Thanksgiving to marketers and agencies
Thanksgiving in the US is just a few days away and it is a perfect time to be grateful. There is much to be grateful about! The economy is essentially at full employment, inflation has subsided, and consumers have been spending. We can work from anywhere and often still enjoy the distinct benefits of an […]
20 Ideas for marketers & agencies
Can you imagine working daily with the smartest, most successful CEOs, CMOs, and marketers? Or interacting daily with the very best agencies in the world – of all sizes and shapes – and across all disciplines (creative, media, PR, digital, etc.). That’s my job and I love it. I’ve learned a lot, seen a lot […]
Free Research to Help Agency Growth Planning
How are your fellow agency execs thinking about – and what are they doing about – the changing marketplace for agency services? Our friends at Agency Core are working on the answer, and you can help: participate now in a one-of-a-kind research survey and you’ll get the report, for free. What Will The Research Cover? […]
Agencies: treat your people well; they may run a future agency review
The agency business is a tough business. Clients expect a lot. Agency economics are strained. And staff often move around for promotions. It’s hard to run a successful agency. In this tough environment, agencies that lose sight of one specific principle can doom themselves: this is a people business. The cost of an unhappy workforce […]
How to evaluate agency proposals
Very few marketers are taught how to evaluate an agency proposal, whether it is a formal written response to an RFP, a presentation or some other format. We’ve reviewed thousands of agency proposals and are often with clients in “the room where it happens”. We’ve learned a lot and had deep conversations with many of […]
Win more business with prospect-centric agency proposals
Proposals that win are focused on what the buyer needs. It takes serious work to write a proposal that way! It takes a change in approach. It takes a new focus and a new process. Here is a simple process that ensures your focus is on what the prospect needs. Try the following approach and […]
3 Quick Tips for Better Case Studies
Case studies are important tools in an agency’s sales process. In our work, we often see cases that only tell part of the story, miss key elements or are simply uninteresting. And we see agencies often send “canned” case studies that either lack relevance or the relevance is not obvious. We’ve seen it all. And, […]
Attention & Ad Effectiveness: topics marketers & agencies need to discuss
What should marketers and their agencies be discussing right now? Everyone is talking about AI. That is a given. Measurement and data are certainly popular topics. Those discussions all make sense. There are two other topics that marketers and their agencies should be discussing right now. Marketing and advertising have never been more complicated! If […]
How to Establish an Insights Function by Elizabeth Oates: More Than Just Interesting
Much has been written about insights. But how does a marketer or agency build an insights function that delivers results on behalf of the organization time and time again? The answer to that question is now over, as Eliabeth Oates’ new book More Than Just Interesting is available. The Mercer Island Group team was lucky […]
Retired P&G CEO John Pepper discusses his 1980 document: Characteristics of Successful P&G Managers
In 1980, as he was approaching a new role running P&G’s entire European operation, John sat down and wrote out the principles that he had learned from his mentors and observed from numerous Procter & Gamble executives. That 40+ year old document is too good to not share, and so John readily agreed that we […]