Another One Bites the Dust: Modern Agencies Fail to Differentiate
WPP announced a few days ago that venerable agency Grey would be folded underneath AKQA. Another one bites the dust. Grey – founded in 1917 – isn’t the first historic brand to be purchased by a holding company and eventually retired. Just a sampling of agencies that have disappeared or been merged into other brands […]
Strategic S̶e̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ Dating for Agencies
“I hate selling.” I hear that so often from agency owners and agency leaders. I especially hear it from junior agency staffers. I think the key to moving away from “I hate selling” is to move to “I love helping others succeed.” As I think about agency success, it’s my experience that the most successful […]
Bruce Springsteen & Perfect Pitch(ing)
Written by Stephen Boehler & Lindsay O’Neil I learned the most important lesson about new business pitching from record producer Jimmy Iovine. In 2013 I was a proud dad sitting in the audience at the University of Southern California’s commencement ceremony. The keynote speaker was famous music producer and co-founder of Beats headphones, Jimmy Iovine. […]
Jeff Goodby on Art Serving Capitalism
Jeff Goodby needs very little introduction! Jeff wrote for the Harvard Lampoon before working with Hal Riney at Ogilvy & Mather. Jeff and his friend Rich Silverstein started GS&P in 1983. Since then, the two have won just about every advertising award imaginable. And yes, Jeff was the guy who originally wrote “got milk?” Jeff […]
Why Joining the Pro-Voting Movement is Good for Your Business
Voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections was the highest of any midterm election in the last century. One of the contributing factors? Vast numbers of companies encouraged both their employees and consumers to show up and vote. Fast-forward to the strange times we are living in, and a much larger election: how is your […]
5 Questions about CMOs & the C-suite with Huge’s Matt Weiss
Matt Weiss, President of Huge Brooklyn, has already put together quite a storied career and he’s still an up and coming talent. With a background leading global accounts at McCann like Mastercard, serving as chief of staff at KBS+ and global agency CMO at Havas, Matt has seen it all and stopped for a few […]
7 Qualities of Every Successful Client-Agency Partnership
Written by Lindsay O’Neil & Stephen Boehler There is much riding on the relationship between a company and their agency. The best work will come when the relationship is positive and respectful. Therefore, the client/agency relationship, when at its best, is a partnership like a good marriage. Both sides must be willing to work hard […]
Dooley Tombras on Connecting Data + Creativity for Business Results
Written by Stephen Boehler Dooley Tombras is a lot of things: third generation agency leader; a magnetic personality; passionate marketer; and boundlessly energetic. Recently, we spoke with Dooley about the path that took him and his agency to a very distinctive, successful positioning. The Tombras agency has been one of the fastest growing agencies in […]
The Current Agency-Client Business Environment and the Opportunity Ahead
Lately, we’ve been asked a number of questions on the current agency-client business environment. Agencies are eager to hear what clients are currently thinking. We’ve also been asked numerous questions about filling the pipeline. So, to be as helpful as possible, we thought we’d share what we’ve been hearing in our conversations with clients, what […]
A Prospect-Centric Approach to Pitch Prep That Wins
At Mercer Island Group, we have had the privilege to sit in on hundreds of agency pitches. We’ve seen first-hand what works and what doesn’t, and how clients evaluate and select agencies. So often, the agencies lose the clients less than ten minutes into a pitch. Why? The focus is on the agency and not on the […]