by Next Wave Team | May 3, 2012 | How To Select An Ad Agency, Insights, The Pitch on AMC
[contains spoilers] We here at The Next Wave have our opinions about the second episode of AMC’s The Pitch. While we all look forward to each new episode, we also realize that the reality of advertising and the “made-for-TV” version of it are quite different (as is the case with all reality TV).
This episode features two ad agencies, SK+G from Las Vegas and The Ad Store from New York. They are competing against each other to land Waste Management as a client. You can buy the show or the season on iTunes The Pitch, Season 1 - The Pitch and follow along as we watch 15 agencies work to win 8 accounts (The Ad Store went twice).
We felt that episode 2 was more interesting than the pilot. The “Ah-hah” moment when The Ad Store’s Paul Cappelli came up with the brilliant “Trash Can…” positioning reminded all of us in the biz how great it feels when you get it right and know it.
Of course- when the client falls for dreck from the competition, we can also relate.
We recorded our conversation after the show- and made a podcast and then tried to edit it to 3 minutes to get a feel for what happens with the show. We’d love to hear what you think- and why you agree or disagree with us.
You can listen to full, unedited audio of this discussion here (26 minutes):
[podcast]https://thenextwave.biz/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/the-next-wave-pitch-ep-2-podcast.mp3[/podcast]
What is becoming apparent after two shows is that the clients willing to put their brands up to this are already uncertain with their own marketing. Buying into a one hour “reality TV” stunt will get you an hour in the spot light, but the question that should be asked is who’s watching and if that’s your market. Reaching all the ad pros in America probably isn’t your target market (although if you were an agency pitch consultant it might be good to put your ads on the air).
The agencies are getting exposure that will propel them into their 15 minutes of fame- for some this is good. The twist of coming out on National TV by Cappelli was unexpected- and none of us saw that coming. The bickering between the two SK+G ECD’s was painful to watch. Word online is that Ray Johnson has left Las Vegas for Chicago, although his resume isn’t updated yet. Talking about the miscues of SK+G in this episode would be a rather long post. We’d rather concentrate on the strategic issues that were missed.
The brief from the people at Waste Management was poor. “Making people aware of why we’re different” is unfocused and doesn’t identify which people. Why do they want to “create awareness that Waste Management converts waste into energy” - is it to grow market share, increase recycling? They don’t say what their goals are. The words “viral” and “edgy” should never appear in a brief. The value of Agency Search Consultants is becoming very apparent watching these two clients give their briefs. To give the agency the job to tell the client where they are going isn’t something you do on a first date- it’s something you discuss after you’ve worked together and the agency fully understands the clients DNA and has earned the client’s trust. One week prep is what you do for a fire sale, not a corporate strategy.
We’re not privy to budgets or the resources that the client will make available to the agency, but we felt that the emphasis for a company with an amazing infrastructure of trash trucks, waste containers and employees across the nation was a missed opportunity that neither agency suggested in their presentation.
It’s here where ‘Trash Can…” power this and save the planet etc. became powerful. Not with a guerrilla sign in trash heaps campaign, but printed on every trash can that carries the WM logo. On the sides of their trucks- they have a fleet of roving billboards. Here is a low cost place to start communicating the idea that “Garbageispower.com” which The Ad Store was linking to. This isn’t a campaign where “new media” should be the lead.
The SK+G winning concept of “Waste into WOW!” with it’s reuse of the award winning Reporters without Borders concept of using a QR code and a smart phone to make celebrities??? talk trash? was painfully bad. How much does WM want to spend on print ads - and what celebrities were going to sign up? Trash talking sports stars or trashy d-list celebs?
The “manifesto” video that SK+G presented that “brought tears” to Lynn Brown WM VP of Corporate Communications was another derivative work and although it was a quickly produced agency ripomatic- it’s only window dressing and a one-shot corporate feel good piece that doesn’t solve the long term marketing problem of changing perceptions.
The Ad Store wins the poll
Ultimately, we believe the wrong agency won, as do other ad pros who’ve weighed in on multiple sites. When we went to vote on the AMC Poll- (which went from almost 65-35 to 60-40 since I first voted) shows that a majority of people who were willing to vote picked the Ad Store as well.
by Next Wave Team | Apr 29, 2012 | How To Select An Ad Agency, The Pitch on AMC
We’re looking forward to the premier episode of “The Pitch” on AMC. Not that we believe that the way the show is cut together really shows how great advertising is done, but because we are students of the craft of advertising and always are interested in the process of creating ads- or even spec work (which we always think is a bad idea).
