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Ad Agency Videos Drive New Business

July 24, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

I’ve been thinking about doing a series on the best (and, maybe the worst) sales videos that ad agencies use on their websites. Agency videos work hard as a business development tool by explaining the agency positioning, skill set, history and, as an introduction to its people and personality.

Introducing the agency’s people is a very good thing because we know that interpersonal chemistry is a key factor in how clients select agencies. And, why not begin to build out chemistry when potential clients make their first visit to an agency via the website. A mega plus is that a scripted video helps agencies control what and how they talk about themselves the first time a client “meets” them.

As a kickoff, here is the agency video from JESS3. I often use JESS3 as a positive example of an agency that picked a niche and established a unique positioning to help them rapidly grow from being a small agency to having a blue chip national client base. This is the Holy Grail for many regional agencies. However, few seem to be willing to take the plunge into a specialized segment that will widen their geographic footprint.

JESS3’s niche is data visualization. From the agency’s Wikipedia page:

JESS3 was founded in 2007 by web designer Jesse Thomas its CEO, and Leslie Bradshaw former president and COO. JESS3 is a creative interactive agency specializing in producing videos and graphics to explain complex information through “visual storytelling.” The agency’s focus on data visualization worked.

By 2011, the agency listed Nike, Intel, Microsoft, NASA, MySpace, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Samsung as clients. Believe me, if JESS3 had been a “full-service” agency they would have been noticed by these major advertisers.

The agency website announces their focus front and center (another good thing – no hunting for the brand positioning):

At JESS3 we take complex topics and large data sets and make them accessible through beautiful visuals.

We are a creative interactive agency that specializes in the art of data visualization, adding context and meaning to the exponentially growing world of data around us.

The JESS3 Ad Agency Video

This is a high energy, personable and informative video. At 2 minutes it might be long for some some but it works for JESS3. Why?

The video is fast paced and not a 2 minute taking head.
The video immediatly introduces Jess and Leslie as likeable agency founders and positions them as leaders.
It nails the agency sales proposition.
It quickly mentions clients like Google and Nike to provide credibility.
The video goes past just talking about data visualization to discussing its marketing benefits.
The video briefly talks about how JESS3 does its magic.
Again, to deliver credibility, the agency talks about growing from 2 people to 30 and into 4 offices.
They tell us that clients consider the agency “best in class at data visualization and visual storytelling.”
To top it off, JESS3 says that it gets calls from clients because the agency has a focus. Focus is a good thing.
And…. this is just one of 51 videos that the agency has on its Vimeo channel.

OK, I’ll stop writing. Here is the video.

Stay tuned for more blog posts on agency videos. Oh, don’t miss any by signing up below for my weekly newsletter.

I Wanted To Like Grip – But No KISS

June 23, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

I friend sent me to the funny infographic “The Anatomy of An Agency” from Canada’s Grip Limited. It’s at the bottom of this post. The infographic nails advertising agency culture and, based on the number of comments, got well distributed making it a much higher trafficked post that the great majority of agency blog posts. Most of them appear written for the agency itself or their close friends.

OK, nice job so far. I even like the blog’s editorial content in general.

OK, a good first impression so I go to the agency home page (not that easy to get to cause there isn’t a direct link.) That’s where things go horribly wrong. The Grip website is simply too wildly dizzying. Panel after panel. Here are two views of the site. The second view collapses all of the panels.

And, maybe this will work better for you than me… I can’t get the site to scroll up and down and I tried two different browsers.

My point: please do not build websites that make lives more difficult. Keep It Simple Stupid.

This one is one of the most difficult to use ad agency websites I’ve ever experienced. I am sure that there are clients that will get past the design to the really great advertising, thought leadership and cool personality. But, I couldn’t.

Now for the infographic:

Unacceptable Advertising Agency Website

June 2, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

Months ago I wrote about agencies that use an “Under Construction” message on their website’s front page. I see no excuse for this. None, zero, zip.

I just read an Adage article about Acme Idea Co. resigning the Duracell account. I haven’t see what Acme has been doing for awhile so I went to their website. This is what I found.

Unacceptable for a few reasons.

Why stop marketing?

Why not find a slightly more creative way to transition (I assume they are.)

Why look lame?

A piece of advice: Never, ever go Under Construction or Coming Soon. Its a bad idea.

Advertising Websites Only Get 8 Seconds

April 18, 2014 By Peter 1 Comment

Let’s start this post with an admission… I don’t have informational graphics on every page of my site (some, but not a lot.) But.. stay tuned cause I have ten cartoons coming from my friend Steve and his The Cartoon Agency that will support my new book’s discussion of the top ten pitch-killing mistakes that even super smart advertising agencies (that’s you amigos) make when they pitch.

