Roy Reid, Managing Partner at Consensus Communications gave (is giving now) a great presentation on corporate ethics. For more info from Roy, contact him at Roy@onmessage.com. They’re the best.
The uneasy relationship between agencies and purchasing departments reminds me of the country duet sung by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly." Together, agencies and purchasing have created an antagonistic dynamic that drives each other crazy. The spoils will go to the agencies that figure out how to extricat […]
Why is it that we always have to feel as though we know everything all the time? When we let go and just realize that we really don't know everything, new opportunity presents itself.
We recently were invited to participate in an online RFP issued by one of our longest-standing clients. We weren't offended by the RFP -- we've been through the cycle before. But this time it was different. This time it was fully automated -- no personal contact, just data into a machine. And this time it wasn't an RFP for creative production. […]
One of the chief complaints of small agencies is that we don't have budgets big enough to do great work. We look to the winners in our award shows as proof. And that is usually where we are slapped in the face for our lack of commitment to be brilliant.
In the old days, we waited for the work to slow down before kicking into high gear to promote ourselves. It was an intermittent and isolated activity. Over time, we made two changes to the process: First, we hired a kick-ass director of new business. The second change was to make social media the foundation of our marketing strategy.
A few weeks ago, this tweet crossed my path: "agency advising on digital branding that isn't active in the digital space is like a virgin showing a hooker the ropes."
One of the tricks I learned is called the "read in." This is where the talent says something completely out of left field to get the mind and voice ready to deliver the copy well.
If Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno and David Letterman consistently get their comedic material from today's pharmaceutical commercials, something is wrong.
Jay Chiat is a man that we could use today because there is a lot of fear in our industry. Fear breeds mediocrity and careers of such men as Jay Chiat prove that there is no excuse for mediocrity.
When I recently tried to enter our agency, Partners & Napier, in Ad Age's Small Agency Awards, I came to a realization: In just five years, our agency had tripled in size, outgrowing the "small" category. With $15 million in revenue and nearly 130 employees, we are still too small to be a big agency but too big to be a small one. Yet it fe […]