smaller agencies are not a dying breed

I recently read an article in New Media Age discussing the fact that Digital agencies and that of the smaller agencies are a dying breed, and that there are less pitches this year because of the fact that the ad agencies have geared up and taken the larger share of the market.

http://www.nma.co.uk/are-smaller-digital-agencies-losing-out?

well here is my response....

I don't think its the end of the small digital agency and I speak from first hand experience. As an owner of a small agency we are finding the markets tough but as always, I believe that being smaller and nimbler allows greater creativity, which in itself brings greater rewards. We are not bound by politics and protocol, our free spirit and willingness to push boundaries for our clients ensures that we are at the forefront of our industry, There is and always will be a lot of average work being produced by the so called big agencies, Clients unsurprisingly like to work with the large agencies because it gives them a get of jail for free card when it all goes wrong, The death of the small digital agency is not yet upon but clients need to understand that smaller agencies deliver greater creativity, greater love and increased value. As for the Cyber Lions this year the judges need to start to look outside the realms of big brands and look at the value and creativity being produced for real people in a real world that is outside of the M25.

Choose the right agency

One of the hardest things to do is to choose a Digital Marketing agency. Here's why:

In the traditional advertising world, the scales are semi-balanced. You have both client and agency who were both schooled with similar material (education) and enough years of background (and experience) that both are educated, informed and fairly clear on what can be delivered (and how). Even though we've been at this Digital Marketing thing for over a decade, it's still fairly nascent and as the channels and platforms develop, it's not easy to stay ahead – let alone have extensive experience in what is now considered, "traditional online marketing" (i.e. display advertising, email marketing, search marketing, affiliates, etc…).

Here are 7 tips on how to best choose a Digital Marketing agency (not in terms of the agency and their level of competence, but in terms of what the client needs to know):

1. Size and work - know the Digital Marketing agency in terms of size (how many people they are and how many offices they have) and type of work (if you're calling them it should be because of something you heard or work you have seen them do) prior to connecting. Usually the company website or a quick call in to one of their junior account people will give you an indication if it's a right fit.
2. Define what you're looking for – the client does not have to be an expert to be clear on what they're looking for. We have all seen agencies not score the business simply because the client was not clear in scoping what their expectations are for the proposal. If, as the client, you feel like you may even be too remedial to be clear on the definition/scope of work, allocate some dollars to working with a consultant (or digital marketing agency) on education and proposal definition. It will be money well spent.
3. Budget - have a budget range in mind. It's not something the client is going to be held to, but more often than not, a budget range is a great indication of whether the client and the agency have a good fit. As an example, some clients might feel that a 50k budget is healthy, while some agencies might not be able to even get started for less than 150k. A budget range is a great "feeler" to see if it's a good fit.
4. Use your human voice – it's not always possible to do business in-person, so at the very least, do it by phone - especially when it comes to the more major moments like bringing the agency in for a presentation, having them present the proposal, accepting a proposal or rejecting the proposal. There is nothing more impersonal than working for weeks on a proposal, adjusting it based on conference calls, re-presenting it, responding to additional concerns and then, ultimately, being told in a two-sentence email that it's not going to work out. We frown on "Dear John" letters in our personal lives, we should frown on them in our business lives as well.
5. Be clear - on your final decisions. Whether the client accepts or rejects the proposal, have some clear reasons for the agency. Let the agency know what you expect from them should you decide to move forward, or let them know where they fell short. There's no way for the agency to improve (on both client services and on their pitches) unless the client lets them know the reasons – no matter the outcome and no matter how painful it might be for the agency to hear. Having a bullet-point and detailed list/document is also a great idea.
6. Don't lie – if you reject an agency, don't say that it is due to "lack of experience" if what really happened is that you never had the budget to engage them, but still wanted to see what dollar amount they would come back with. It's a waste of both the client's and agencies time. It also does not benefit anyone. A truly professional organization (no matter the size) should offer the professional courtesy of being honest (even if that means taking some lumps and admitting you were wrong).
7. Be honest from the outset – promises of additional budget, access to other brands, word of mouth referrals and more, are all fine and dandy, but none of that is going to happen unless the agency delivers superior work. Don't string the agency along or make those promises upfront. Everyone is busy and in the services industry time is (literally) money. Being clear and honest from the outset (on all of the points mentioned above) will create the lifeblood for a long and prosperous relationship.

Golf "A game of the mind"

The golfing club championships are this weekend and I can't help feeling that it is the most important golfing weekend of the year for me. Yes I take it seriously and yes I am desperate to get down to single figures, but the fact that I have taken a week off this week and only practiced my short game shows that I am keen to do well.

Problem is it could all go out of the window by the 4th hole on day one, many a man have suffered on this tricky par 3, one of the hardest in England and an absolute bastard to get to the green safely.

Suffice to say I have started to read the Dr Bob Rotella books which is all about golf physcology and preparing your mind for the game of golf, forget quirky swings, dodgy putting strokes, he reckons that by adapting some simple mind techniques and staying in the present on each shot (never in the past, or future) then your game will come on leaps and bounds by always remembering great shots and not bad.

