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Pitching

The Worst Advertising Agency Presentation – Ever

Peter · February 18, 2014 · 13 Comments

A Very Sad Story… The Worst Advertising Agency Presentation – Ever

advertising agency presentationThis is a story about the worst advertising agency presentation – ever (I know, I was in it.) It was bad.

This special experience, along with more stories, strong opinions, and brilliant advice (I’ve learned a lot over the years) is in my new book… How To Run A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency.

If you buy the 27-chapter book and read it, I guarantee that you will win more new business, run a tighter ship, and will make more money.

My First Advertising Agency Presentation

Back to the beginning: I won my first pitch in 1984. For the first email service.

I was an account executive at Dancer, Fitzgerald Sample, New York’s largest “Mad Men” era advertising agency (Saatchi & Saatchi bought Dancer in 1987.) The pitch was for Western Union’s $15 million EasyLink Service. EasyLink was the first commercial email service and launched the same year as the IBM PC – the times were changing fast. We won the pitch and I learned how a well-oiled presentation worked from a new business team that won nine out of ten pitches that year. After I began working on the business, I asked the senior client why we won. She stated three reasons: [Read more…] about The Worst Advertising Agency Presentation – Ever

An Ad Agency Infographic Leave Behind

Peter · January 22, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Data And Infographic Visualization for the ADD Generation.

I originally wrote this blog post way back in 2014 when I was writing my book, “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.” This book has sold thousands of copies and proves the point that writing a book can also lead to your own business growth as in generating lots of good leads. The same goes for using smart graphics. They will drive business.

The smart folks at Killer Visual Strategies pointed out that they’ve changed their name. So, this updated post.

Back to 2014…. I am doing research for my book(s) on advertising agency pitching. While collecting thoughts on post pitch leave-behinds, I came across this infographic for Killer Visual Strategies, an infographic design agency in Seattle with clients like Pepsico, Toyota and Expedia. Makes sense that they would employ an infographic to deliver their info. Makes sense to consider using infographics as a new business pitch leave behind. [Read more…] about An Ad Agency Infographic Leave Behind

Steve Jobs + Nancy Duarte = How To Present

Peter · January 17, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Steve Jobs Dissected

AAPLNancy Duarte’s book on presenting, “resonate – Present visual Stories That Transform Audiences” has been my go-to book on how to create powerful presentations for the past four years. It’s a serious, almost scientific look at the art of presentation. In fact, it is science.

Nancy uses a graphical tracking system called sparklines to visually track a presentation’s flow and major points. Here is Nancy’s TEDx talk on presentations which includes her sparklines deconstruction (it starts at 8:45) of Steve Jobs and his art of presentation. Watch it. It will help your agency win more business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfQF3DXG-S4#t=541

For more on Jobs and how he can help you give better presentations head over here: Steve Jobs “Secret” Advertising Agency New Business Presentation Tips

FYI:

I interviewed Nancy about her presentation prescriptions for my book… “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.” Nancy is just one of a range of experts interviewed that will help make you a better pitch person – and win more business. Amazon and I would like you to buy it. 

Advertising Pitch Planning: Tame The Meeting Beast

Peter · January 13, 2014 · Leave a Comment

images wildPoorly managed advertising, design and PR agency meetings waste time, kill creativity and cost money. This is a particularly nasty problem in the over-heated world of agency new business pitches.

We know from a recent research study of advertising professionals by Provoke Insights that agency employees are dissatisfied with the agency pitch process.

 “Approximately half (47% of respondents) of advertising professionals surveyed by Provoke Insights say they are dissatisfied with the current internal approach to pitching.”

As a long time agency new business professional, I know that one of the worst “approach” offenders is the poorly managed pitch planning meeting. Worse, poorly managed pitch meetings could lead to losing the pitch itself by making the entire development process less efficient.

The Pitch Leader Must Lead

If you are the  pitch team leader your job is to manage the pitch process so the agency will deliver the best response it can. I’ve always believed that meeting management is the first place to start.

