ad agency

How To Write An Ad Agency Business Plan

Peter · April 21, 2013 ·

78% of advertising agencies do not have an up to date business plan.

Ok, I made that number up. But, based on my travels through ad land, I am sure that I am close… and, maybe even a bit low.

Without a business plan it is virtually impossible to build the right agency for the future and a new business program that wins new clients and fuels revenues.

Here is a four part template for getting started on planning, steering and managing an agency that will get noticed, grow and prosper in today’s fast-paced advertising and digital marketplace. I call my “instant” 4-Part Business Plan blueprint. It’s essentially a fast-track Q&A to help start the planning process that results in an actionable business plan. [Read more…] about How To Write An Ad Agency Business Plan

Update: Goodby Silverstein & Partners And Coming Soon

Peter · April 19, 2013 · 2 Comments

See the RED copy below for the update from Goodby. Funny!

—

I am finishing “Good, Bad & Ugly”, a presentation on advertising agency websites for the 4A’s. I’ve got a couple of bads and will write about them soon. But, I need to share this BAD with you right now.

It’s hard for me to believe that a few advertising and digital agencies have Coming Soon home pages. Coming Soon…?! How can they fuckin do this? It is really insane and lame. What poor brand imaging. Does it mean that they couldn’t come up with a real creative solution or even some patience as they build their new website?

So, are there any famous agencies doing this? How about Goodby Silverstein & Partners?

Get this… their current site is Coming Soon and so was their 2003 version. I call them the king of Coming Sooners. Here are the home pages. First the 2003 version and then today’s (as of 4.19.13)

September 2013 Update… The new Goodby Silverstein website lives. I know this because they sent me an email with this message: “we came.”

Now all you have to do is check out this blog post… 13 Free Big Data Tools For Advertising Agency New Business.

The Six Second Advertising Agency C/O Vine

Peter · April 19, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Advertising agencies ask…. “How can we look / sound / act different that the other 4,000 agencies?” Well, why not become the “Six Second Agency”?

Business Insider reports that “Nissan Says A 6-Second Vine Might Have Been Better Than Its 30-Second Commercial”

Would certain commercials be better if they were condensed into 6-second Vine videos?

In October 2012, Nissan released a TV spot in which a mid-level accounts guy gets mistaken for a high ranking executive after he gives his boss a ride in his Sentra.

Then a consumer edited the 30-second ad down to six.

Nissan then posted on Vine, “Hey @ellencmayfield you’re on to something. Maybe we only needed 6 secs of airtime for the Carpool ad. :)”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the six-second Vine got more attention that the TV commercial. Why?

Vine is still new so any Vine TV spot will get extra attention until advertisers overwhelm us with this type of advertising.
We are collectively way ADD. Six seconds is good.
Advertising effectiveness wasn’t hurt when TV spots went from :60 to :30 to :15’s.

Back To The Six Second Agency Idea

Here is what I’d do if I still had my agency:

Create a micro-department and call it The Six Second Agency.
Create 5 Vine spots.
Build a simple website.
SEO the hell out of it.
Make some noise… go get some PR.

If it works, great. If not, hey you just had some inexpensive fun, your employees will think you are cool and your clients (at least the savvy ones) will smile and be glad that they are working with such a smart agency.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

There is a 78% chance that you loved what you just read. So, go here, read my Corleone offer and call me if you are an agency CEO or want to be someday.