Revolution’s top ten tweeters #10

OK, I’m no Stephen Fry, and I certainly don’t have as many followers as Ashton Kutcher to warrant a verified account – but nevertheless, it was a nice virtual pat on the back to be named alongside some industry heavy weights in  Revolution Magazine’s, Top Ten Tweeters (10th Edition).

I’m a massive advocate of the micro-blogging phenomenon that is, despite what some critics say, still gathering pace. If nothing else, it’s given me a kick up the backside to start blogging a bit more. You’ve been warned.

Revolution Top 10 Tweeters

Progress is impossible without change

Don’t be afraid of losing the good, in search of the great. A saying that can be applied to many situations in life, but also notably to working with the ‘right’ agency.  Back in the day, a digital agency only had to do a couple of things well – build websites and create banner ad campaigns. Chuck in a few semi-successful HTML email broadcasts and that was enough to keep the clients happy.  But Digital has moved on so quickly in the past couple of years, it’s becoming hard (at least for the nonsense agencies) to keep up.  Mention the words ‘strategy’ or ‘engagement’ and see what they come back with.

So how do you know if your agency is any good? – How do you benchmark one against the next? – Is it through their ideas? Their service? Their process to deliver consistently? Or does it simply come down to cost?

It’s tough to keep a handle on how good one agency is over the next, just from peering over the fence at their work.  If the most amazing project was 8 weeks late and shockingly over budget – how does that compare to an agency who delivers to the letter, exactly as promised, every time.

I’ve been exposed to some really great agencies, some good ones and plenty of bad ones- but although this may sound backwards for an Account Handler, whose purpose it is to aid the creation of the best possible output for their client; I urge all client-side decision makers to take a look around – explore the chemistry and creativity of other agencies and see how good your guys really are. Progress is impossible without change.

Progress is impossible without change

Creative, Strategic and Technical

Wild yet purposeful creativity that grabs attention, strategic thinking that develops innovative and unique visions and technical proficiency that flawlessly makes ideas reality…. 3 things which make great digital output.

Creative, Strategic and Technical

Digital Agencies: Being ‘Digital’ is not enough

Being ‘Digital’ just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. It’s not a unique selling point for agencies. It’s becoming a threshold capability that every man and his dog are jumping all over in an attempt to get hold of their client’s growing online spends. But doing it well? – that’s another blog post in itself.

While critics are calling time on the digital revolution, there’s a new level playing field opening where specialists (digital agencies) are being faced with the opposition of traditional agencies who now know their desktop widget from their i-phone App. It was inevitably going to happen at some point – but it has been widely documented that the catalyst for this wake-up call was the 2009 Cyber Lions Awards – of which only a lowly 12 went to pure digital specialists such as AKQA and Agency Republic. There’s the proof.

Now is the time to be ideas driven. Now is the time to innovate, invent and experiment. Pure play digital shops need to be pushing new concepts at clients through new technologies – things such as augmented reality as an example. They need to also be thinking more about the strategic lead-in rather than just the solution (a website, a banner, an App) – they need to explore the bigger picture and the wider effects of how their digital solution can add value to the clients business model. But at the same time, they still need to be able to deliver. On time and on budget. Depressingly a trade-off only the best can master.

Is being Digital enough?

New Beginnings

For not wanting to waste too much of my reader’s time on my self-promotion; I’ll keep this brief. When opportunity knocks, you need to get up and answer the door. So with this said, I’m making the move from Redweb to a new agency.

From now on I’ll be turning the value wheel (Dan Hills Quote of the day!) at Albion in Shoreditch. Albion is a super-creative, independent advertising agency with digital at its core. New beginnings, new clients to work with and new things to learn. But don’t worry; I’m not selling out on my Digital Agency roots – it’ll be service as normal on digitalagencyblog.com covering all things digital and agency as well as all things digital agency if you catch my drift.

To all the guys at Redweb, It’s been an absolute pleasure. I’ve worked on some great projects with some amazing clients. Thank you.

New Beginnings

Digital Agencies: Account Speak Bingo!

I love this, and unfortunately all “Suits” are guilty of at least one or two of these buzz words (you may even spot a few here on digitalagencyblog.com !!) Brought to my attention by good friend and colleague Carl Martin, Courtesy of Mediabistro.

