Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

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Advertising Agencies: “Do Not Pitch”

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Cruise around the world of advertising agency new business consultants and you will often hear that ad agencies shouldn’t ever have to pitch for new business. The “pitch” for not pitching is that if you do a well-targeted, brilliant in-bound marketing program you will get direct “I love you, I want you” incoming from all the qualified new clients you desire. Cool. You’ll get all the new business you want without the cost and hardship of pitching.

This “win without pitching” dream does come true for some agencies. And, I do discuss how to build and run targeted in-bound programs with my clients. These programs include the hyper-targeting of specific clients and selected categories and the employment of SEO best practices (understanding your target market; smart keyword strategies; use of longer posts; syncing your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Slideshare, channels; leveraging YouTube.)

However, for the vast majority of agencies, in-bound marketing simply isn’t enough.

Telling Advertising Agencies “Do Not Pitch” For New Business Is Simply BS

I’ve been involved in advertising agency new business since my first pitch (we won) for Western Union’s EasyLink email service in 1984 (yes, this was the first commercial email service — just a touch early.) I’ve run business development at Saatchi and my own agency. Guess what, unless you are the darling of ADWEEK; just won the Gold Lion and some Clios; do Apple or Samsung or Coke advertising; have some form of secret sauce (you are the first ad agency to actually get mobile advertising with ROI proof); have an outrageous database of marketing friends for continuous referrals or are well-know as a category expert…

Fuhgeddaboudit. Chances are rather high that you will have to pitch the accounts that you want. Sitting back and waiting for those love-child clients to call you ain’t going to keep your agency afloat. Wishing that you will never have to pitch is lunacy.

So, please, win without ever pitching? Maybe for the 1%. But, not the other 3,999 agencies.

My bottom line? Learn how to win more of the pitches you should be invited to. I’m going to start to write about how to pitch. It will be a good “pitch” for my business.

And…. Here is how to position your agency so you might win those pitches you are invited to.

Yo!… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

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Nike+ Accelerator, TechStars, Wieden+Kennedy, Opal Labs and Moi

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Nike Fuel Band Preorder Restock Nike InsiderShould advertising agencies get involved with the digital startup scene? Is going down this digital road a smart idea? What’s the payoff? I wanted to know so I assembled some of Portland’s leading accelerator (Nike+ Accelerator and UpStart Labs), advertising agency (Wieden+Kennedy) and very sharp startup (Opal Labs) leaders for a Portland Ad Federation session.

It grooved. Check it out. Oh, moi? I’m the moderator.

Here is how the Ad Fed announced the program:

GET STARTED:  PORTLAND’S CREATIVE COMMUNITY AND THE STARTUP SCENE

Portland has hit the radar: Business Week has noted the stunning growth of our tech scene. Local start-ups are actually being funded fueling awareness and rivaling Portland’s larger competitors (like San Francisco).

The fuel for the fire? Accelerators (PIE: Portland Incubator Experiment) in partnership with leading brands, technology innovators, and trend setting local agencies (Wieden+Kennedy); Upstart Labs is helping grow local companies Chirpify and Celly; and the Nike+ Accelerator is powering TechStars and Nike.

PAF’s GET STARTED gives you a front-row seat by bringing together the leaders of PIE, Upstart and Nike+ Accelerator. Unearthing the magic behind growing startups, they’ll outline how advertising and digital agencies can and are providing guidance and support to bring companies to life. You’ll learn how your agency/company can participate in this trend and how you’ll benefit and grow from your own tech chops alongside your startup partners.

Our panel of PORTLAND INSIDERS will add perspective to nurturing an internal startup:

DYLAN BOYD, Managing Director, Nike+ Accelerator
KEVIN TATE, General Partner, Upstart Labs
RENNY GLEESON, Co-Founder, PIE / Digital Guru at Wieden+Kennedy
STEVE GIANNINI, President & CFO, Opal Labs
GEORGE HUFF, CEO, Opal Labs
PETER LEVITAN, Peter Levitan & Co.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By the way, I was the founder and CEO of two Internet startups. Microsoft bought one. You can read about them and other fascinating facts right here.

The Pitch – My New Favorite Ad Agency Name

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Meineke PitchLadies and gentlemen: The Pitch. OK… How could you not like the name of this agency?

Pitching, to consumers that is, is in fact what advertising agencies do for their clients. So, why not name your agency The Pitch?

Oh, agencies also do a lot of pitching for themselves, but you knew that. Oh, and everyone in LA is pitching something all the time. So, The Pitch is a name-tri-fecta.

Find The Pitch on Pinterest’s largest database of advertising agencies. (I love pitching that.)

How To Position An Advertising Agency – Part III

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24 Advertising Agency Positionings Just For You

I promised my friends at Advertising Week that I’d list 24 advertising agency positioning ideas. Here’s the list. First a couple of caveats.

If you have the time, I suggest that you start at Part I. If not, note that…

I know that from a Brand Police perspective, that these may not be pure “Brand Positions.”

They are, however, meant to be thought-starters that lead the way out from our more standardized — as in me-too — agency positioning statements to the promised land of differentiation and, most importantly, to provide a reason to have your agency stand out from the 4,000 or so other “agencies” down the street and around the globe.

The 24…

We Are Creative

  1. We are storytellers
  2. We design and grow brands.
  3. Our work breaks through clutter.
  4. We really are creative – we mean it! Ask to see our Clios, Lions, D&AD’s, Webby’s…

We Are Strategic

  1. We are a marketing R&D lab.
  2. We deliver and manage customer relationships.
  3. Our media research drives effective and efficient buys.

We’ve Got Attitude

  1. We disrupt.
  2. We are way cool.
  3. We are ambitious.
  4. We are client collaborators 🙂

We Are Experts

  1. We take challenger brands to #1.
  2. We’ve decoded mobile advertising
  3. We concentrate on B-to-B advertising.
  4. We get visual marketing (i.e. Vine, Instagram and Pinterest.)
  5. We are retail / shopper-marketing experts.
  6. We are demographic group experts (i.e. The Affluent, Gen Y, Moms, Hispanic.)
  7. We know your industry (i.e. destination marketing, healthcare, luxury, outdoors.)

We Deliver Results

  1. We crunch Big Data for breakfast.
  2. We are all about conversion optimization and ROI.

We Deliver Reassurance

  1. Our founder wrote, “Whassup?”
  2. Our CEO ran marketing at Apple.

We Get Around

  1. Think Global.
  2. We own your town, state or region.

If you’ve made it this far (I am assuming you’ve read Parts I and II) congrats. I hope I’ve started to stimulate some thinking to get your agency past the same old same old.

Don’t forget to read Part I.

Now For My Positioning – Uber Experienced Business Development Dude (er, Bloke)

I advise advertising agencies on how to build and manage extraordinarily innovative business development programs.

I can do this because I ran business development at Saatchi, for my two Internet start-ups and for my own Portland ad / digital agency. I understand the brand positioning, messaging and marketing issues confronting global, mid-sized and small agencies. I am also a decent bloke.

Let’s go. Click this link.