“Ad Big Wig”

I've been traveling a lot lately for business, both domestically and overseas. I've met many fellow small-agency owners along the way and had a chance to talk shop with them. There have been a lot of groans and glum facial expressions -- but no smiles or wide-eyed looks. How sad.

"Will Ad Age notice a 3-year-old interactive agency based in Arkansas?" That was the question that crossed my mind last spring as the application for Small Agency of the Year sat on my desk, mixed in a stack of RFPs, resumes and reports. We were confident of our mettle, but if I'm honest, I wondered it if it was worth my time.

Last year, we held the first ever Ad Age Small Agency Awards. This year, we're adding a little something extra: a conference.

Results. They're what every client wants and what every agency promises. At the end of the day, they are truly the alpha and the omega of our business. And far too often, in spite of the pomp and pageantry, they somehow get lost in the daily lives of agency folk.

As long as there is a need for an idea, there is a demand for what we do. In other words, we will always be in business as long as we create new ways to communicate brand stories.

I'm not superstitious by nature, but when it comes to building an advertising agency, I've found a couple of magic numbers: 12, 30 and 55. They represent the number of employees that both change the structure of the agency and how you manage the business.

My fellow columnist Peter Madden wrote a well thought-out piece on the effectiveness of Tiger Wood's apology event last week. Well thought-out, but off the mark as well. I don't think Woods gained much from his performance at all.

Our competitive drive seems to have created an unfortunate trend toward agencies holding out broader expertise than they can possibly muster, which contributes greatly to client cynicism and the commoditization of our industry.

As the communicators, we're taught that public relations is the art of positioning through communications. Communications in this sense is everything from what was said, not said, and the visual presentation. In the case of Tiger's redemption party (or more like a wake), the following is my take on what was a highly-crafted and highly-effective pre […]

In the advertising business, we take similar approaches to winning business: for a pitch, we practice, practice, practice. And then we do our thing in front of the client (the equivalent of the Olympics judges).