branding

Harley Davidson And Ad Agencies

Peter · June 26, 2018 · 1 Comment

Let’s Start With Ad Agencies

It is nice to see that ad agencies are willing to pivot.

I read today that Cal McAllister of Seatle’s now closed Wexley School For Girls is starting a new agency. Having visited Wexley in the now distant goodish old days, I am not surprised that Cal has shifted from running a super creative ad agency to a specialized ‘new and improved’ version. The new Paper Crane Factory is dedicated to growing early stage business and is teaming up with VC’s in Seattle and Silicon Valley. As Cal says in ADWEEK (strangely at Cannes — well, I guess it’s a good old-fashioned place to launch a new age agency)…

“The opportunity to do game-changing work with brands is happening at a much earlier stage,” said McAllister during last week’s Cannes Lions.

McAllister is initially opening offices in Seattle and Silicon Valley, taking a leaner and digitally focused approach with his client base and building more around equity with partners, as opposed to the traditional agency model.

“The billable hour—I think is broken,” noted McAllister. “The fact is, the way agencies make the most money is by putting more people on jobs and having it take longer. This is precisely what clients don’t want now. We are focused on taking clients who are willing to pay part of the fee in equity, so our wins are their wins, and their wins are our wins.”

A New Model Ad Agency

Let me start by saying this type of agency isn’t a brand new idea. However, aiming to work with start-ups for equity plus fees is a decent 2018 idea for a new agency.

A key point for my readers is that the agency is highly specialized. Wexley worked with a range of clients. Paper Crane Factory is dedicated to a much narrower category. It is a hell of a lot easier to be distinctive when you are specialized that a generalist.

Harley Davidson And President Trump And Advertising $

I never get into politics here. However, it is becoming clear to me (and, I hope you) that Donald Trump does not actually understand big business.

The news that America’s great brand Harley Davidson is moving manufacturing and jobs to Europe and, a few months ago Thailand, is a direct result of two #MAGA policies that clearly do not get how large-scale manufacturing works. Or, how a public company should work for its shareholders. As in, grow sales and profitability. (See below.)

Europe’s tit-for-tat motorcycle tariffs are obviously a result of the #MAGA trade tariffs (and an interesting aim at Wisconsin) and the move to Thailand is a direct result of America’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP.)

Why does this matter? More of this type of movement of USA dollars to foreign countries is, I think going to accelerate. This move will result negatively on large brand USA advertising.

According to S&P, 43% of Fortune 500 sales happen overseas. If, as in Harley Davidson, your USA sales were in decline while sales in Europe and Asia were growing, where would you put your ad dollars?

(Below…)

Harley Davidson would have to raise the price of each motorcycle it ships to the EU by $2,200 if production doesn’t leave the U.S.

That’s a dealbreaker, considering Europe is Harley’s second-biggest market (driving 15% of its revenue).

Amsterdam Is Fun

Peter · May 27, 2018 · Leave a Comment

KesselsKramer Makes Amsterdam Fun

Yeah, you know Amsterdam is fun. I’ve just had that confirmed: spring weather; the gorgeous canals; tall blondes; really fine design; marijuana is legal (but, I am from Portland so who cares.) And the two best photography museums I’ve been to. Foam and Huis Marseilles. I’ll put links to them at the bottom.

Getting to the real point… there is an Amsterdam agency that has never been boring. Never been unignorable. From their website history to their publications, they act different.

Different in a world of zillions of agencies. This is a good thing.

KesselsKramer

On my first day in Amsterdam, I took a random walk and found an excellent photography bookstore that had books by Erik Kessels, one of KesselsKramer’s founders. I already own a couple from his series In Almost Every Picture. My books include a flat-headed rabbit and a woman that never gets out of her car. Erik’s books are mostly sold out but you can find some on the KesselsKramer website and on Amazon.

Back To Fun

I’ve written about KesselsKramer’s approach to acting and looking and sounding different (rare in the agency world). This was way apparent when they had an ever-changing website plus an absurdist angle. You can see my take on their approach here.

The agency’s current website is tamer. However, take a hard look and you’ll see that these guys understand the power of the different thing. This makes it way easier for a future client or employee to want to make contact. Yo, good vibes and contact are what an agency website is all about.

Why is fun excluded from the way most agencies represent themselves? This has always baffled me. Sure agencies need to be serious as they help marketers market and have to be prudent with client budgets. But, unlike accountants, agencies can offer a bit of humor, fun and even sound a bit over the top creative. Afterall, creativity and fun are what the client organization does not have.

Things I like:

Clean, simple graphic approach.

To the point agency description: “Established in 1996, KesselsKramer is an independent communications agency in Amsterdam, London and now in Los Angeles with about 50 people of 10 different nationalities. We bring brands and communities together by creating meaningful experiences in every media imagined.”

Need more? Here is what the L.A. office says (Hmm, I’d like to meet and eat with these guys.): “KK Los Angeles is a communications agency, original content studio and art gallery all under one roof. We set up shop in the heart of gallery row in Chinatown and promise to blur the lines between culture, commerce, content and collaboration.”

KK leads with the work. (Though, I am not a huge fan of carousels.)

Their work + cases make me want to work with them. Here is one sweet client case + work. It’s for ONZV, a healthcare insurer. Not the usual.

