personal branding

My Wednesday Photograph

Peter · December 6, 2016 · Leave a Comment

The Wednesday Photograph

A funny thing happens when you run a blog. You find out that you have to feed it as if it was a pet. No food, no life. In the blog’s case, no content (copy, videos, photographs), no Google love.

Google love is my primary business development tool. Most of my ad agency clients tell me that they found me on Google (usually on page one for a related search.) So, in honor of my need to feed the Google beast and the fact that my weekly round-up newsletter will go out tomorrow and… the fact that I have not written a new blog post this week (too busy with client work – a very lame excuse), I am starting a new series called My Wednesday Photograph to ensure that I have at least one post per week. By the way, that’s me on the left in the mining town Minerale de Pozos.

I’ll get into my photography in greater detail in the future. But, as a fast start… I started shooting when I was a teen in New York. Got my BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Ran Levitan & Feinstein Photography in SF for 4 years and then moved to New York where I decidedIi did not want to shoot commercial work. I then started my advertising career. That said, I’ve been shooting for myself since then. For gear heads… I shoot a Widelux, a 1960’s wide angle film camera made famous by Jeff Bridges, and Fuji’s X-T1 and X100T.

Mexico Lindo. Or, Beautiful Mexico.

I moved to Mexico last July. You can read about the move here. In the past few weeks, I’ve been going out in the streets of San Miguel de Allende and nearby small towns with two assistants and a large white background to photograph Mexicans. One of my goals is to show Americans how wonderful these folks are in a time when many Mexican are demonized by xenophobic Americans. So, here you go with the portrait on the left and two Apache dancers I shot last week in San Miguel Viejo – a town of 336.

More to come.

Gary Vaynerchuck And His ANA Advertising Rant

Peter · October 22, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Gary Vaynerchuck Tells It Like It Is

I have written about Gary Vaynerchuck and his take on advertising and the industry twice before. Both positive and negative.

Gary Vaynerchuck Is Full Of Shit

Gary Vaynerchuck: Old School Advertising Agency CEO

Today, I’d like to respond to his ‘rant’ (according to Advertising Age) on the advertising industry that he delivered at the Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference.

Gary’s comments and my perspective follow. Before you start, I’d like to say again that I admire Gary and his brilliant job of building Vayner Media, one of the fastest growing agencies in the business. His built-for-today agency is an example of how to do it right that many agency CEO’s should study.

The Gary Vaynerchuck Annual Rant

On improving creative: “Everyone likes to talk about the media inefficiencies and transparencies, but what about the creative? We have to understand our brands mean different things to different people and the attention of the consumer is shifting at scale. Creative gets elevated when we accept an ecosystem that gives us more creative at bats.”

My Take… Creative at bats. Hmm. OK, I get it. Spread your creativity around the world of media platforms. But, a big but, creativity is not about volume. It is about ideas that arrest and tell brand stories and tidbits that capture attention and excite. Big compelling ideas that drive interest and, yes folks, sell something. Go here to read about the history of the early days of Volkswagen advertising – The best Advertising Ever. It will prove my point.

On the potency of the Super Bowl: “When I buy my first brand, the first thing I’m going to do is run multiple Super Bowl ads,” he said. “The No. 1 underpriced value of attention is the Super Bowl. Every single person watches it, but the problem with the current execution of the Super Bowl is the creative has so much vested interest in being a showcase for agencies … we’re not making the kind of work that takes advantage.”

Another OK. Please, we all get that agencies try to flex their creative muscle when they get a chance to create advertising for the Super Bowl. Guess what, some not so great Executive Creative Directors think first about their reel. Do we really need to here again? OK again… yes, there are lame agencies (occasionally abetted by immature Internet brands) that do this. But, I know that as clients have gotten more focused on selling, the run of silly TV commercials has diminished.

OK again… yes, there are lame agencies (occasionally abetted by immature Internet brands and super nervous marketing directors who might also be building their reels) that do this. But, I know that as clients have gotten more focused on selling, the run of silly Super Bowl TV commercials has diminished.

On measuring marketing: “You’re scoring the wrong shit,” he said. “There’s a new world and attention is in different places. I could care less if Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat exist tomorrow — I just care about where your attention is.”

HUH? Why is Gary talking down to experienced agency leaders and how they measure effectiveness? Oh, this speech is all about selling his agency’s expertise. Bravo to Gary’s salesmanship.

On targeting your audience: “If you are running [TV] commercials for a brand that targets consumers 22 and under, you’re a fuckface.”