10 Things to do for Digital Agencies

It’s not often I read an article or blog post on the world wide interweb and think…WOW… That is exactly, 100% spot on. But reading Jerome Courtial’s Blog Digicynic yesterday, I thought I must alert my readers to a guy who knows what he is talking about.

Jerome’s post focuses on 10 things digital agencies could do to kick advertising agencies arses. And with the traditional agency versus digital agency debate resurfacing of late, this post is a must read.

10 Things to do For Digital Agencies

Digital Agencies; A must read!

The Digital Agency vs. Traditional Agency Debate

I promised myself I would never write this post. I promised I would never question the many advertising/digital veterans out there who have a far more valuable judgment on the subject – but what the hell; everything these days is just a well-argued opinion.

So the saga continues – Traditional agencies vs. digital agencies – will one ever rein supreme? Without this post being 6 miles long: My personal opinion – I doubt it.

More and more so called ‘Traditional agencies’ are frantically trying to catch up with digital. And some have been very successful. Agencies are merging, acquiring and integrating digital into their core offerings – And so they should. No one doubts the power and influence of digital marketing. It’s the future don’t you know.

But the value traditional agencies bring shouldn’t be wiped aside by the digital wave. Their creative and strategic skills are still valuable – and by adding digital expertise to that mixture should make a force to be reckoned with. Notice I said ‘should’.

I know I should be fighting the digital agency corner here, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what an agency call themselves. Traditional agency…digital agency…Ad agency…none of that really matters. If they can come up with an angle, deliver a successful solution through the most appropriate channel (on time and on budget) and most significantly engage their target audience. Will the client care what they call themselves? – I doubt it.

The digital vs. Traditional debate

10 things I’ve learnt in the world of digital and agencies recently…

1.   All of a sudden, every agency under the sun is calling themselves Social Media Experts. Having a  Facebook page doesn’t make anyone an expert in social media.

2.   Augmented reality is catching on. When I talk about digital innovation – this is a great example.

3.   Practicing what you preach. Too many agencies are great at preaching about clients digital marketing strategies without considering their own.

4.   People buy people. This age old sales mantra is appropriate more than ever in these tough times.

5.   It’s about more than just the ideas. Anyone can pluck an idea out of the sky, but it’s the ones which can be applied to a client’s business model that add significant value that are worth shouting about.

6.   Sometimes it’s not about winning shiny awards. As much as I enjoyed following Cannes Cyber Lions this year, the best innovations are often understated.

7.   The power of conversational tools such as Twitter shouldn’t be under-estimated. Just ask Habitat and all the agencies featured in this article.

8.   It’s never about a creative’s vision. Sure they can have ideas – but it’s always got to be about the end-audience and the objectives. Be results driven.

9.   Streaming content through mobile platforms is getting there, slowly. They’ve been saying it for ages and it hasn’t taken off (properly) yet. one word – Android.

10.   Spotify will revolutionize the music industry. So what if you can’t download tracks.

Social Media Expert anyone?

Digital Agencies: 30% of your clients are looking for a new agency!

This statistic could cause some serious eye-brow raising…according to a new research study by the Association of Advertising Agencies (USA) on average, 30% of all clients are open to approaches by competitor agencies. But who could blame them? If they aren’t getting the best in terms of end product and service, their money is being poured down the proverbial drain.

“A competitive world offers two possibilities. You can lose. Or, if you want to win, you can change.”

Too many times I’ve harped on about the need for constant innovation in digital agencies and the fact that satisfactory work just won’t cut the mustard in these tough times. I’ve even preached about improving the client service relationship as a key factor in retaining clients in the long term. These latest statistics are the living proof that (across the pond at least) clients aren’t standing for it. It’s time we rolled up our sleeves…

But hang on a minute…it’s not all doom and gloom. Don’t book those complimentary VIP tickets for your clients just yet. Spin this statistic on it’s head. This means we can approach a big number of potential clients and pitch them on our services without having to worry which agencies they’re currently working with at the moment. If new business is your focus – this research study is nothing but good news.

To focus solely on new business is a dangerous game. The balance between keeping your current client base more than happy and having an eye on new business coming through the door is a juggling act only the best can master.

In the words of Clive Maclean (Advertising Agency Guru), If you can minimize the churn of your current clients you can then focus on organic (new business) growth; A critical pillar on which to grow a profitable and successful agency.

The magic 30%