8 Seconds, Only

One of the most important discussions I have with my advertising agency clients is about gauging the marketing power of their websites. I start the talk by telling them that I know that critiquing their website is like discussing their kid’s soccer moves. That said, the agencies are paying me to be honest, so I am.

I begin the review process by telling them that their visitors only give them 7 seconds of examination before they stay to learn more or move on. Agencies… you better hook ’em in 7 seconds. I just found out that I am wrong. According to the smart Neil Patel its 8 seconds (more on him later):

“How long do you think your attention span is? Maybe a minute or even two, right? Sadly, your attention span is 8 seconds. That’s one second shorter than that of a goldfish.”

What does that mean for your advertising agency websites? It means that you better pay lots of attention to attention deficit clients that may be looking at ten, twenty or more agency websites before they land on a few to contact. 8 seconds. Keep this in mind and make getting to a point an objective when you build or rebuild your websites. If you want to see how some agencies get this job done, or not, take a look at my set of San Francisco agencies and how they handle their 8 seconds.

Here is how Neil helps us visualize visualization by using his “This Is Your Brain On Visualization” infographic. There is a lot of information here for you and your clients.

Back To Niel Patel

I dig Neil because he provides great insights and is a serial self-promoter worth watching. His stuff works works. His Quicksprout website has a page rank of 5 and he has 1110,000+ Twitter Followers. From Neil’s bio:

Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. He helps companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom grow their revenue. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations.

Yeah, this is a bit crazy for a 29 year-old. But, he is surly working it. Check out his outrageously unrelenting promotions. Yes, a bit too many popups and forms for most advertising agency websites, but these is a lot of benchmark sales learning in there.

Last point. He walks his talk. See his visual bio.

Advertising Age & Web Marketing ala 1997

March 20, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

Ah, the joys of doing an Internet search on yourself. Here is an oldy but goody editorial I wrote for Advertising Age in May, 1997 on advertising agencies not getting into digital marketing fast enough. Remember… this is from 1997. I left Saatchi & Saatchi in 1995 to put newspapers online for Advance Publications. Yes, I invented the Internet with my friend Al. If you are an Advertising Age subscriber, you can see the editorial here.

Opinion: Have agencies lost their footing in Web marketing?

I’m worried that the advertising community is getting behind the curve when it comes to the Internet. Most clients are ahead of their agencies in understanding the value of Internet marketing–I know, because they’re coming to us to design their programs.

What’s holding agencies back? A love of proven media and maybe some myths.

1. Advertising agencies cannot make money planning and producing Web advertising.

Agency profits, strangled by clients during the past 10 years, don’t leave much room to dabble in new low cash-flow technologies. It’s easier to plan and buy TV.

However, almost every client is now marketing on the Web. Since the Web seems a bit better at direct response and promotion than brand building, I think it provides agencies with a great opportunity to grab from these other ripe budgets.

2. The only folks making money on the Web are pornographers.

Dell is selling $7 million worth of computers online every week. New Jersey’s Planet Honda has sold over $1 million worth of cars and parts off its site. Condomania is selling $1,000 worth of condoms every day off of a $10,000 Web site.

3. Banners do not work.

I worked in advertising for over 15 years, and the only time I could swear on a Bible that advertising had any direct effect on sales was when my airline client’s fare ads sent people to the counter. Now, when I look at my advertisers’ banner statistics, I know exactly what worked and what didn’t.

4. Web advertising will not work for mass brands.

Why not? Both men and women buy pasta, and when they’re online, they’re not using other media. Use the Web to leverage some of that mega co-op spend out there. Imagine a banner that says “50¢ off pasta today at A&P” and also links to that “brand-building” Italian odyssey site the creatives want to build.

5. The only big-time advertisers on the Web are large Web sites or technology companies.

Advertising follows the eyeballs. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users; TV, 13; cable, 10; and the Internet, five. That’s why a recent scan of “high-tech” Web advertisers included Rockport, Levi’s, Visa, Gatorade and Godiva.

6. Push is the future.

Maybe familiarity with broadcast is why the new “idea” of push is so beloved by the advertising industry. Pull is the power of the Internet. It may be hard to learn how to turn it into an advertising tool, but it is intrinsically more powerful and consumer-focused.

7. PointCast is push.

OK, I do like push. But sorry, guys, e-mail is the push God. E-mail is easy to use, it’s low-tech and highly targeted. There are more than 35 million Americans (70 million worldwide) using e-mail every day, while there are only 1 million active PointCast users. Pick one.

Peter Levitan is president of Advance Publications’New Jersey Online.

So, was I right? I was certainly opinionated. I am still.