Starting…Existing…Thriving
Blair interviews David on what each of the three levels of success in running a creative firm looks like.
Win Without Pitching®: Thinking
Agency Business
Rising From The Ashes: A New Agency Model
As someone who is perhaps a little too fond of a grand statement, I’m tempted to borrow from Landau and shout that I have seen the marketing agency model of the future and its name is Communo. Like Landau, however, I have a bias. (Landau went on to become Springsteen’s manager shortly after writing those words.) I’m an advisor to Communo and have a financial interest in their success.
The Great Convergence is Upon Us
One of the clearest trends in professional firms today is the convergence of the disciplines of design, business consulting and software engineering on the same client business challenges. This Great Convergence is pitting firms of radically different types against each other in the battle to best serve the client, and it’s creating new types of
Reviewing the “Surveillance Footage”
There are seven patterns that almost all principals are guilty of. When David and Blair point them out, it lead their clients to say, “you must have hidden cameras in my office!”
Collaborating with Competitors
David and Blair compare each other’s competitiveness and then offer some specific ways principals can actually collaborate with their competitors as a part of building beneficial business relationships.
Four Segments of New Business
Blair and David come up with descriptive words that help clarify each of the four parts of what David calls the “pantheon” for new business: positioning, lead generation, sales, and pricing.
Navigating The Seven-Year Chokepoint
Business is a game with hidden levels. By succeeding at one level, you get invited to play the next. The common mistake is to bring those first-level tools to the next level. Not only do they not work here, but they also work against you. Many of the habits you learned you will now have to unlearn. Accepting this inevitable obsolescence of tools is the key to obtaining all the advanced levels of success.
Five Rules for Pursuing Project Work
Some firms don’t take project work at all, while for others project revenue vastly outstrips the income from their few ongoing clients. What’s the proper role of project work in your firm, and what’s the proper approach to pursuing or vetting it? In this article I lay out some specific guidelines on projects as a part of your overall client mix, and the rules of pursuing and accepting project work.
Replacing the Gorilla Account
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Why Advertising Agencies Don’t Advertise
Most firms have no problem making these claims of creativity or strategy privately in the protective bubble of a boardroom (where the claims are often expressed through the work itself, which is pitched for free, rather than articulated in conversation) but going public in an ad that is bound to be seen by the firm’s competitors is another matter.
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