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How I Discovered The Internet After Saatchi

Peter · September 9, 2021 · 1 Comment

I Discovered The Internet – Kinda True

This is my 800th blog post. So why not get personal? Here is my story about how I discovered the Internet and left advertising in 1995 to become an Internet start-up CEO. I think that it might be instructive to the people leaving the advertising industry today. Don’t take my word for it, people are leaving – read Avi Dan’s Forbes article, “People Are Fleeing The Ad Industry Because Of Burnout And Wanting To Work From Home.” 

By the way, that is a picture of the explorer Robert Peary.

When I Discovered The Internet and The End Of My Advertising Agency Career

After my three years working at the Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide London office as European Director running business development and the J&J and Sara Lee Europe accounts, my family and I returned to Summit, New Jersey in the winter of 1994. Our welcome was a brutally iced in house. So iced that we had to hire some off-duty firemen to chop out the ice so we could use the front and back doors.

After leaving Charlotte Street, I now worked at the big black iconic (Darth Vader) Saatchi & Saatchi building on NYC’s Hudson Street. My large 18th-floor office had a wide-angle view and very cool furniture inherited from a recently exited executive creative director. Due to a failed New York office culture, talented colleagues were starting to exit the building.

My job was running Saatchi’s North American business development group. The job was nearly impossible as poor management had trashed Saatchi’s New York reputation and the global brand itself was in decline. The Saatchi brothers had finally overreached when they tried to buy a UK bank. These advertising guys’ “want to buy a bank” hubris was not warmly received by the public markets. Saatchi’s had gone from being the “world’s favorite” advertising agency to a company that no longer got the type of new business incoming and responses I had become accustomed to. Like, I wasn’t getting returned calls from prospective clients. This was a new experience. However, I was getting weekly calls from the trade press asking me for comments about people fleeing the New York office. Not the kind of trade media calls a business development director wants to receive.

I Discovered The Internet

While all of this office and career shit was going down, I had discovered the Internet and its insane growth curve. Yes, I discovered the Internet. Well, this happened because I returned to the USA from the Luddite UK and got the wake-up call.

I immediately fell in love with digital platforms like CD-ROMs, Netscape Navigator (the first commercial graphical browser launched in October 1994), and, of course, America Online and CompuServe. I was also seeing the exponential growth of Internet usage – as shown in the chart. How could this not be a gold rush? This was around the time that Jeff Bezos became enamored with the dramatic hockey puck growth of Internet uptake and you see where that got him. Side note, I had had my first early taste of digital when I briefly ran the Western Union Easylink email account a long time before I moved to the UK. Easylink was the first commercial email service – or as we called it, Instant Mail. Um, yes, a good idea but a bit early. Understatement.

In 1995, one did not have to be a genius to see that the digital universe would become a serious advertising platform. I tried to get Saatchi management interested but they were so consumed by the Saatchi death spiral that, like small children, I could not get them to focus on the new opportunity that was right in front of them. We could have been a contenda.

A Life Switch – “Get The Fuck Out Of Advertising”

Two things soon happened that would change my life.

First, thanks to my prescient friend Mike Donahue, who was the digital lead at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, I found out about Redgate Communications. The leading, and one of the few, digital ad agencies. [Read more…] about How I Discovered The Internet After Saatchi

Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK

Peter · August 8, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK.

6 Years Later: My 2021 take on my 2015 ADWEAK take

ADWEAKI thought that I’d update my 2015 (yes, 2015) blog post about the wonderfully endearing but way too insightful and painful ADWEAK take on the advertising industry. I’m re-upping my extremely positive perspective on ADWEAK because they have begun to up their use of LinkedIn so I see them daily.

And, because they talk about themselves like this – like humans:

What began as a fun parody Twitter account has become a full-blown creative studio. @Adweak has grown organically to over 75k followers with an average of over 3 million impressions a month. But snarky tweets don’t pay the bills. Our real job is working with brands and agencies on a wide variety of creative projects. You name it, we’ve done it. We have a shit-ton of experience with agencies (TBWA\Chiat Day, BBDO, Deutsch, DDB and more) and brands (PlayStation, HBO, Dr. Pepper, Energizer and the list goes on).

We’re good, we’re fast and we’re not A-holes.

ADWEAK – Attitude Is Good

Hey, most advertising agencies have little to no attitude & point of difference. They kinda all use the same lingo and would never say ‘shit‘ or ‘A-hole’ in their descriptor copy. There is little attempt to break out of the crowd. I am talking about having a strong and competitive positioning; established expertise and a smart messaging system that makes them unignorable.

Too bad. But, wait, there’s more. Here are some of the painful but all-too-true ADWEAK posts that blast out to their 81,000 Twitter followers. To put that number in perspective, 20-year-old Digitas North America has 66,000 Twitter followers.

Current favs… cause they are all too spot on.

