new business

Top Advertising And Design Awards

September 14, 2020 By Peter 3 Comments

A Lovely List Of The Top Advertising Awards

And deep thoughts on why you should even bother doing the advertising award game.

TA DA — A New 2020 Advertising Award: The Side Show

The Side Show is an award for — well, here is what they say:

We’re here to celebrate the side projects of those in the advertising industry. Side projects showcase another angle of ourselves, a side some rarely get to see, and we believe that side should be rewarded. We look forward to seeing you show off your bold, your whimsical, your unexpected, and your original sides. (Also: There’s insanely impressive judges & cash prizes. We may have ‘side’ in our name but diversity is our main focus.)

Submissions are due by October 9th at 11:59 PM, PST and are open for everyone from student to c-suite, creatives and non-creatives alike. Late submissions will not be accepted.

I like this idea. It is fresh, is more inclusive, and should help us to see some of the better work done outside of, well, people’s main work thing.

Next: You might want to listen to or come back to this Advertising Stories podcast – How To Win More Webby Awards.

This interview is with Matt Faulk, yup the guy that runs the Webby Awards’ actual ad agency. Plus… Matt’s agency = Basic = just happens to win more Webby Awards than anyone.

OK, the advertising award list also includes a few of my views on advertising awards objectives and strategies. It is mindblowing how many advertising agencies do not know how to enter an award show — to win.

Note: This advertising awards list gets updated. Let me know if I am missing an award.

Advertising Awards Are Good… But, Maybe Start Here:

A comprehensive guide that will help your agency become a winner in today’s market – The Advertising Agency Survival Guide.

Why Enter Award Shows? Do You Have Business Objectives And A Strategy?

Winning the right advertising awards is good for business and agency and client morale. Just make sure you know why you are entering. Too many agencies don’t approach the award process with a plan or objectives beyond the search for ego fulfillment. This can make the whole effort a bit too C R A Z Y. But, you know that. Or, do you? Go here to hear an advertising award judge on his less than optimal experience reading agency entries.

I have a memory about the power of awards from my first day at Saatchi & Saatchi London way back in the 1990s. I walked through the creative floor and noticed a tall glass case randomly stuffed with lots of creative trophies. This haphazard display delivered two messages: 1) Saatchi wins lots of awards and 2) they don’t take these too seriously. Of course, the second point was bull shit. Saatchi was always about looking like a winner and the award case proved that point in a cheeky manner. It worked better than the usual and obvious shelf of awards that sit behind the ad agency receptionist’s head.

I have always had mixed feelings about advertising awards. On one hand, they are, like winning an Academy Award, i.e. ridiculous. No one ad, digital program or actor is the “best.” On the other hand (the one with the wallet), they are way expensive. As an agency owner, I often cringed when a creative director came to me with his hand out asking us to spend hundreds on award entries.

However money aside, advertising awards have some very big advantages for agencies, clients, and creative-class workers:

The awards celebrate creativity itself. Creative strategies, art, copy and the media platforms that deliver the work.

They help our most talented people get noticed.

They help smart well-designed agencies get noticed by occasionally confused clients who need second party confirmation when selecting an agency. To me, this is a very important point and one that makes writing those increasingly expensive entry checks worth the cost. Awards should be a big part of an agency’s business development program – not just an ego stroker.

To put all of this go-for-it into context, I wrote about the Portland agency Pollinate a few years back that has done very well (!) by hammering Advertising Age’s Small Agency awards show. The blog post, “How To Win The Ad Age Small Agency Award? Twice?” is a demonstration of the value of entering and winning an award that has meaning for prospective clients because it is delivered via an industry-leading publication. Check it out.

Last point before the list. Award judges have told me that around 30% of agencies do not know how to create an entry that is designed to win. Poor copy, poor strategy, even typos. Many agencies rush through the process at the very last minute. Do you? Do you have an annual award plan? Who is in charge?

My 13 Favorite Advertising & Marketing Awards

The Smartest Advertising Executive and Business Development Consultant

August 26, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Michael Keeshan was the smartest advertising executive in the room. I know, I worked with him when he was President and COO of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising New York and the Chief Strategic Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide. If you are wondering, he was smart like an Einstein.

He also counseled major advertisers including AT&T and Novartis to pick their advertising agencies. His MagikBox search consultancy rocked.

Here is my interview with Michael about advertising agency business development and advertising agency search consultants and the pitch experience. Over his years in advertising, Michel worked on both sides of the agency/client table. As you will see, Michael was one of the smartest advertising executive dudes.

This entertaining and informative interview covers how advertising, digital, PR agencies, you name it, should manage their business development process and pitches and presentations. I did this interview in 2006. Believe me… Michael’s cogent advice is even more relevant in today’s highly competitive advertising universe.

I have many other interviews with advertising agency search consultants in my book on presenting and pitching for new ad accounts. Just go here to win more pitches… There have been thousands of happy, richer readers.

Links To Other Super Smart Past Advertising and Marketing Interviews.

Cathy Taylor of ADWEEK. Hear about one of the great social media fails… C/O Chevrolet Tahoe. It was an early screw up that was very prophetic as we all moved on into more social media.

Rob Walch of Libsyn.

Hypnotism coming: Remember to subscribe to Advertising Stories. Remember to subscribe to Advertising Stories. Remember to subscribe.

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

How To Grow Your Advertising Agency

August 10, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

I Know, I Know. You Want To Grow Your Advertising Agency.

