44Admap
December 2004
© World Advertising Research Center 2004
agencystrategy
A
GENCIES, LIKE EVERYTHINGelse, are brands. Yet, of the thou-sands of firms that call themselves‘advertising agencies’, painfully few havea unique reputation of any kind. Agenciesneed to do for themselves what they dofor their clients: build a strong, distinctivebrand. But they are usually so eager to bea ‘full-service integrated agency’ that theytry to stand for everything.Open the pages of a typical agencybrochure and you see language like this:‘Jones & Smith is a full-service integratedmarketing communications firm servinga wide range of clients in a variety of industries. From advertising to publicrelations, sales promotion to Internetmarketing, we’re dedicated to generatingresults for our clients through smartstrategic thinking and creative marketingsolutions.’What agency does not promise strate-gic thinking, creative solutions, andresults? Language like this does absolute-ly nothing to set one agency apart fromanother, not to mention the use of shop-worn terms like ‘full-service’ and‘integrated’. Is it any wonder that mostclients have no idea what distinguishesone agency from another? Standing foreverything is just another way of stand-ing for nothing.
The middle of the road isa dangerous place
There is a stretch of highway in the Utahdesert that is an absolutely straight linefor 40 miles. If you drive this long, lonelyroad at night, you experience what thelocals call ‘white line fever’. The whitedividing lines take on a mesmerisingquality, and you begin to drift to the mid-dle of the road just to stay awake. Asbrands, advertising agencies have thistendency – to move to the middle.Branding your agency means movingfrom the middle and taking a side. It meansrealising that you can not ‘boil the ocean’. If you do not claim a position, you will bepositioned simply by your geographiclocation – which is no position at all.It is like a client who wants everythingin an ad to be of equal size – the photo, theheadline, the copy and the logo. Smartagencies remind their clients that allemphasis is no emphasis. But the same istrue for agencies. By trying to appeal toeveryone, they appeal to no one.When it comes to defining a brand,agencies must not only decide what theyare, but what they are not. It troublesmany agency professionals to realise thatthe goal of defining a strong agency brandis not to try to appeal to a larger numberof clients, but fewer. In other words, if youtransform your agency from a commodi-ty into a brand, not everybody will be aprospective client. Some clients will beattracted to you and some will not. That isalright, because the ones who are attract-ed are strongly attracted. And that is whatgives an agency its competitive advan-tage.
Doing what you do best
Another way of looking at the issue of branding for agencies is to ask: ‘What rea-son can we give prospective clientsoutside our market to do business withus?’ Most agency-client relationships arethe result of proximity – you simply hap-pen to be close by. But what about thelarger accounts (with more money) thatare hundreds of miles away? If you wantthose kinds of clients, you will not getthem by being just another ‘full-serviceagency’. For a start, consider a few ques-tions:
1.
What kind of clients have you beenmost successful in attracting in the past?
2.
In what areas do you have superiorknowledge or expertise?
3.
What do you do particularly well, per-haps better than most other agencies?
4.
What do you most enjoy doing? Whatdo you hate doing?
5.
What business are you really in?
6.
What is the one thing your agency ismost known for?
7.
What kind of focus would you chooseif you were starting your agency for thefirst time?
Planting a stake in the ground
Why have traditional department storesin the US died, while niche players likeHome Depot, PetsMart and Office Maxhave thrived? It is a story of the general-ist vs the specialist. The same thinkingcan be applied to professional servicefirms. In fact, there are a number of ways agencies can differentiate them-selves in a ‘commoditised’ agencyworld.
Focusing on a discipline
One of themost obvious (but also most effective)ways to focus a marketing communica-tions organisation is to be expert in adiscipline. Direct marketing has longbeen a specialty, as have sales promotion,recruitment advertising, public relationsand design. In the last decade, interactiveagencies have appeared on the scene,along with the more recent phenomenonof brand consultancies.Other interesting examples are theagencies that do ‘creative only’, ‘mediaonly’, ‘ideas only’, ‘strategy only’ or ‘pro-
Tim Williams
, Ignition Consulting Group, argues that agencies need to think harderabout how they position themselves, to be effective marketers of their services
Practicing what you preach
‘Of the thousandsof firms that callthemselves‘advertisingagencies’, painfullyfew have a uniquereputation of anykind. Agencies needto do for themselveswhat they dofor their clients:build a strong,distinctive brand’
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