The pilot episode was a pitch for Subway’s breakfast business, where the brief focused the agency work on the 18-24 crowd. As almost always is the case, the quality of the brief guides the work. How Subway decided that they needed to reach 18-24 year olds to sell more breakfast sandwiches was never substantiated which really should have been the first question the agencies asked.
The two brave agencies that went boldly where the truly huge agencies wouldn’t were McKinney in North Carolina and WDCW from California. Both have a substantial portfolio of work and are proven shops capable of doing great work. Subway’s exec team tipped their hand early, showing disrespect for WDCW’s previous work for Quiznos. Almost predictably, McKinney “won” the piece of business, but considering Subway’s never been known for producing any award winning work, it’s just dollars to the bottom line and a great chance for McKinney to get some self promotion.
Which brings us to the “premier” episode for Waste Management. Without talking trash, this isn’t exactly the kind of account that agencies hope to win Cannes hardware with. The two agencies in round two- SK+G from Las Vegas and The Ad Store from NYC aren’t as well known or respected as the round one agencies by their peers. Spend a little time on their sites and you’ll still not know very much about what makes them tick. You’ll also notice that while SK+G has lots of mentions of “The Pitch” on their site, The Ad Store doesn’t mention a thing. Foreshadowing? We’ll see. Neither site shows much prowess at Web 2.0 or social media, so maybe these are the right agencies to pitch Waste Management, who does mention The Pitch on their site. In fact, you’ll probably learn more about Waste Management on their site than you will about the agencies pitching on theirs.
One always should wonder about these “clients” using “The Pitch” as their hiring vehicle. Who is their current agency? Why are they playing spin the bottle for an agency on national television? It’s our belief and experience that the best advertising comes from long term relationships with clients that work with their agency like a respected partner. This show is about as far away from that as it comes.
We’ll have more on Episode 2 after it airs. Anyone else want to bet on the winner now?
by Next Wave Team | Mar 17, 2012 | Careers in Advertising, Creativity, How To Select An Ad Agency
As I sit at home, writing this post (too many interruptions at the office) I realize that when clients are choosing an ad agency, many have no clue on what they are really choosing. In most cases, the overworked and under-recognized copywriters aren’t given a whole lot of thought. One of the first questions for the creative director/CEO/President/Chief Creative officer is to find out where they started in the agency business? The answers should tell you a lot about the agency- if it’s a former copywriter or art director the agency focus will probably be on great creative, if it’s an account planner- strategy may be their lead strength, if it’s a finance person- run, and if it’s a account executive/bag man/sales professional- I’m sure the presentation will be charming.
When it comes to the giants of advertising- and the guy you would want running your ad agency, David Ogilvy belongs on the top of the list. Even though the book is dated, I required all employees to read “Ogilvy on Advertising” for the first 20 years of The Next Wave. I still recommend it- but instead want them to read the excellent “Hey Whipple, Squeze this” by my friend Luke Sullivan first. Ogilvy was a brilliant writer and a consummate ad guy. He understood that you had to eat, sleep and breathe your product in order to do it justice. One of the requirements for working at Crispin Porter + Bogusky according to their employee handbook is that you are an ad person. Ad people are tuned into everything about the business- what accounts are where- and who is doing great work. If you aren’t an ad person you have a job- if you are one- you have a career.
When I stumbled upon this letter from David Ogilvy I knew things hadn’t changed much in the world of advertising. Great ads comes from people who immerse themselves in the work. It may be your most important indicator of what kind of agency you are about to hire:
Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners;
April 19, 1955
Dear Mr. Calt:
On March 22nd you wrote to me asking for some notes on my work habits as a copywriter. They are appalling, as you are about to see:
- I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions. I do all my writing at home.
- I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement which has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.
- I am helpless without research material—and the more “motivational” the better.
- I write out a definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose which I wish the campaign to achieve. Then I go no further until the statement and its principles have been accepted by the client.
- Before actually writing the copy, I write down ever conceivable fact and selling idea. Then I get them organized and relate them to research and the copy platform.
