How to Become an Avant-Garde Advertising Agency

July 21st, 2010 by Dave Aeschliman Categories: Marketing, growth Tags: advertising agency, growth, henry russell bruce, hrb, Marketing, technology

It was once a great agency operated by a dear friend of mine. He’d gathered $230 million in annual billings, 212 employees and monster profits. Within two years he watched his agency implode. Today, his success is but a memory. The entire agency is gone, his historical success failing to transition into the future.

My observation was that his experience became his most notable handicap. He eliminated vision and relied on historical practices. “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke?” He never knew it was breaking. The engine still looked good from the driver’s seat.

I’ve been in this industry for 35 years. At the maturing age of 56, I’ve built a firm and successfully sold it for a tidy profit. But, judging by the death of my friend’s company and the shared struggles that drift in from other friends, it’s time for today’s operating agencies to take the hardest look in the mirror that they’ve ever taken.

Monster marketing trends are impacting our industry and it’s extremely important that we pay attention to them. And like most businesses I’ve worked with, the more successful an agency’s history, the more likely they are to ignore the need to rebundle themselves as their marketplace moves right out from underneath them.

Today’s marketing megatrends include the following:

a) An increasing devaluation of an agency’s creative and Web design roles as internal staff members assume some of those responsibilities;

b) An increasing demand from clients for agencies to participate in increasingly complex strategic growth plans;

c) A communication revolution of technology, message sending and message digestion that lends itself to a confusing array of what Web services and traditional marketing tactics might still work;

d) A global marketing expansion that brings new external and internal environments to client companies, each accompanied by new challenges in people, product, pricing, packaging, positioning and most notably, performance;

e) A substantial movement in the marketplace of buyers and prospects as shifting populations, economies and technologies continue to change who a client’s customers might be;

f) A growing demand for more accountability of agencies’ work; and

g) A huge move from mass marketing controlled by message sender to relationship-based marketing controlled by message recipient.

As such, agencies’ roles are rapidly changing. Traditional and creative values—while still a very high expectation—are no longer the only aspects included in today’s successful communication campaigns. Our clients are asking for MORE, not less. They’re asking for complex proposals that include a delicate mix of traditional media, emerging media and creative design elements.

Realizing these needs, we’ve decided to “rebundle” our own brand to not only set an example for our clients but also showcase our awareness of such trends. To lead the charge into change, HRB recently leaned up our core historical staff to reflect marketplace trends. We’ve hired a number of younger, hands-on innovators who can utilize Facebook, Twitter, SEO, Internet marketing, e-mail marketing, blogs, mobile marketing and all other “new” and “emerging” communications channels into an effective marketing campaign. We’ve also started a division called Growth, wherein new client relationships are born by establishing a measurable growth goal, conducting exhaustive research and contemplative analysis and concluding with a written strategic growth plan that entails all things “sales” and all things “marketing.”

The frosting on the cake is that HRB now offers its clients a pay-for-performance reimbursement relationship should they choose to participate in goal-based, long-term strategic planning. This is NOT just another service; it’s a complete rebundling of who HRB is and what it offers its clientele. It doesn’t get any bolder than that.

Feedback from the clients who have jumped at the opportunity to develop a comprehensive sales and marketing growth plan are heralding the new approach. “We were once just a middle-of-the-road player in our industry,” said one HRB client. “Writing and following a strategic growth plan has steadily moved us to a leadership position within our industry. The directness, the honesty and the outside perspective that HRB has bundled into a methodical plan has tremendous value.”

The most noted value, according to clients, is the powerful understanding of agency principals that allow their business to grow and profit. They have products to sell and they are now utilizing an impressive array of sales and marketing forces that can make them a powerful client ally. And remember, where value trades hands, so should money.

There’s no better reason to reflect on what your agency is offering and what difference those offerings are making to your bottom line.

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