it all. Apparently not. Mind blowing approach to using the website to NOT sell the agency. And, why wouldn’t they “want to walk into their competitor’s office with our portfolio”? Is the issue potential idea theft.

Coca-Cola And The Future of Advertising Agencies

Peter · March 10, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Today’s Wall Street Journal article, A New Marketing World Requires New Skills, gives us a sweet opportunity to get into the head of Joe Tripoldi, Coca-Cola’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer. Joe shares what he expects from his marketing organization as the world of marketing makes some dramatic and fast-paced shifts from old-fashioned brand-building to digital marketing.

This deep look also provides client-side direction for advertising and digital agencies to better understand where the world of marketing is headed. Not that any of this informations should be news. However, it is reinforcement for the way all agencies should be thinking in March, 2014. Thinking means designing agency services and hiring the right talent for the future. If Coke wants analytics, digital, social, mobile and gamification expertise — all clients will eventually want this and agencies need to plan accordingly.

“The biggest issue for CMOs today is the critical need to ‘re-skill’ their marketing organizations and build new capabilities in areas like big data/analytics, digital, social, mobile, gamification and design.

“This is not just about hiring a few subject-matter experts, but building a depth of knowledge leaders and practitioners in these critical new competencies. If they don’t, marketing organizations will be stuck with traditional 1980s and ’90s brand-building skills in a 21st-century world of an ‘always on’ consumer. The times, they are a-changing.

“You cannot slide over people in your current organization because they have loosely dabbled in these areas. You need to go to the millennial marketplace for ‘natives’ who have lived and breathed these disciplines for much of their lives. Individuals who have passion for connecting brands with people in new ways.

“The talent is out in the marketplace, you just have to be creative to source it in nontraditional ways through communities or networks. Then you have to understand that you may only retain these people for a short time, but the positive, disruptive impact and the knowledge they can impart on your organization is game changing.”

How To Sell Your Advertising Agency

Peter · March 8, 2014 · Leave a Comment

I talk with advertising and digital agencies every week that want to “sell in five or fewer years.” We discuss how they can begin to position themselves for a future sale. Well, one way isn’t to be “full-service” or another “social media guru.” These generalist brand positions are not going to get the attention of a WPP or even the larger shop down the street.

One of the paths to SOLD! is to find a niche to own. A niche that a larger company might want. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, a technology niche is what the bigger boys are looking for. Portland’s not yet three year-old tech niche-owning Vizify (“Vizify turns your social media data into interactive infographics, videos, and more”) just got bought by Yahoo!

Vizify found a data visualization niche and worked it.

I know. They aren’t an advertising agency. But… so what. There is still a lesson here for you ad guys.

What is Yahoo! gonna do with Vizify? Who the hell knows. (OK, it might have been a talent acquisition since Vizify is shutting down.)

As Selena Larson on readwrite writes… “Yahoo is shutting down innovative apps and services right and left as it snaps up startups—to no clear purpose.” So, go figure. But, the guys that sold the company are smiling.

An Advertising Agency Website That Actually Brands

Peter · March 6, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Most, like most, advertising agency websites do not do a very good job of branding. Ooops, an understatement. They kinda look alike. or, at least fit into a standard set of design styles (peruse this visual agency directory.)

Lets face it, leading with client work, which makes a great deal of sense, doesn’t really brand an agency. Like its nice to know who did the Samsung work but branding? No. That’s why 72andSunny’s website could work for Goodby Silverstein & Partners and vice versa.

JWALK has an agency website that brands the agency within 2 seconds of your visit. Jay Walk… get it?

I think that JWALK could do a better job of explaining what they do (see their About copy below.) But, there is no question that I am in JWALK land when I am on their website.

JWALK makes brands culturally relevant through storytelling with intent.

As an agency of creatives, designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, influencers and inventors, we understand what it takes to build businesses. Our job is to make your brand part of culture, loved by your consumers and envied by the competition.

The customer journey has evolved from the traditional awareness-to-purchase funnel to today’s fragmented shopping experience. Storytelling is the only common thread that binds the brand together, and drives consumer engagement.

(They do a better job within the limitations of their Twitter profile):

“@jawalk JWALK is an award winning agency that believes the only way to build a brand is through immersive storytelling.”