branding

It Might Be Time To Start Your Own Ad Agency

Peter · September 22, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Yes Folks, You Can Start Your Ad Agency – And Succeed

Great article in the U.K.’s The Drum from London Advertising’s CEO Michael Moszyinski on what might just happen if you bailed from your ad agency and decided to go out on your own. Sure, it’s scary. Sure, you might not succeed. Sure you are putting your career on the line. Sure you’ll miss the other hundred’s of people you drink with at Ogilvy or Droga5 or 72andsunny.

But, you know you want to do it. You know that you can do a better job than the management of your current agency. You know that you have super special smart ideas that you’d like to share with high-profit clients. You know that your time may be running out. You know that you might even be able to steal one of your clients.

“Confessions of an indie agency start up: Seven years in”

Take a good read of Michael’s agency launch story on The Drum. It will be enlightening, repeat enlightening, and should get your entrepreneurial juices flowing. Here is a brief energizer from London’s history for you to get you packing up… [Read more…] about It Might Be Time To Start Your Own Ad Agency

Advertising Agency Names For Your Agency

Peter · September 9, 2015 · 1 Comment

Advertising Agency Names and SEO Terms

This is an update to a 2015 post about advertising agency names. Yes, 2015. It was a hit at that time and subsequent blog posts about how to name an advertising agency have done well… as well. Here is an example post (a two-parter) on how to name an advertising agency.

I thought that I’d update this because I took a look at the agency names from some recent award shows – OK, Cannes Lions. I think that names matter:

The Monkeys
adam&eveDDB
GUT
SMUGGLER
Uncommon Creative Studio
Special

Back To Advertising Agency Names From 2015

Before I begin, I just want to apologize for the clickbait headline. Obviously, this headline is silly:

Unbelievable Advertising Agency Names For Your Agency.

But if you hang out on the web these days, you will see clickbait headlines all over – as in ad nauseam (I love the definition: Ad nauseam is a Latin term for a discussion that has continued so long that it has continued “to [the point of] nausea”.) The subject of the proliferation of clickbait, even by major advertisers and publishers – vs. delivering consumer value vs. trickery – is a worthy subject for another post. But, let’s get back to advertising agency names.

SEO

On the left is a list of some of the top search terms that people have used to wind up on my website. I only include these (and they are a bit wonky, and at best directional, ’cause they are from WordPress stats.) However, it is interesting (well, to me) that it appears that there are a lot of searches for ‘how to name an advertising agency.’ Advertising agency people really dig this subject and they spend hours thinking hard about selecting the perfect name.

They also spend hours thinking that they need to redesign their website. And, many should.

Note: If you read to the bottom, you will see that agency names just might not matter. But, first…

I renamed my ex-agency twice.

I admit it, I’ve been a re-namer too. When I bought my agency in 2002 it was Ralston Group (named after the founder); then we moved to Ralston360 in 2004 (we were becoming more digital and direct responsive.) A few years later we switched to Citrus after we bought the design firm Citrus and expanded our presence in the Portland market. We simply liked their name more than ours (and, as you might expect we also got tired of the 360 thing, 360 got way overused) so we took Citrus on.

What’s Your Agency Name?

Watch Rémy Martin Win The 2015 Brand Passion Award!

Peter · August 26, 2015 · Leave a Comment

This Is Brand Passion! Woman Downs Entire Bottle Of Rémy Martin XO Because She Couldn’t Take It On Flight

Now, ladies and gentlemen… this is BRAND Passion. In the 2015 mega-quest to help our brands become ‘Friends’ (and lovers) with their customers… this intimate brand relationship between a woman and her beautiful cognac should win a CLIO for Rémy Martin XO.

I am trying to visualize the award entry from the agency. How would they craft this story that Remy customers will never, ever, part with their XO! Hey, “I’ll miss that international flight… I just need to be alone with my Remy.”

The full story is on Yahoo!

How are you bonding with your customers?

I suggest that you head over to Branding Strategy Insider and its Seven Markers of Passion Brands to see how other masters are doing this.

Fucked Crisis Management ala Subway

Peter · August 21, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Subway’s ‘Fucked’ Crises Management!

Can it be surprising that celebrity endorsements can, and often, go South? Do we really know what our newest highly-paid celebrity endorser (FILL IN THE BLANK) does in his or her spare time? How do you vet this stuff?