BREAKING: VMLY&R Considers Adding More Letters To Name

BREAKING: After Several Rounds Of Presentations, New Business Client Informs Agencies They’re Going To Hold Off Making Decision Until Early Next Year

BREAKING: Agency Forced To Revise Schedule To One Day For Creative Development, Three Weeks For Client Approvals

BREAKING: Charmin Toilet Paper Challenges Agency To Make Them A “Lifestyle” Brand (LOL< I actually think that Charmin is a daily lifestyle brand…)

OK, I’ll stop. But first. If you are a client looking for different and unignorable, give these guys a shout: adweakeditor@gmail.com 

Back to my 2015 Post

ADWEAK joined Twitter in 2008 as @adweak. In case you are speed reading this is not… Adweek, the advertising news magazine [Read more…] about Try Not To Weep When You Read ADWEAK

13 Free Big Data Tools For Advertising Agency New Business

Peter · March 30, 2021 · 4 Comments

advertising agency new businessI misnamed this 2013 blog post. “13 Free Big Data Tools For Advertising Agency New Business.” It should have been named “You are driving marketing directors and potential future clients insane. Here is how to do outbound (ABM) marketing that grabs attention.” Y’all have to get past sending so much ignorable advertising agency new business development messaging.

Talk with any CMO or marketing director or company owner and they will tell you that they receive buckets of incoming business development messages and content from advertising and digital agencies – every week.

The barrage of often ignorable incoming includes these delivery systems: [Read more…] about 13 Free Big Data Tools For Advertising Agency New Business

The Smart Zoom Presentation

Peter · March 2, 2021 · Leave a Comment

How To Build A Smart Zoom Presentation

Smart Zoom Presentation OK, it’s 12 or so months in Covidlandia and we have all been to many a Zoom presentation in the 1:1 and group space. How many of these virtual presentations would you say could be called a ‘smart Zoom presentation’? I’ll optimistically say 60%.

Now, if that 60% figure relates to a Zoom sales presentation for your company’s business development program, then you are kinda screwed. A 60% success rate (or more painfully, a 40% failure rate) for important sales presentations should not ever cut it.

The Virtual Sales Presentation – Presentation

I built this smart Zoom presentation for one of my advertising agency clients that was dwelling in the lower 40% and we knew we needed to rectify their Zoom situation – fast. So, here is my audio and visual The Virtual Sales Presentation. I use 18 minutes to discuss the art and science of how to build a smart Zoom presentation that captures the viewer’s attention; keeps them focussed (not easy); help you to manage your virtual agency branding; learn how an agency won a dating app client in Zoomlandia and also gets into how the brain works in the Zoom presentation environment. As you might suspect, it isn’t just like meeting face-to-face in a conference room.

 

More Smart Virtual Sales Presentation Tips

I spent a bit of time reviewing virtual sales presentation best practices to create this presentation. I also did a four-part Advertising Stories podcast series where I interviewed virtual experts, including the most famous advertising agency search consultant, the agency that won a major dating app virtual pitch, a leading branding and design agency, and a rather serious French neuroscientist.

Yes, this stuff is about the brain on Zoom.

Best Advertising Podcast List

Peter · December 2, 2020 · 2 Comments

advertising podcast listThe  Advertising Stories podcast program publishes smart, funny, and useful interviews with advertising and marketing leaders. There are a LOT of podcasts out there. So, to make life a bit easier, here is my very own best advertising podcast list.

I have produced 40 episodes since June. And, As you know WOM rocks, so tell your friends all about Advertising Stories. Thank you.

Oh, and please subscribe via Apple Podcasts or use the subscribe links on this page.

Here Is The Best Advertising Podcast List – Handy Dandy.

