Applying brand building to Agency Brands

I read this article (see link) on how important it is to actually tell people what you're good at in order to enhance your career. I posted this on Adtherapy's Facebook page:
"there are two poles in the ad industry - those who engage in massive self congratulation and actually believe their own PR, and those that hide their enormous talent under a bushel. Why are Ad Agencies so bad at positioning their own brand? Watch the Washington Post experiment here and start telling people what you're good at :)".

The article reveals on experiment done by the Washington Post, where a world renowned violinist played on a million dollar violin outside a subway station in Washington. No-one really noticed.

On to something that puzzles me: the lack of ability of ad/communication agencies to brand themselves. They all know what a brand is, and how to bring it to life for their clients. Why choose these ridiculous names, for starters? Twelve founders surnames linked together, some of them dead?

But more than that - I posed this question to some of the top marketers in SA, and to Tony Koenderman of FinWeek:
"if I asked you to give me one positioning sentence for each of the well known agencies, could you do it? You know, like 'Levy's = jeans'; 'Virgin is the Champion of the Underdog'; 'Allan Grey is patience'?".

They (and I) could clearly position about 5 agencies. And we know the industry WELL.

AdCracker says positioning is "that one thing; that one descriptive sentence or slogan or image the brand is known for". It is of course your brand's "unique value proposition" in strat-lingo.

Agencies know this. They do it all day for their clients. But only 5 with a clearly defined brand?

So, if a marketer is in the market and wants to appoint a new agency, how do they know who to talk to? Do they have to rely on a pitch consultant? Do we need someone to help us buy other brands?

Agencies need to brief this job in and take it seriously. I know that the hardest job always is the "in-house ad", because the brief is often vague, because the thinking hasn't been done. The Agencies who have defined their "raison d'etre" (including their personality, their unique (hate that word but it's there on purpose, because there's so litte uniqueness in Agency branding) value proposition, how they differ from the next best agency) benefit from it in more ways than one.

Apart from getting noticed, the most important benefit is that they get like-minded clients, so the relationship has a good chance of being a successful partnerhsip. How can a Client choose a like-minded, culturally suited Agency if the Agency hasn't figured out what they stand for yet?

Negative energy: its effect on ad agency morale, & the work.

I read this article and I thought it was so true. I loved the simplicity of it, and the logic.
However, I know that being inside an ad agency, where you have a combination of creative and logical people, not always in the departments you might expect, negative energy is elevated to Olympic standards!

The key is this, from a management point of view. If you're at the helm, and you're the one doing the whining, it sets off a cancer like attack on the morale and energy of your team, and the quality of their work.

How can you expect your team to be 'up and at-em', if you're slagging the Client off loudly to all and sundry? It compromises your staff's integrity (especially the young, un-cynical ones), and it makes you look like a jerk. And it makes them question whether they want to do their best work for a client that their boss clearly doesn't like. And when that happens, the 'creative tap' is well and truly turned off.

So whilst a lot of this stuff in the article applies to everyone in an agency environment, the most important thing is for the management team to provide a source of positive energy, not 'I'll be on the window ledge if you need me'-energy, or even worse 'I can't be bothered to do great work for this Client'-energy.

If the Client is that 'bad' - resign the business and renew your energy with new clients.
Or sort out what's bugging you, hug and make up.
But the slag-off-and-keep-the-cash approach does no-one any good!

conflicted interest?

I came across this article and it highlighted an interesting phenomena: that of the pitch consultant, who is also the agency advisor. hmm. So interesting to fall into this trap-ette.

DOUBLE-DIPPING PITCH CONSULTANTS

I have managed to avoid running pitches, not because I can't, but because I think it places me in a weird space of possible conflict. Of course I'm as honest as the day is long, but maybe, just maybe, I might believe Agency A is better than Agencies B,C and D because I know them better because I've worked with them. Who knows?

But maybe I land up actually helping the client make the right choice? So it actually benefits all parties?