At first I found this methodology hard to grasp but then it clicked into place one weekend when on the first hole my playing partner had an absolute mare, lost his first ball let the ladies through, went back to play three of the tee after accusing the fourball on the 18th of hitting his ball and then had a tantrum and wind him and everybody else up for the next 4 holes.

Suffice to say that my great drive was sitting on the fairway and anybody who knows Brampton knows that despite your drive your second can easily get you in to trouble and ruin your round. So what did I do?...

I noted the morning before the game a series of points to get me through the round,

• stay in the present
• stick to your routine
• one shot at a time
• remember you last great golf shot on the hole your are playing
• enjoy it
• remember when you have hit the ball there is nothing you can do

So sat on the first fairway with my nice shiny prov1 sat in prime position I waited got my little book out and read my notes over and over, I smiled at the fact that my partner was winding himself up, safe in the knowledge that the more he wind himself up then the calmer I would become. I laughed and chatted with the ladies as we let them through, tried to calm down my playing partner, but most importantly I stopped myself from thinking about my next shot, until I was ready to play it.

The next thing to remember was be clincal with your decision making process, I did just that from when I arrived at my ball and before all the commotion I had decided to take a 5 wood. I stuck with the decision and tried to remain confident that it was the right one. Infact I was almost arrogant about the decision I had made.
I visualised the shot, went into my routine, and then hit the ball, as sweet as you could imagine.

The ball flew into the air fading from left to right to move away from the big oak tree protecting the green in the right. It landed plum in the middle of the green 195 yards of pure magic and more importantly I felt content and happy in the knowledge that I had taken on board Dr Bobs advice.

I am glad to say I made Par and went onto shoot a net 69 and that was with a nine at the par 4 16th. What pleased me more I applied the same mental thinking after that hole and said oh well play the next 2 holes well and you will still get a cut so take the positives. I went par par which was even more pleasing.

This year I have come down from 14 to 10.7 in three months all since I read the book, safe to say it is working, so please ensure you read Dr Bobs Books they have helped me and now I am looking forward to the Club Championships already knowing that I can play well and even if I don't I just understand and accept that its not my day

Making the Leap

When this Blog idea came about I wasn’t sure what to write but it’s given me a good chance to say my farewell to a place I’ve been where I’ve been the Head of Interactive Development…cough…GEEK....cough….. for just over a year and have been able to get much much better in my field, work with really big clients and all without compromising my ‘no to corporate machine’ ideals. Best of all I’ve made some good friends. So it seems that I better explain why I’m Folking Off…sorry.

I’ve decided to make the leap to go and work and live in Vancouver, Canada for the next year. I have a girlfriend in Vancouver you see, sorry that sounds like I have lots of girlfriends in other cities as well, so I guess I should say my one and only girlfriend lives in Vancouver and I’m heading there to live with her.

At 26 I see this as the best point in my life to do this. While the main reason for my trip is to live with my girlfriend, Vancouver is a great city with a great graphics reputation so is perfect for me as a working experience. I’ve always thought if the chance is there to work abroad then everyone should take it, especially when you’re young, Matt, Folk’s MD, will concur with this, he worked and lived in Kuala Lumpur a while back.

Anyway, as I said I’m 26 not 46 I’m not just going there to settle down and work. I’m going to be having enough fun to make all my Facebook friends and Twitter followers jealous with by skiing, swimming, hiking, cycling and sampling all the culinary delights and of course drinking the local lagers – and there are hell of a lot. Although I’ll try to not get totally shitfaced and embarrass myself every night, like when I went to Australia at aged 19, but that’s a whole other story!

I’ve really enjoyed my time at Folk and hope that I’ll be working here again in some way or another.

Different people have told me that I’m either brave or crazy. I like to think I’m a bit of both, I can’t really think of any of my friends who would do this, but then none of them are in this situation so I can’t judge. As this is a Blog I guess I should be promoting a discussion of some sort so my question is, am I brave or crazy? I don’t want to influence your answer anymore but I’m cycling up 3 mountains around Vancouver, Cypress, Seymour and Grouse………..I’ll leave you to be the judge.

Cheers

Greg Conn, Head of Interactive Development, Folk Creative

The wisdom of superior

According to the recently published Salary Survey in Marketing Week, marketing remains a young profession, so how does the wisdom of senior marketers get passed on to others within their company before they move on to pastures new? We look at how senior staff, with heavy workloads, can find the time and motivation to coach junior employees. And as so many marketing departments are full of those under 40, does this mean that sometimes there are no older, and wiser, marketers available to ask for advice? In which case, how should marketers best learn the secrets of the successful campaigns of the past?

I can only comment from the perspective of a young, passionate marketer - I don't have the age to call myself a superior but I do have the years of experience to find myself able to comment on this and pass on my 'wisdom'.

