Procurement can work better with Agencies
Last week we wrote about the vital and often misunderstood role that corporate Strategic Sourcing teams play vis-à-vis their firms’ marketing services firm relationships, and how agencies and marketers can work better with their procurement counterparts. Upon reading that blog, an agency friend (thank you, Alex!) wrote the following: “I’d love to see a post […]
Agencies & Marketing can work better with Procurement
Strategic Sourcing teams (aka “procurement”) play a vital and often misunderstood role in many companies vis-à-vis the relationships with marketing services firms. Let’s fix that! I was honored to recently moderate a panel of Strategic Sourcing pros on behalf of a group of senior agency executives. The discussion was lively and covered a great deal […]
Small Agency of the Year: Advice from last year’s winners
We are entering into a special time of year for small agencies. The applications for this year’s annual Ad Age Small Agency of the Year awards are due April 16. The awards will be presented at the Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards in Toronto, July 22 and 23. At Mercer Island Group, we […]
What Mercer Island Group will talk about at Build A Better Agency Summit 2025
The annual Build A Better Agency Summit is coming up May 19-21 in Denver. This is the ideal agency conference for small to mid-sized agency leaders! The focus is on how to run an agency business better, so that it’s more sustainable, scalable, and down the line if you want to — sellable. The Build […]
Don’t pay consultants to be in their pitch
It just happened again. We are running a review for a fantastic client. A CPG firm with smart, wonderful leadership. A terrific brand, number one in their category. And, as we reached out to the small, heavily researched and finely curated list of agencies we were inviting to participate in the review, one agency asked […]
Perfect pitch practice for a perfect pitch
A pitch is a performance. It might not have all the lights, costumes, and orchestra that you’d find at a Broadway musical but there will certainly be an element of song and dance. You’re standing in front of a potentially critical audience and asking them to believe in you. To feel something. To be delighted […]
How to lose a pitch in only 5 minutes
A few years ago we ran an important creative agency review for a leading beauty retailer. The review was for the creative AOR with a great client in a great category. Agencies were thrilled to be involved. We ended up with a very competitive field of enthusiastic, talented and strategic agencies. By the time we […]
The Prospect Friendly Written Proposal
How do you write proposals that win new business? This is a common question we hear from agencies. And many of the proposals we read are not compelling, are poorly organized and fail to stand out. Many proposals focus more on the agency than on the prospect’s business and challenge. There is a trick to […]
Simple ways clients can be more appealing in reviews
We often hear that client-run reviews can be unnecessarily challenging to navigate and impersonal. What a missed opportunity! The client may be leading an agency review, but the agencies are also evaluating the client. It’s a dating process. Agency staff want to work for the most appealing clients. And more appealing clients can even get […]
Good & Bad News: Super Bowl 2025 Ads
This year’s Super Bowl included some historic advertising and overall, the creative was more effective than recent years’ ads. And… there is a potential crisis brewing in advertising. I’ll get to the potential crisis in a moment. First, some good news. System1 Group’s review of 2025 Super Bowl ad effectiveness has been published. If you […]
