I received an email overnight from Euro RSCG on:

Euro RSCG and The National Media Group Discuss
The Importance of Branding: The Cautionary Tale of the Bailout

Considering the global newsworthiness of this topic, Euro RSCG had seized the opportunity to make a valuable and relevant contribution to the discussion.

Many times when we are running agency search and selection projects for clients, unsuccessful agencies will ask for advice on how they can better position themselves with clients?

The answer is by being relevant, interesting and memorable. The Euro RSCG email reproduced below does all of that.

Continue reading "How to position your advertising agency as relevant to the modern world" »

Digital, online and interactive communications are increasingly important to marketers as technology becomes increasingly important to the way consumers communicate.

Yet in selecting the right digital, online ort interactive provider, advertisers are faced with a very clear choice: do you choose the company that has a technology base and has become a commuications company or do you go with a communications company that is adding a technology capability to it?

Continue reading "A digital company that becomes and agency or an agency that learns technology?" »

In The Australian today, Simon Canning has drawn attention to the Campaign Brief blog.

Campaign Brief is the national and regional magazine of the advertising creative community, often referred to in agency pitches to new clients because they publish a "creativity index" for agencies based on awards one against size (based on the out-dated billing metric). Mind you it is only agencies ranked highly on creativity (ie Have won a lot of awards - sometimes for the one campaign entered into multiple awards) that use this reference.

However, reading through the Campaign Brief blog it seems it has become a "slagging" match to see who can put down their competitors, all with the protection of anonimity.

It is a pity this creative energy could not be harnessed more effectiveness to build the reputation of the industry by delivering outstanding creative solutions. But perhaps it is just a reflection of how many creatives are more focused asnd obsessed by winning Awatds rather than doing great creative for their clients' business.

Author: Darren Woolley

Having managed and facilitated a significant number of media and creative agency reviews, it is clear that the agencies that position themselves in the prospective client's mind are ahead of the rest when it comes to new business. But what does it mean to position your agency?
1. Become a brand
During a pitch, the client, due to lack of time, wanted to hold eight credentials meetings in one day. After eight 45-minute meetings, the client had trouble distinguishing one agency from the next. Company names were forgotten. Individual names were forgotten. Instead they resorted to using the physical attributes of members of the agency team. "The tall, bald guy with the stripe shirt, white collar and glasses" became the functional discriminator for one agency. However, one agency, that went on to win the business, had left the client with a clear brand positioning. The client kept referring to them as the "Challengers" because their presentation focused on how they were driven by taking on challenges and winning. Not a bad thing to be remembered for.
2. Consistent is more important than correct
In building and maintaining our database of agencies, we spend many hours talking with agencies about their philosophy, attributes and positioning. Most can spiel off a huge list of attributes but few can clearly articulate a philosophy or positioning. Some have just not spent any time thinking about such things, while others are suffering from analysis paralysis. It is like the agency Christmas card, party invitation and credentials document, everyone has an opinion about what is should be, yet no-one can agree and so there is no focus or single point of positioning. But consistent is more important than unique or correct. In a market category as undifferentiated as advertising, any positioning can be better than no positioning. And it must be a positioning, not simply a functional attribute.
3. Prove your positioning
If you have a positioning for your agency brand, then you need to develop the resources to help prove and substantiate that positioning. To take ownership of that positioning, which will most likely not be unique, you need to develop proof of concept. Do this through the collection of case studies with existing or past clients, through anecdotes and stories and through reference to business and industry trends, theories and developments. This process anchors your agency brand in reality, it is not just a theory or concept you made up one day. While a client can emotionally connect to your positioning, they will need to have proof of concept to justify their choice.
4. Talk to your audience about your brand
Just as the builder has the unfinished home renovation, companies in the communications business can be notoriously bad at communicating. Often agency principals will say that they focus on championing their clients, and that is noble. So here is the solution - make your agency brand one of your clients. Appoint a marketer and then service the business as you would a client. Channel planning is the hot attribute - so look at all the channels that impact your target audience and make sure you have a consistent brand expression in every channel. It makes a powerful argument that you understand brands and channel communications when your number one case study is yourself. Likewise, it is completely undermining when you don't practice what you preach.
5. Have brand champions
It is not just enough to decide on a positioning for your agency brand, you need to actually make it happen. The ideal way to do this is to develop and recruit brand champions within the agency and outside the agency from amongst your clients, the trade media and other industry connectors. These are people who develop and propagate your positioning through the market. Think of them as that elusive and much desired communication channel - WOM (word of mouth). Most advertisers know three agency brands - the one they are with, the one they left and the one they want to work with. Your job is to try and cement your brand into that position.

Author: Darren Woolley

When reviewing their business many advertisers ask if they should include the incumbent in the pitch process? The answer to this is easy and based on the following:
1. Is it a review because the current relationship is damaged?
2. Has the incumbent be given several opportunities to improve?
3. Does the incumbent have no chance of being successful?
4. Has the incumbent demonstrated the highest professional integrity?
If you answer YES to each of these then you should not include the incumbent in the review process. Why?
1. It is a waste of their time and their resources will be further diverted from your business during the process.
2. Including them in the process will not ensure a smooth transition as at some point you will have to tell them they are unsuccessful and they could feel deceived.
3. Including any candidate just to make up the numbers reduces your opportunity to find the best supplier.
It does not seem too hard. But it is amazing how many people struggle with this.

Author: Darren Woolley

It amazes me the number of marketers that think of changing their agency like they change their underwear. Sure, this could be a sign of the level of disatisfaction many marketeers feel towards their agency, but changing horses does not always lead to a better ride home.

Author: Colin Haycock