Here is an entertaining interview with Joe Koufman, CEO and Founder of Setup, an Atlanta-based agency and client “matchmaking” consultancy. Here is what Setup says they do to help y’all to grow your advertising agency. Man, I’d like to see more agencies be able to tell their story this fast. Very succinct.

“Setup™ (marketing matchmakers) ignites relationships between brands and marketing agencies. Marketers often require help from experts, but can’t always find them.”

Joe, a biz dev expert, and I discuss the core principles that deliver a strong sales pipeline and on to building wonderful marketing and advertising agency and client relationships. Ah, love!

Getting there includes having the right agency positioning (as one of my M&A specialists told me last week – this means telling the client exactly what you do and can do for them before they form their own opinion); understanding if the prospective client has a capacity or a capability challenge; having an information system; knowing how to do the best-targeted outreach; the critical importance of managing and building interpersonal chemistry; and the, yes, closing the deal. As an agency owner and consultant, Joe’s perspective and advice is right on.

Joe also talks a bit about having been on the scene of a few agency sales and mergers. As he says, some are great, some so-so and one was a kind of a failure.

Selling and buying a company isn’t that easy. OK, not that hard if you read my book, How To Sell Your Advertising Agency. (I had to get this in there.)

Here are links to Joe and Setup.

Joe Koufman.

Setup.

Hypnotism coming: Remember to subscribe to Advertising Stories. Remember to subscribe to Advertising Stories.

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Advertising Agency Interpersonal Chemistry

July 30, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

Smile: Interpersonal Chemistry Is A Critical Factor In Winning New Advertising Accounts

I am updating a previous post about interpersonal chemistry. Why? Over and over and over again I hear that building and having interpersonal chemistry with an advertising agency new business prospect is the make or break element of a hopefully budding new business relationship. So, I’ll get to the point. How can you proactively build and grow advertising agency interpersonal chemistry?

Allow me to frame the conversation via a quote from the article “IInterpersonal Chemistry in Friendships and Romantic Relationships” care of Interpersona | An International Journal on Personal Relationships. To get things rolling, here is a primary quote about relationships:

Friendship Chemistry Reciprocal Candor

The most frequently mentioned quality of friendship chemistry was reciprocal candor, which referred to open and meaningful communication. Three subcategories emerged within this group including (in order of most to least common): Ease of interaction, sharing a deep connection, and predictability. As some male participants described, “Conversation just flows naturally” and “There are no awkward silences”; “Chemistry is when there is a spark or understanding that makes the relationship easy”; and “Chemistry in friends goes beyond just being an acquaintance. It’s like you are connected. Everything makes sense. Everything fits.”

Isn’t this what you want to happen in a new business meeting?

You Probably Look Like The Next Agency

Chances are good that you will be up against look-alike agencies. You all probably share similar attributes, skills, and histories. You might even be wearing the same Armani suit or Tory Burch shoes or, today, tee-shirt.

Because of this, the ultimate selection factor is often based on personal vibes. The client wants to feel comfortable with and inspired by the agency’s culture and people. They are looking for a dedicated partner who will care as much about their business as they do. They want a confident agency that looks, acts, and feels right.

I can’t stress the chemistry thing enough. Here is what Avidan Strategies’ 2012 survey of agency search consultants revealed:

“Practically every consultant, or 96% of the sample, pointed to “chemistry” as the key factor for winning. But what exactly is chemistry? Generally speaking, it is simpatico between the client and agency teams.”

So while you are thinking about how to express your agency’s core skills and style, remember that how you express who you are could be the make or break part of your pitch. I’ll talk more about chemistry later. But it is imperative that you keep personal chemistry in mind as you start to think through what this client really wants.

A Quickie On Online Video Meetings

As the author of a book on presentations and pitches, I have been asked about how to make an online video meeting work harder. I am going to write in detail about this but here are five key points.

Look into the camera.
Employ decent lighting and sound. That means use a pro constant light if you can and get that decent microphone. If you can, ditch the headphones. The big scary ones that make you look like Top Gun. Not a very interpersonal look.
Think hard about your background. Set the stage. No laundry bin, please. Or the barking dog.
Keep the meeting short. People space out after fifteen minutes. I know that this might be hard to control in a business meeting but discuss timing with the people you are presenting to ahead of the meeting. If people think you will talk and talk, they will tune you out.
Check your internet connection speed via a tool like Google Speed Check.

Bob Hoffman | The Ad Contrarian On Advertising Agency Presentations And Pitching

June 29, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

In This Podcast, Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, Delivers His View On How To Make Smarter Advertising Agency Presentations And Pitching For That New Account.

In this podcast interview, we share the A.I. version of Bob Hoffman’s interview with me about the advertising agency pitch process. Bob tells it like it is. The interview is from my extremely best selling book, “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.”

Bob Hoffman is the Chief Aggravation Officer at The Type A Group, and much more. I’ll just save some time and let Bob tell you about himself:

“Bob is the author of five Amazon #1 selling books about advertising. He is also one of the most sought-after international speakers on advertising and marketing. One of his books, “BadMen: How Advertising Went From A Minor Annoyance To A Major Menace” exposed many of the dangerous data abuse practices that are now making international headlines. It was selected “Best of Marketing 2017.”

He is the creator of the popular “The Ad Contrarian” blog, named one of the world’s most influential marketing and advertising blogs by Business Insider.”

SHOW LINKS

Bob Hoffman’s Website

The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.