Meeting Management Ala Northwest Airlines

In 1986 I moved from Dancer Fitzgerald Sample’s New York office to Minneapolis  to manage our Northwest Airlines account. I was invited into the client’s inner circle and attended their senior management meetings as the advertising agency representative. These were the good old days when the agency’s opinion on marketing was considered critical to the client’s success.

I quickly realized that Northwest had a serious meeting problem. Most of my clients seemed to be in non-stop meetings from 8AM to 6PM. I couldn’t figure out when they had time to think let alone get their jobs done. This fact wasn’t lost on the CEO who hired a management consultant to help create an efficient and effective meeting culture. It was instructive to watch this course correction help Northwest to be the fastest growing airline in the late 1980’s.

Effective, well-managed meetings deliver three key benefits:

  1. Effective meetings achieve the meeting’s objective.
  2. They take up a minimum amount of time.
  3. They leave participants feeling that a sensible process has been followed.

Meeting Rules

Here are the 10 rules I picked up at Northwest.

  1. Every meeting must have a leader to run the meeting and manage the process.
  2. Invite only the people that need to be in the meeting. This isn’t a numbers game. It is OK for some people to be working at their desks until they are really needed.
  3. Make sure that everyone understands that they are required to show up on time and if they are late they will be costing the agency time and money. Keeping colleagues waiting is rude and costly. Do the math.
  4. Have a clear agenda with meeting objectives. Share it at the start.
  5. Have a timetable. Make sure that anyone needed in the meeting knows of the start and stop time. You should try not to have any open-ended meetings. This is critical.
  6. Consider banning mobile phones. It may be hard to believe that there was once a time when we managed to live our lives without being constantly tethered to our smart phones.
  7. Once a meeting objective is met move on to the next one. Stay on topic.
  8. Watch the clock.
  9. End the meeting when you have covered the objectives.
  10. State any follow-up items, timing and individual responsibilities. Send out a meeting summary ASAP.

The Pitch

The pitch itself should be well stage-managed. These rules should be considered (I stress considered) in how you mange the actual client presentation. Clients will respect you when you show respect for their time and show that your agency is well-managed.

My Pitch

Call me. I’ll help you win more new business.

While you are at it… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter.

Half of Advertising Agency Staff Hates Pitching

Peter · December 15, 2013 · Leave a Comment

frownAn Advertising Agency Staff That Hates Pitching Isn’t A Good Thing

A 2013 study by the research firm Provoke Insights confirmed what we all know. The advertising agency new business pitching process can be debilitating.

From Provoke:

“… approximately half (47%) of advertising professionals surveyed by Provoke Insights say they are dissatisfied with the current internal approach to pitching.

47%. Ok, pitching is intense. So, what else is new? Pitching is also intense for architects, nuclear power plant designers and fighter jets salespeople. Writing, presenting and winning (or losing) pitches is intense.

It can also be exhilarating (more on that a bit later.)

Other findings on pitching:

Issues include: “unrealistic timelines” say 66% of respondents / “long work hours” say 65%

And, because Provoke is a research company who paid for the research, we get this nod towards having insightful insights:

“Forty-four percent of advertising professionals stated that if there were better availability of research and data, pitches would run smoother and (be) more successful.”

Here’s more on what resources agencies say they need to kill it:

support_need_to_pitch

 

By the way, I posted about how to use free, smart internet based tools to create insights here: 13 Free Big Data Tools For Advertising Agency New Business.

Back to exhilarating.

  • Pitches are a major way agencies win new business. Ya gotta be in the game. Maybe Droga5 can get away without pitching.
  • Pitches make sense if they make sense. Don’t pitch just any account just for the sake of pitching.
  • Pitches are team sports and, importantly, build team spirit.
  • Pitches help agency staff stand out and be stars. Especially important in larger agencies.
  • Pitches are fun to run if you know what you are doing and have a solid plan.
  • Pitches, winning pitches that is, can make the agency happy and richer. A good thing.
  • Pitches hone agency thinking; highlight skills and help agencies think about what the agency actually has to offer or needs to build for the future. I think that the benefit of forced introspection is underrated.

The full report can be read on AdRants.

I’ve tried to make the art and science of pitching more successful and even fun. Just read my book. Look up top to learn more and make that all important purchase that will lead to more — wins.

 

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