- Then I write the headline. As a matter of fact I try to write 20 alternative headlines for every advertisement. And I never select the final headline without asking the opinion of other people in the agency. In some cases I seek the help of the research department and get them to do a split-run on a battery of headlines.
- At this point I can no longer postpone the actual copy. So I go home and sit down at my desk. I find myself entirely without ideas. I get bad-tempered. If my wife comes into the room I growl at her. This has gotten worse since I gave up smoking.
- I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. This causes me to throw away the first 20 attempts.
- If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy.
- The next morning I get up early and edit the gush.
- Then I take the train to New York and my secretary types a draft. I cannot type, which is very inconvenient.
- I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft. After four or five editings, it looks good enough to show to the client. If the client changes the copy, I get angry—because I took a lot of trouble writing it, and what I wrote I wrote on purpose.
Altogether it is a slow and laborious business. I understand that some copywriters have much greater facility.
Yours sincerely, D.O.
via Letters of Note: I am a lousy copywriter.
The humility of Ogilvy’s letter is quaint. I’ve met other great copywriters and they’ve run the gamut in personality traits, but generally everyone of them is fascinating and perfectly capable of doing many different things. However, I’d beware of those who are really frustrated authors- because if you are writing ads to pay the freight while working on the “great American novel” you probably aren’t really an ad person.
If you are an aspiring copywriter, see number 6 and realize 20 is a low number these days. Another great copywriter who I’ve had the pleasure of working with, Sally Hogshead once wrote 800 headlines for her client, BMW Motorcycles. So get writing.
The other key is to write daily. The day you run out of ideas is the day you die if you are a real copywriter. Blogs make it much easier than it was in David Ogilvy’s day to test your writing chops and get feedback. Real copywriters can’t stop writing- which may explain why I’m sitting at home, writing this post on a Saturday afternoon.
by Next Wave Team | Nov 27, 2010 | 1 to 1 marketing, How To Select An Ad Agency
If there is one thing about the new media landscape that hurts the most, it’s been the demise of local radio. When done well, it’s an art form. When done by corporations- it’s a failure of magnanimous proportions.
If you listen to the gurus of our economic destiny- you’ll keep hearing that small business is our real economic engine, yet- except for the Internet and Google with their adwords, big media has pushed small business away for years.
What brought this to mind was the very first example in “The Art of Client Service” by Robert Solomon. It’s in the introduction- not even one of the “58 Things every advertising and marketing professional should know” that’s made the book a classic in the business. He describes the handing off of a client from one rep to another. In the umpteen corporate “reorganizations” and new “Sales Managers” grand plans to make Clear Channel somehow better- they forgot about the customer. The one who has a relationship- face to face with the people who buy their product.
It’s not just the radio station, the newspaper does the same thing as do the television stations and the cable companies. Some genius forgets that business is built with interpersonal relationships- and that you can’t change them without the consent of both parties. Good relationships aren’t arranged marriages, but the result of building trust over time.
Your bottom line will only be as good as your front line- the relationship between your company and your customers isn’t created in a board meeting or at corporate HQ, it’s forged by your sales people who press the flesh and write the orders and bag the groceries.
It’s in how you deliver your product or service, with a personal touch. Small business still understands- big business, doesn’t.
by Next Wave Team | Jan 10, 2009 | Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Future of advertising, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing
I thought about writing this post in 140 character Haiku- but that would be tough and time consuming. Twitter is fast and instant. The simple answer to “What are you doing” can be the ultimate test bed for concepts to our attention deficit audiences. Want to find out what people think: test it on your followers.
Leading tweetheads can make hits magically appear on a site in minutes with a 140 character or less tweet with a link. Launching a new product? Want to test a headline? Tweet the variations to different audiences and see what hits show up. A whole new practice of market research will appear- with the ability to get almost instant feedback.
Soon PR and ad agencies will be evaluated by their social network juice. How many people can you connect to who will work as brand evangelists? Crispin Porter & Bogusky launched Subservient Chicken for Burger King when the agency was 150 staffers- by just emailing their friends about the site. Quickly, the site ended up on top of the viral site hall of fame list. Now the agency is at 600+ employees.
