At Mercer Island Group, we LOVE marketers. We LOVE agencies.
And we LOVE to help them succeed.
The marketing and advertising world is a tough, tough business. We are lucky to be able to serve marketers and agencies and we are incredibly thankful to the people, their brands and agencies.
With so much gratitude in mind, let me explain why we would love marketers and agency execs to be OUR valentines.
Why we love marketers
Marketing is one of the toughest jobs on the planet and it gets tougher every day. Mediums and tactics change and the options available to marketers increase daily. Figuring out how to optimize marketing investments, keeping current customers happy and adding new customers all while grooming a team for success is a mind-boggling challenge.
And all of that was a challenge before Covid. And before inflation. And, before AI.
In this most challenging environment, the best marketers:
- Make sure they have proxies that help with alignment, effectiveness and efficiency
- Ensure their teams are trained and well resourced
- Treat their agencies with respect and provide the runway for great work
- Brief their agencies well and make sure the agency has the time needed to deliver great work
- Lionize their agency teams
- Appreciate the efforts of their people and agency teams
- Fairly compensate their agencies
Why we love agencies & their people
Did I say that marketing is one of the toughest jobs on the planet and it gets tougher every day? Well, there is another job that is right up there in difficulty these days: working in an agency. Technologies change every day. Competing for talent has never been tougher. Client budgets are strained and yet clients need more of everything – more effective creative, more content, better CPMs, better data and insights, etc.
In this most challenging environment, we love agencies because:
- Creativity is a business multiplier
- Agencies stay current on a wide range of topics, technologies and skills so that we don’t have to
- Agencies help us see the world in a way that we can’t by ourselves
- Agencies rise to the occasion almost regardless of how crazy clients treat them
- Agency execs have signed up to a life of service, and that is to be honored and admired
Marketers & agency execs: please be our valentine!
Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Ulta Beauty, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Kaiser Permanente, Holland America Line, Stop & Shop, Qualcomm, Brooks Running, and numerous others. He founded MIG after serving as a division president in a Fortune 100 when he was only 32. Earlier in his career, Steve Boehler cut his teeth with a decade in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, leading brands like Tide, Pringles, and Jif.
