1. Agencies & Advertising

2. Ad Agencies Vital part of the marketing mix. Can make or break you. Are a business, often with their own agendas.

3. Profit Motive They can suck up 20% or more of your budget. Have multiple layers of management, each with their finger in your wallet.

4. Agency Structure Senior Partners Vice President of Account Vice President of Creative Account Directors Account Supervisor Creative Team Account Manager

5. What Motivates Creatives Making wildly creative ads they can put on their “reel”. Peer recognition & trophies.

6. What Motivates Agency Management Money

7. Coke’s 1995-97 Experiment Changed the fee structure of all agencies to reward business results, not just cranking out ads and billing us. Most agencies saw their “guaranteed” money slashed by up to 50%.

8. Key’s To Getting Great Work Have a solid positioning statement with real benefits and “reason why”. Give the creative team freedom. Encourage, cheerlead. Give them access to ALL Information. Give them access to ALL research and consumer insight that led to the creation of your positioning strategy.

9. Common Blunders Trying to rush the process. Giving too much direction / suggesting. Communicating your own “creative” ideas.

10. Reviewing Creative Always look at the ads from a STRATEGIC perspective first, not creative. Only THE MOST SENIOR person is allowed to make creative critique.

11. Typical Ad Review Meeting Account Manager reviews strategy. Senior management offers perspective and how great the work you’re going to see is. Creative Team presents several concepts / storyboards. Brand team offers feedback. Discussion. Decision on next steps.

12. Flags to Watch Out For Agency “watering down” your strategy. Creative that gets in the way of the message. Crappy creative.

13. Origin of The Six Deadly Sins Began with Olympic Sponsor Advertising Review – 1960 to 1994. Expanded to reviewing virtually all categories in 1997.

14. The Six Deadly Sins Pride (Slapping Your Logo Everywhere) Gluttony (irrelevant pretty pictures). Envy (mimics competitions ads) Greed (over sells / over promises) Sloth (acting trendy when your product isn’t) Wrath (angry, accusatory, intimidating)