Either way, it's a beige area - don't want to be seen favouring an agency of any other name :)

Recent projects by Adtherapy

Adtherapy, a company which consults on all areas of advertising to both Marketers and Ad Agencies, has recently completed the following projects:

· Agency interventions: communications, relationship, and skills audit and in-depth assessment of weakness in Agency-Client relationship, with strategic recommendations focussed on improving the quality of creative output, for SABMiller on a number of brands;

· Rules of Engagement (a process to get a new relationship between agency/client off to a good start) for SABMiller and Exclusive Books;

· Creative Advertising for Marketers workshops(one one-day interactive workshop to enhance advertising skills to all levels of Marketers) to Ackermans, Exclusive Books, van Schaik and FNB;

· a Perceptual Study on Agency Brand Reputation (interviewing top marketers about a particular agency brand and the industry in general) for a Top 10 agency;

· Pitch guidance (working with ad agency to mentor strategy, creative and pitch presentation);

· Mediation (between Creative director and agency),

· Positioning strategy for a Design agency;

· Client/Agency Remuneration Negotiation.

· Lecturing: Gillian Rightford lectures Advertising and Brand Communication at the School of Management Science at the University of Cape Town. She lectures third year Business Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing. She also was appointed to develop and lecture a course to third year Stellenbosch Design Academy creative students that highlights the role of account management and strategy in agencies, and discusses how to build strong account management/creative/client partnerships for more creative, more effective, work.

· She recently did a talk to SAMRA members on Creative Advertising: Art or Science?

· Coaching and Mentoring: Gillian has conducted a number of Executive coaching and/or mentoring sessions. Gillian did a foundation Coaching course with Acclaim Human Capital, using the Co-Active Coaching method. Her Coaching philosophy is that life is not separate from work, and balance is all-important. Her coaching is aimed at Executives in the Communication Industry. Her coaching methodology works by combining coaching and mentoring – it focuses on the business challenges at hand, and works to build skills and understanding to help the candidate achieve his or her goals in a work space. The personal space is not ignored, and the approach looks to optimise both. The end goal must be balance: work and life satisfaction.

trying too hard?

Loved this article regarding the Cell C new logo design debate...

From Bizcommunity:
"Most noticeable in the new logo is the replacement of the old red dotted "C" with a new black and white symbol depicting a "C" within a solid black circle - a replica of the legally required copyright symbol.
However, company CEO Lars Reichelt says the new logo reflects Cell C's vision of understanding its customers and tailoring solutions around them. The white space between the black "C" and solid circle is symbolic of the customer. "There is no significance in the Cell C Logo resembling the copyright symbol. Primarily, the "C" in the centre represents Cell C putting the customer at the centre of everything it does. The logo is not designed to look like the copyright symbol," states Simon Camerer, marketing executive at Cell C."

erm, but it does.
and if Cell C honestly thinks that any consumer is going to a) GET that bit about the white space and the black bit being the consumer and all that Cell C can flog them; and b) give a continental, then they are starting to believe their own PR.

If you have to explain creative, it generally means it's not working......

Marketing questions answered for the Small business

I like this.
A nice little "thought piece" for agencies to give to their small/start-up clients - remuneration options, how to measure ROI, social media, etc, from AdAge. Also great for agencies to understand the issues that clients have when dealing with agencies, and this applies to big clients too.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35917168/Marketing-for-Small-Clients

AdCracker - why I like it

in my line of work, the same problems come up all the time.
1. Terrible briefs. From Client. Exacerbated by terrible briefs written by Client Service.
2. Work off brief (um, go figure).
3. Creative takes too long (see above comment).
4. Too expensive (yes, there it is again).
5. Poor relationship (well it would be wouldn't it?)

So I love AdCracker because it shows anyone (client or agency) how to write a good brief, what a positioning is, what should be in a strategy, some clever insight into consumer behaviour.

But best of all, it attempts, through CD Steve MacNamara's personal and light hearted writing, to teach people the difference between a good ad and a mediocre one. He showcases great ads, and tells you why they work.

Every agency, and every marketing department should have one, and make it compulsory viewing.

In my humble opinion.