  • A Neuroscientist On How Zoom Brains Work. If you want to sell anything using a Zoom call, listen to this. Part 4 in my virtual meeting series.
  • Yes, You Can Run A Powerful Zoom Meeting. Can you run a group meeting? An off-site? Yes, here you go. Part 3 in my virtual meeting series.
  • The Perfect Zoom New Client Pitch. Hear how a Miami agency won a new dating app client by wowing the client in a sexy (um, loving) Zoom room. Part 2 in my virtual meeting series.
  • How To Win A Virtual Advertising Agency Presentation. AAR Partners’ expert advertising agency search consultant Lisa Colontuano on how to win that virtual, Zoom-like, advertising agency presentation, and pitch. Lots of stories. Part 1 in my virtual meeting series.
  • The Smartest Person In Advertising. Michael Mosynski is the CEO of London Advertising – the most awarded agency in the UK. Multiple teachable moments in this interview y’all.
  • Hi. This Is Your Bank. Give Me Your Account Number and Password. clean.io CEO Matt Gillis on how and why really smart people do malvertising. You know, how they get even really smart people – like, um, you – to give up very personal information.
  • How To Build A Profitable Advertising Agency. An interview with the advertising agency profitability expert Michael Farmer, author of, “Madison Avenue Manslaughter: An inside view of fee-cutting clients, profit-hungry owners and declining ad agencies.”
  • How To Sell Your Business. An expert interview with the advertising and media services M&A uber-guide and advisor Mark Holdreith.
  • How To Build An In House Agency. Is running an in house agency, an in house ad + media + social + PR agency a good idea? Some answers.
  • A Bit Of Executive Creative Director History. – September 13, 2020 – An Executive Creative Director Spills.
  • An Expert On How To Do M&A. – August 31, 2020 – A M&A specialist on how to sell or buy an advertising agency.
  • The Smartest Advertising Executive and Business Development Consultant. – August 26, 2020 – How to win new accounts.
  • The Smartest African American Advertising Agency. – August 20, 2020 – Wil Shelton runs a very unique advertising agency in L.A. He discovered the huge potential of salons and barbershops as marketing tools.
  • Kamala Harris and Advertising. Not. – August 13, 2020 – Even Kamala could not get a job in advertising or marketing. Black might not be beautiful in the marketing universe.
  • How To Grow Your Advertising Agency. – August 10, 2020 – A few expert biz dev ideas to help you grow your new advertising agency’s new business pipeline.
  • Podcast Statistics From Podnews. – August 9, 2020 – Just the facts. Podcast activity is growing like pods.
  • Conversion Rate Optimization Advice. – August 5, 2020 – Yikes, 98% of your website visitors will not buy today. Here is some smart CTR advice to sell more stuff — sooner.
  • Life After Advertising Podcast Series. – August 3, 2020 – What will you do after advertising? Here are some ideas. I moved to Mexico
  • How Michaela Alexis Rocks Linkedin Learning. – July 31, 2020 – Michaela has over 170,000 Linkedin Followers. Find out why.
  • How To Grow A Podcast. – July 27, 2020 – A podcast marketing expert, expert, expert wants to help you grow your podcast –  now.
  • Advertising And Marketing School Website Speed. – July 26, 2020 – Your website could be failing because it is too slow. Do the test and make it load faster.
  • Chevrolet Tahoe Consumer Generated Media Fail. – July 24, 2020 – ADWEEK editor on a huge social media failure.
  • ADWEEK editor on Google Advertising. – July 21, 2020 – A serious blast from the past. You bought 10,000 shares of Google in 2016, right?
  • A Scientific Approach To How To Name Your Advertising Agency. – July 17, 2020 – Everything you need to know about how to name YOU.
  • Purpose Driven Advertising Agency Podcast. – July 14, 2020 – How doing good became a new business driver. Like how a Boise ad agency went from Idaho to global.
  • How Not To Make Multicultural Marketing Mistakes. – July 9, 2020 – The master of Hispanic marketing delivers advice and points ou how companies like Kmart completely fail.
  • Japanese Advertising, Marketing And Sushi. – July 6, 2020 – Robert Peterson / Bob-san grew Toyota, Saatchi & Saatchi, and now his own Japanese skincare brand
  • A Lost $80 Million Advertising Agency Account. – July 1, 2020 – See how a huge advertising agency lost an $80 million account and get on the front page of the New York Times.
  • Ad Contrarian On Advertising Agency Presentations and Pitching. – June 28, 2020 – Bob Hoffman tells you what to do to win.
  • India’s leading Advertising and Brand Strategist. – June 25, 2020 – A great story about how Satish Krishnamurthy kicks strategic butt in India.
  • How to Win More Webby Awards. – June 22, 2020 – Matt Faulk, CEO of San Diego’s Basic on how to be very cool. And, have Webbys and Google love you.
  • How A Small Digital Agency Beats The Big Agencies. – June 17, 2020 – Portland’s Anvil Media has a secret sauce.
  • A Deep Dive Into The Birth Of Podcasting With Rob Walch of Libsyn. – June 15, 2020 –  A podcasting history lesson.
  • Does Your Agency Fear Fear? – June 14, 2020 – The feeling of “fear” can be a part of everyday life at many advertising agencies.
  • The Birth, Life, And Death Of L’eggs Pantyhose. – June 12, 2020. – The ANA’s Mike Donahue on a brand’s lie expectancy.
  • From Advertising Agency Copywriter To Fiction Book Author. – June 10, 2020 – From ad copy to becoming a fiction book star.
  • Podcasting Growth Predictions From Rob Walch Of Libsyn. – June 8, 2020 – 2016 right on podcasting predictions.
  • The Disrupted History Of fashion And Luxury Marketing. – June 4, 2020 – A fashion marketing master asks … Has any category been as disrupted as much as fashion and luxury marketing? Nope.
  • Adidas And Saatchi – The Worst New Business Presentation Ever Podcast. – June 4, 2020 – It does not get worse than this. Plus, some baby seals.
  • Introduction To Advertising Stories. June 4, 2020. – Go for it.

[Read more…] about Best Advertising Podcast List

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