Peter Levitan & Co.
The New Business of Advertising
My website, yes, this very one that you just may have found via a web search, thrives on SEO. Here is a sweet SlideShare overview of the history of SEO from the smart folks at Hubspot.
I could say more but you know that search is rather important for your (ad, digital, PR) agency’s visibility, socialness, PR, content plays, etc. To not get what’s going on in Penguin and Panda algorithm-land is a lost opportunity for free traffic.
A good thing… marketing budgets are going up. Highlights:
TV remains king.
Digital growing by more than $5 billion per year.
Mobile expected to grow by $22.6 billion in next 4 years.
And, surprisingly, print holds steady.
From the land of “you know” this, comes a reinforcing eMarketer article and graphic showing you where the marketing / advertising budgets are going and you know what’s coming… I say follow the money.
Wow, so many opportunities for your agency to: build out social media, mobile and video expertise; so many opportunities to recalibrate your brand positioning and sales proposition. So, are you? I got to go WTF if you aren’t.
I’ve been on an interview trip lately. I’ve done a couple of soon to be published interviews with industry leaders for Advertising Week Social Club and Agency Post. More are on the way.
One major point I keep hearing is that advertising agency specialization is key to breaking out of the me-too agency positioning malaise. Specialization is one way to get to a more powerful (i.e. relevant, impactful, efficient) new business program.
In my Advertising Week interview with Ian Beavis, Nielsen’s EVP Automotive, on how agencies can win an auto account, he mentions that most advertising agencies do not act as a business solution partner,
“You rarely hear of an agency being a business solution provider, as it just doesn’t sound cool or creative. A good agency solves a client’s business issues and is a partner. Very few qualify and even fewer truly embrace this challenge.”
In another for Agency Post, Rich Sullivan, the CEO of Alabama’s RedSquare Agency, discusses how RedSquare has specialized in casino marketing with growing success.
I’ll let you know when both of these are published.
On to today. I was looking at a new list of Seattle’s largest agencies and noted that Taphandles, the fourth largest agency in Seattle, specializes in, get this, beer. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of Taphandles and I am just down the road in Portland. I was intrigued.
Taphandles’ Twitter profile @taphandles describes the agency as:
“We know beer. Logos, taphandles, signs, displays, package/label/web design, glassware and all things POS… Let us help you sell more beer.”
There are a few things that work with this positioning. A key factor is that Taphandles has zeroed in on a fast growing category. Here are some stats from the Brewers Association.
Taphandles is well positioned to, yes, tap into the market due to its strong support for their beer expert positioning. They started out designing and manufacturing taphandles for most of the major beer brands. I love their concise story that has to grab the attention of beer clients.
“Since we opened our doors in 1999, we have worked with almost every beer brand worldwide, which has given us comprehensive understanding of competitive landscape, and appreciation for what it takes to build a successful brand. This experience makes us uniquely able to help breweries tell their stories effectively through the brands we design, and the merchandise we make.”
Clearly Taphandles has grown into a full-service provider by building on their taphandle design experience. But, there is something instructive here for all agencies.
Pick a growing category, learn it, own it and then you’ll be able to hammer it on your home page.
One could argue that coming up with recognition for “Best Agency Sign” is not that relevant to the ad business. But, IDL Worldwide, as they say on Twitter: “@IDLWorldwide. Brand in Real Life”, is about experiences. To kinda prove the point to people walking through Portland’s trendy North Park Blocks (I say trendy just to piss off Portland folks) that IDL lives up to “real life”, they have a Working / Playing neon sign over their front door.
Since sizable crowds walk by the agency during Portland’s First Thursday Art Walk, the agency proudly declares PLAYING while serving free beers to people who come into see IDL’s art show.
So, what I dig is that they are living and declaring the agency’s stated mantra and reason for being.
Here is their neon sign which changes from…
