Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

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How To Name Your Advertising Agency: Part Two

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8 pitfalls to watch for when naming your baby BabyCenterThis is Part Two of the two part series on how advertising agencies name themselves. Other than the gyrations that agencies constantly go through with how to design and redesign their website; what and how they name themselves is one of their most important branding decisions. Part One is right here.

Just a reminder… I worked for three ad agencies. Two were “founder” agencies: Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (remember “Where’s the beef?”) and Saatchi & Saatchi (which bought Dancer) and the other was my very own Portland agency with its “current usage” name: Citrus. Or, as one of our creative directors thought was critical to our success, citrus, with a lower case “c.’

The Naming Process

Yes, there is a process to naming. I believe that selecting a name should be one of the most important elements of your new advertising agency’s marketing plan (a new name also works for agency’s that need a facelift and repositioning.) And, importantly, this process deserves your team’s best thinking and the time to ensure that you have selected the most powerful name possible. Most of us thought hard about what name to give our kids or the letters on our vanity license plates. Your company deserves this as well.

Objectives & Positioning.

You cannot begin to name your brand without establishing a clear brand positioning and business objectives which in the case of ad agencies sometimes just means sounding cool. In San Francisco alone, agency names span Muh-Tay-Zik Hof-fer’s self-love (OK, maybe its just name-play) to Argonaut’s promise of brand voyage (I assume) to Engine Company 1 (yes, you guessed it) to Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ authenticity (for old times sake) to BarrettSF and its hope for BarrettNY — I suspect. [Read more…] about How To Name Your Advertising Agency: Part Two

Advertising Agency Business Development Seminar @ Portland Ad Fed

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Agencies love their friends, their Rolodex’s (yes, we still use this word) and claim that they win more business from referrals than any other new business method. 3 reasons why:

  1. Friends are friends and friends have friends.
  2. Friends should recommend you.
  3. Current and past clients should recommend you. See “The One Number You Should Grow” from the Harvard Business Review.

But, there is a point when you run out of friends with friends and then its time to actually do some real business development. That’s why Rebecca Armstrong, Principal and Managing Director at NORTH; Ryan Buchannan, CEO eRoi and Peter Levitan, CEO Peter Levitan & Co. — oh, that’s me are speaking on how to grow your friends, contacts and prospect lists.

It is: An Advertising Agency Business Development Seminar – “New Business Is More Than A Big Rolodex”

Date: November 21.

Place: Portland, Oregon

Info from The Portland Advertising Federation (yes, new website coming soon….)

Need some language:

The more prospective clients you get to know, the more new business you will win. It’s that simple. Or, is it? New business is a presentation and hands-on workshop designed to help advertising agency management and employees create enlightened new business programs that will get more meetings and build relationships with the right prospects.

We will work together to examine and discuss a range of business development techniques used by successful agencies. We’ll explore list building and how to create and deliver compelling client insights that will grab the attention of the client-side decision makers you want to meet with – well before they put out that RFP. This seminar is for all agency employees because new business should be an agency-wide goal.

Advertising Clients & Deadlines

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Client deadlines.

Ok, some are real. Like when my clients including Northwest Airlines (remember them before Delta ate them?) had to get a low fare retail ad in tomorrow’s newspaper (remember them?) Or when Nike needed to get an ad that included last minute winning college teams into the on the press Bowl Champion Series (BCS) game day magazine. But, often, the deadlines were, at best, a bit more shall we say, loose.

Now, I like deadlines. It forces all of us in advertising to get the job done. But, sometimes deadlines also force us to deliver work that isn’t what we’d call our best. You know, your best idea will come in tomorrow’s shower. Or the image could use even more photoshoping. Or, maybe that logo could be even smaller. In these cases, deadlines can be debilitating.

Here’s a post on deadlines from my friends at James and Matthew + Company, an agency in Massachusetts. Matt writes about doing the RIGHT thing, an often tough thing, by telling a client with a deadline that the agency just needs a bit more time.  Here is the outcome from James’s blog post.

Regarding my fears above, here was the result:

We all got so inspired by my unwillingness to compromise that what we came up with was lightyears ahead of what we had originally developed.

My client was able to come around to understanding and I think I might have gained a little more respect in them knowing that I will not compromise on the work I produce for them. The project is on the right track and everyone is behind it with a new sense of vigor.

My take away… being true to excellence and taking a little bit more time to get things right is a good thing and the good clients will get this and love you even more. But, don’t tell retailers that you’ll get them that perfect ad the day after Black Friday.

New Improved Advertising Agency Search Process: ANA / 4A’s

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Advertising Agency Pitching. Oh, The Uncertainty. 

Unfortunately, most client agency reviews come with a great deal of uncertainty. They shouldn’t, but that’s the way it is — or should it be?

The 4A’s and the ANA understand this issue and recently published a new set of guidelines for the advertising agency search process in their report “Agency Selection Briefing Guidance.”  From the ANA/4A’s:

The 4A’s and ANA believe there is an opportunity to further improve the agency search process by developing best practice guidance tools around the subject of briefings throughout the agency selection process.

And…

The ANA/4A’s task force believes that every phase of a review, or agency search, requires a thoughtful briefing that
provides specific direction to the agency. The review process should provide escalating information to the agencies as
the review progresses from the initial phases (e.g., RFI, RFP, credentials) to the later phases (including any strategic
and/or speculative work and finals presentations).

The report divides the search process into three phases.

  1. Initial list / RFI Phase
  2. Semi-Finalist RFP Phase
  3. Finalist Phase

This is an important tool that both agencies and clients should read and use for guidance. I think that when you are asked to pitch a new client that you share this document. While it might seem forward and somewhat pedantic of you, I’ll suggest that making the prospect aware of this ANA perspective will be proof of your professionalism and might even help the client tailor their process for success. And, hopefully, yours.