During my time as a marketer, I have continuously found that its one thing to enjoy your job, but that just 'enjoying' you job will never enable you to 'cut it' and move upwards swiftly, learn from the wisdom of others or pass on your wisdom. Enjoyment is a considerably passive state, whereas I would say that passion drives you and is an active emotion - the sort that enables you to learn more and dictate your career movements. You either have the passion or you don't and in such as creative and increasingly prominent field, this will set you apart from those just enjoying the job and pass this wisdom on. Wisdom defined as 'the ability to discern or judge what is true, right and lasting' can't be learnt. Wisdom and passion can't be learnt or forced and if you are passionate about something, you are eager and enthusiastic to learn more about it from others and subsequently pass on your knowledge to others.

Is not necessarily age that dictates wisdom, especially in workplaces that are getting younger and younger, but experience. It may be the case that older marketers are important to watch and learn from for the basics skills, but the succe

Imedia Agency Summit 2009 Review

Its taken a while to get this down on paper because I have been rather busy of late running around post The Agency imedia Summit (Brighton). But I thought that it was important to put down in words my opinions and thoughts of the event and whether mingling with some of the most renowned agencies in the UK has helped me to better understand my perceptions and feelings towards my industry.

As usual within the agency world you have some serious B**********S and characters full of their own self importance and work, then you have, just normal down to earth people that are doing great work and just getting on with it. Some were more vocal than others but by the end, I kind of got the feeling that we were all really non the wiser for truly understanding where our industry and media was going.

The big topic was social media and to be quite frank, nobody discussed or talked about it eloquently, infact most agencies when pressed didn't even know where it was going and rather than discuss it we just seemed to go round and round in circles trying to fathom what it was and how we were going to embrace it. It surprised me post the event to see that like true honest marketeers that we are, the same agencies I was having discussions with over bacon and egg were priding themselves as social media experts even though they admitted their limitations to the forum hours earlier.

Although somewhat at first negative and hesitant I thought the summit was a great success, for years I have been trying to fight the corner of small independents being heard, as always at these events the loudest and biggest get heard but Imedia must be applauded for allowing the smaller agencies a voice. For the first time, I felt like I had a platform to voice the opinions of us smaller and down to earth agencies who are not interested in building empires but just want to produce work for the masses and do it in a way that isn't brash or trying to win a back slapping industry award but doing for the real consumers. What it did allow agencies like ourselves to do was understand the bigger issues that clients and technology faces and creatively working together there is a lot we are able to do together to combat these issues somehow though I can't see Ogilvey or VCCP inviting me in for coffee to discuss there latest campaigns and how we might work together to improve the product.

One word that kept cropping up was ideas, the hub of all communication. I think this event only reinforces and supports the fact that without inspiration, thought leadership and great ideas we cannot produce the great work and constantly change and evolve the digital media landscape. For this reason alone I have come to realise that the small independents are the backbone of the marketing and creative world and long may that continue.

On another note, David Crystal's speech was inspiring, clever and incredibly informative. Semantic targeting just goes to prove that with clever insight and passion, great ideas can be realised. I would like to have seen a series of addresses where future technologies (Brands) and agencies are commissioned to put a series of reports together which via a presentation can inform but also create dialogue with an audience.

Suffice to say I have now been asked to put together a presentation at this years Ad tech as well as appearing on the panel at the Imedia Brand summit. Research, insight, creativity, entrepreneurship, and consumer insight always helps the creative process and to have increased involvement and debate via these topics would have provided a great way of discussing and raising the profile of the event.

Events like this one are informative and created lively debate which helped to build profile but more importantly informed and helped the audience to create ideas that they could take to there clients.

Long Live Imedia....

Money talks

Every high street bank has undergone a brand redesign in recent years. Modern banking, from the services Tesco offers to Egg, is full of new products and providers, so that financial branding is not the straightforward, traditional enterprise of old.

Contemporary design is now crucial in the finance sector. Everyone is interested in money, yet consumers tend to switch off when financial firms discuss the intricacies of money management. This means that the symbols finance companies use, and the way that they use them, are vital to make their brand stand out.

Folk discusses branding and design in the finance sector, and shows how it can be applied effectively through all elements of communications, from signage through to advertising.

“ Today, working with the finance industry, especially in insurance, there is a real level of mistrust from the general public; they think insurance companies are just ripping them off. You therefore have to angle your branding to be appealing and up to date.

The public don’t trust insurance people, they think that when they make a claim they’ll have to fight tooth and nail for their money and that its dead money –they are throwing it away as they won’t get anything back. Your branding therefore has to get through this level of mistrust.

So many brochures and collateral we looked at were really patronizing and talked at, not to people - it was all clichéd imagery; blue sky, blurred images of boys jumping around on a beach. Everyone plays on inspirational/aspirational values of life which doesn’t work anymore, perhaps it worked in the late 80’s/early 90’s but not now.

Contemporary design is out of the question now, it’s gone full circle. More honest, down to earth and gritty is what people want now and we’ve therefore been trying to motivate our financial clients to go down this route.

Perhaps if you’re dealing with big clients contemporary design could work as there’s an overall proposition, for example the big blue chips, but with the smaller companies and the day to day issues, it becomes less pertinent”.