Well, why rule out TV? The under 22-year-old crowd does, in fact, watch TV. Not all of it and not clearly (of course, we all know this right?) as much as their dads. But they watch it. Is Gary suggesting that brands should avoid TV – ever? Never consider it a part of the traditional – social – video – outdoor (still going strong) media mix? Not recognize that a bunch of TV is not viewed on the old-fashioned TV set but on the phone? Really, is he saying this? Or just saying that advertisers should talk to him about how fucked up the big agencies are? Again. Remember, Gary is on a sales call to the ANA and Advertising Age has graciously abetted his cause.

On final takeaways: “You’re going to die,” Mr. Vaynerchuk said. “It’s an amazing time to be in this industry if you’re on the offense, it’s the worst time if you’re on the defense and 95% of you are on the defense.”

Duh! This sounds like career advice you give to your 18-about-to-go to college neighbor.

Two Advertising Agency & Client Chemistry Strategies

Peter · October 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Two Advertising Agency Chemistry Strategies

I have been focused on the idea that interpersonal chemistry is one of the most important decision-making criteria that a client uses when selecting an advertising agency. I also ~~think~~ KNOW that chemistry can be massaged and managed. In fact, if you want to win, you better work on releasing those special business pheromones.

Managing Chemistry

I recently advised an advertising agency on their approach to a pitch that included how to run an interpersonal ‘chemistry’ new business meeting. The agency is one of seven agencies in a pitch for a very large east coast client.

The client asked for a ‘let’s get to know each other’ chemistry meeting because they know that by the time they had narrowed their list from the four thousand agencies out there (yikes) to seven, that much of their decision criteria on which agency to move forward with would come down to likeability and an understanding that the agency had the intelligence to help efficiently grow the client’s business.

The client needed this meeting because…

All Advertising Agencies Look The Same!

Ok, ok, all agencies are not the same. But, I can guarantee you that probably five of the seven agencies are so similar in approach, client base, case histories, skill sets, office furniture, etc. that the client realized that the interpersonal chemistry element was ultimately going to be a critical decision-making factor.

While my agency client and I discussed a range of pitch issues and opportunities, we settled on two must-have’s to make the meeting work in their favor.

Client Meeting Management

First, we discussed how to plan and manage the meeting. If an agency cannot run a smart meeting – especially the chemistry meeting, then the client will immediately begin to think that you cannot run a smart agency client relationship. I am a very strong proponent of the art of meeting management. I suggest that you read this post on how to manage a meeting. Your clients will love you for it. Hmmm, maybe even some of your future clients as well.

Deliver A Trial Run

Since this was a chemistry meeting – a ‘get to know each other’ meeting – I informed agency management that the best way for the agency to demonstrate that they were a good fit for the client was to… act like they already had the account. [Read more…] about Two Advertising Agency & Client Chemistry Strategies

How To Make Thought Leadership Easy

Peter · June 22, 2016 · 1 Comment

Easier Thought Leadership

Yes, that’s Seth Godin to your left. He has been a master thought leader since the mid-1990’s. He has made a lot of money doing that by being opinionated, smart, a prolific writer and global speaker. A serious thought leader. You can do it (well a form of it) too. Here’s a how-to to get this important job done faster.

Let’s start with a definition for thought leadership from Wikipedia (of course.)

A thought leader can refer to an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.

Let’s unpack this:

“A thought leader can refer to an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field…” Two obvious points; It is good to be 1) recognized as an authority (as in known for your gray matter and insights vs. being invisible) and 2) it is good for your personal or company brand to be specialized vs. a generalist in today’s fragmented marketing environment.

“…and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.” Another obvious point, it is good to be sought after and rewarded.

If thought leadership can actually deliver “recognition” and “rewards” for you and your agency… then do it.

This is about getting your unignorable on (read this post about how to do that.)

Not So Easy…

But, the hard part is getting thought leadership done at your very busy company. I’ve seen this up close at many agencies. Too many, given how y’all can get the job done without too much pain, time and money. Read on. [Read more…] about How To Make Thought Leadership Easy

My Friend David Bowie On My Personal Mantra

Peter · June 3, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Just Watch & Listen To His’ Advice.

Hey, you could be reading a bunch of marketing… advertising… ad agency… how to do social media, etc. stuff. This is much better advice.

My Friend David Bowie On My Personal Mantra

“If I feel a little unsafe where I am going – I am going in the right direction…”