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.

evaluating creative - the toothpaste tube lid in client/agency relationships

Experts say that the small things eventually destroy relationships. Like not putting the lid of the toothpaste tube back on, or squeezing from the top, not the bottom.

Tom Peters, in his book, The Pursuit of Wow, says that his company “sometimes asks clients to compare business relationships with romantic relationships. Take the ending of a typical long-term romantic relationship. Issues as mundane as leaving the loo seat up, socks on the floor and not putting the lid back on the toothpaste tube all mount up to break the romantic bond.

The Forum Corporation of America analysed the causes of customer migration in 14 major manufacturing and service companies and found that 70% moved on because they didn’t like the human side of doing business with the prior provider “

One of the biggest toothpaste tube lids in advertiser/agency relationships is how creative work is evaluated and how that evaluation is communicated. Of course there are other areas, such as new marketing director wanting to change agency, creative work strategically unhinged, budgets not adhered to and so on. But this area of “judgment” is where trust is made or broken. And where trust is present, great work often follows. Why? Because the agency’s best creative teams want to work on the business. They feel respected as professionals. And the client feels like a valued member of the creative process.

Of course the starting block for evaluation is the brief. If the brief was poor, chances are the work will not be great. And if you are evaluating great work against a poor brief, that’s going to be tricky.

Poor evaluation also comes as a result of “I don’t like it” thinking. Not whether or not the target consumer’s may or may not resonate with the message, but just because…

Given how subjective advertising is, and how so often the decision makers are nowhere close to the intended audience in terms of attitude, age, habits, gender and so on, it’s tricky territory.

Layer this with the internal dynamics where the people in the room aren’t always the final decision makers. And there may be a hierarchical speakers-order in the room.

Throw in the fact that the agency team is bursting with barely contained excitement. They KNOW it’s right.

This is where “communication” comes in. The art of constructive criticism, feedback that accurately articulates concerns and aims to make the work better, is a rare skill.

This relates to both the Marketing team as well as the Account Management team giving feedback/writing the brief back at the agency. Feedback should be about direction not judgment.

Of course “I don’t like it” is a perfectly acceptable thought. It’s how it’s articulated that makes the difference.

Feedback can be sugar coated. This invites the wrong work to be presented again, an ambush!
Feedback that’s overly prescriptive or worse, illogical, simply turns off the creative tap. Remember, there is no discount on hourly rates if the tap is off!

This is where the sometimes controversial, and usually hated by agencies, “huddle” comes in. A “huddle”, named by P&G, is simply an opportunity for the Marketing team to “have a moment” with the work, without the agency looking at them like hungry hyenas. Agencies hate it because they think Clients will choose the ‘safe’ work if they are left alone.

But the “huddle” is actually a great tool for agencies.

Agencies have lived with the work before the client sees it. All the rough edges have been challenged and ironed out in reviews. Good agencies may even have done consumer research to be sure they can answer the concerns client may have.

Client on the other hand is a bit nervous, uncomfortable, because this is outside their comfort skills-zone; they worry about saying the right thing (from senior level to junior), or having to reject work, with excited people staring at them. Sometimes they just don’t know what they think, or how to express it, at that moment.

Also, if you have a situation where you have a hierarchy of team players in the room and each one gets his or her say, there is a very good chance that there will be confusion about the debrief.

The huddle allows all layers of the hierarchy to feel free to speak, and able to contribute. Sometimes the junior is the best creative critic! In a big scary meeting the junior will not say a word, and an opportunity is lost. The marketing team can have a good debate, and go back into the discussion, with one clear message. And the discussion can continue.

Recent Adtherapy clients who exercised this reported that they are choosing more creative work than ever before.

Wouldn’t it be great for 2010 if agencies and clients could crack these areas: great briefs, followed by skilled evaluation of creative, followed by constructive and positive feedback? And I repeat, these skills are as essential for the Client to master as they are for the “internal client”, the Account Manager.
I can almost feel a great ad coming on!

Why does SA media not support the ad industry?

Here's an interesting conundrum. Media survives through advertising revenue. Without advertising, commercial media (TV, radio, Newspapers, Magazines, even some revenue based web media) would not be able to survive. Otherwise they'd have to sell a newspaper for R10,000 a go. Okay, that's a guess, but you get my point. So what amazes me is why the media, when there is a great achievement from/by/in the ad industry, like the SA Cannes wins this past week, it remains buried only on the Media/Marketing pages. By the way, these pages are so well hidden in the Weekend Argus, you need a Garmin to find them. Certainly no-one not actively looking for them would ever risk stumbling on them by accident! And yet.... this industry relegated to the least read page in the newspaper is the very same industry that keeps the publication/medium afloat? Is it so-called journalistic integrity? Is it considered not news-worthy for the average reader? Surely business success (even it is just a creative award) on the global stage should be as interesting as success in the sports arena? Cannes, whatever it's critics may say, is a global competition, which 22,652 entries from 86 countries. Little SA did good. Perhaps if we crept into the main pages of the media we would start clawing back some credibility for the industry? Not a guarantee I know, but maybe more people would respect the creative ability in SA's top agencies?