While Twitter is still only reaching a small subset of the population at large, it’s reaching the all critical early-adopter, influencer crowd. So along with client lists and credentials, maybe hiring an agency should also involve checking out their social networks. Friends, followers and connections are the new currency of media power- and a great 140 character (or less) headline will be critical.
by Next Wave Team | Nov 14, 2008 | How To Select An Ad Agency
We had a potential client come in to meet with us today. The meeting wasn’t very productive because we failed to give them a preparation checklist. Our mistake is your gain, because here is a primer for how a small business can get the most out of an ad agency interview.
Picking an advertising agency isn’t like a date, it’s more like a marriage, only the divorce can be much less painful if you plan properly. But, talking about ending the relationship before we start is not a great place to begin- or is it?
Think about your goals in this relationship? When you go into meet with an agency- are you looking for a quick fix to a business problem, or a long term partnership to build your business. We can tell you some stories about quick fixes, but, if this is what you are looking for- let the agency know in advance. The best advertising usually doesn’t come on the first attempt- or even in the first year. It takes time for the agency to learn your business- and for your business to find the right brand voice. Here are some quick things to think about when it comes to prepping for that first meeting:
Who is your competition- and what do they sound like? Bring a list of who you believe to be your competition- and samples of their advertising. Be prepared to discuss what you like or don’t like in their ads.
What makes your company different? Can you make a list of what you do differently than your competition? Can you share some client testimonials or case studies on successes that you’ve had? Differentiation is one of the most powerful tools in marketing. Think about how brands like Harley Davidson or Apple stand out from their competition. Now think about your company- is there a clear differentiation? Is this something you want the agency to help identify or amplify?
What advertising have you done already? Did it work? Do you know how you get the customers you have now? Or if you are a start-up, how do you think you’ll build a customer base? It’s not like “Field of Dreams” -build it and they will come. Please bring all the examples you have of what you’ve done- from brochures to business cards to media buys. This is the first step in establishing the foundation of the relationship.
Are there companies you would like to emulate? Do you have samples of their ads, branding etc? Mostly- this is helpful for the discussion between an agency and a start-up, but, there may be someone who wants to be the Apple of the medical devices industry for instance, where good design and ease of use are critical to their differentiation.
Know why you are meeting with that agency as opposed to the others. There are a lot of agencies out there, all of them quite different. Finding the right one for your business has to do with the size of your agency- and the size of your budget (it’s sad but true). If you are going to be a small, niche, local business- going to a global agency is probably not going to work out. Make sure you research the agency, their work, their client list- and know why you are sitting in their conference room. Don’t be shy- tell them why you like them- and even who else you plan on talking to. Advertising is a pretty small, incestuous community- more than likely, they can guess who else you’ve been talking to- and can probably recommend who you should talk to next.
Never try to cherry pick: Although it may sound like a way to save money, cherry picking some work from one agency and other stuff from another is like being a polygamist. Find a partner who can deliver on most of your needs- and then stick with them. We have a client who thinks that having one company do her graphic design, another do her web development a third do her ads and then tries to buy her printing herself is a great way to save money. What ends up happening is she spends too much time with all her vendors to get the best out of any of them.
Have clear goals for the meeting: know your budget, and what your expectations are. That way, both sides can see right away if it’s going to be mutually beneficial to work together. The last thing you want is to be a client that isn’t worth the agencies time- because you’ll get shuffled off behind other clients if you can’t pay your bills on time, or have realistic ideas about how fast the creative work will work.
Who will own the work. This is the divorce part, and sometimes pre-nups are really good to get out of the way. Many small businesses will need all kinds of print work done- from invoices to brochures. The cost of recreating the files can be prohibitive, so it may be good to stipulate up front, what will belong to you and to the agency. If you make TV spots- who will own the raw footage? Answering these questions now- can save a lot of money at the end.
Lastly- know how much time the agency is willing to donate to this first date, or if you are expected to pay for your consultation. With small budgets, it may be best to ask first how much an hour of the agency’s time is- and be willing to pay for it, you may get some of the best ideas from agencies that won’t let you hire them, but feel indebted to you and share some great thinking.
Remember, one great idea can transform a business. For Nike it was “Just do it”- for Apple it was the idea of a portable mp3 player with a new interface and an integrated music library. In your search for growing your business- remember to keep an open mind on how best to take it to market, and ask the best minds in the business for their ideas. It only takes one really good idea to make you more money than you pay the agency.