The Exhibitions and Publishing sections deliver proof that this is not your ordinary agency. Please dig in. When many agencies think that brewing their own beer is the cool thing to do, KK has been a serious member of the Amsterdam art scene for years.

Read their 100 FAQ’s.

The Photography Bookshop & Museums

Foam and Huis Marseilles.

PhotoQbookshop.

Yup, Amsterdam is fun. Especially the art.

3D Ad Agency New Business Marketing

Peter · May 7, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Ad Agency Marketing Is Holistic, Interconnected and 3D.

Brilliant ad agency marketing leads to searches that lead to your agency. Today these searches are much more 3D and, often, chaotic than you think.

Let’s imagine that you are the Marketing Director of Estee Lauder and you’ve just decided you need an ad agency to revitalize your women’s magazine program. Yes, magazines like Vogue still live. Before you go out and find an agency search consultant, you pull out your laptop and do a bit of research. You will use one or more of a combination of search tactics like getting referrals from like-minded marketing experts, you’ll review agencies that are current award winners, you’ll read ADWEEK and AdAge lists and on. You might even Google, “best women’s advertising agencies.” Believe me, having once been the CEO of two ad agency client companies, finding the right marketing partner isn’t easy.

Whatever the Marketing Director has done to get to a short list, her next stop is the agency’s website. I’ve written lots about how to build sales-oriented agency websites. However, I want to get a step beyond the website. It is a step I use whenever an ad agency client prospect contacts me. I take a look at their “about” / people page and then go to LinkedIn to get a bit more up close and personal about the agency’s key players. If I am interested, I’ll also check out the leader or employee’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. Here’s a duh… personal branding is critical these days. And, since an ad agency is made of its moving parts, in this case, its people, why wouldn’t Ms. Lauder check out the people’s brands and stories too. By the way, people chemistry is a key element in agency selection.

Best Practices: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Personal Brands.

I often see a total lack of consistency between the way an ad agency projects its image and the images that its people project.

Look, I get it. We are all individuals. But, there is a team benefit to being consistent – in key areas.

I think that agencies should have a set of best practices and agency-related branding guidelines for their key player’s personal branding with respect to their company’s branding. While we have all read about how to set up a killer social media profile, for example, chances are very good that some key players have simply not optimized their profile. This means, they simply do not look good to the outside world, including you, hopefully, next new client.

While an employee owns their own brand (and, of course, might actually be using their LinkedIn page to find their next job), each employee should at least sound and look like they work at your agency. Here are some examples of what I mean.

All related LinkedIn, etc. sites should have the latest agency branding (graphics and other branding devices.)
There needs to be some consistency in how the employee describes the agency.
It would be nice if the employee had one or more client Recommendations.
The profiles should be complete. I am not going to get into the art of personal branding. But, someone at the agency needs to do a review of the key people.
Last point, no you should not be the personal branding police. But, you do need to control your agency brand. Review your group’s personal brands and make sure that each person is aware of how you want your company represented.

Holistic Marketing.

In today’s marketing world, everything matters. Everything you do brands the agency. How you answer your phone, your agency email signatures, your position on Google, your relationship with the search community, your blog posts, all of your magnet sites including The Creative Ham. You know what I’m talkin about.

And…. how you look in your employee’s world. It all adds up.

If you want, give me a shout and I’ll use our Corleone moment to help you do a quick review.

How A Boise Advertising Agency Went Global

Peter · February 1, 2018 · 1 Comment

Get Past Local. Go Global.

If you are a Melbourne, Dallas, Cardiff, Charlotte or Boise ad agency you just might be stuck herding smallish clients in your regional market. Becoming a global advertising agency is simply not going to be an option if you position yourself as a generic full-service or digital agency. Bottom line, a New York or Sydney client is not going to take a second look at you (or find you) unless you have a very specific service specialty that crosses borders – even states. Clients are willing to rule out the need for a local agency if they perceive that you have a specialty that they need – regardless of geography. Having a specialty will also make you stand out and drive your search engine marketing – as you will see below.

Boise’s Oliver Russell figured this out three years ago and blasted past their western state borders to become a global player.

Here is my interview with Oliver Russell’s CEO Russ Stoddard. Russ started Oliver Russell in 1991 and he and his agency have become leaders in the world of marketing purpose-driven companies, sustainability initiatives, and socially responsible organizations to help them better compete in the marketplace. Russ’s dedication to a category focus has delivered on his objective of becoming a global player.

Russ Stoddard Has Gone Global

Peter: What’s up?

Russ: I’m Russ Stoddard, and I’m a social entrepreneur. I have a creative marketing agency in Boise, Idaho, that works with purpose-driven companies.

Peter: How is business these days?

Russ: For us, it’s going remarkably well. We’ve got an area of specialty and differentiation, which means we actually have people coming to us, rather than having to chase clients down.

Peter: That’s great news. In terms of agency history, has that always been the case, or did you switch to a more specialized perspective at some point in recent history?

Russ: We’ve been around 27 years, and it took me 23 of those to finally take the medicine.

Four years ago, we repositioned very strongly around working with purpose-driven companies, which we define as those that have a very intentional bent around creating a product, service or business model that benefits society. [Read more…] about How A Boise Advertising Agency Went Global