CMO’s lead teams with “Clear eyes, full hearts.” CMOs can lead remote teams with a cohesive culture that connects across their networks, employees and their agency partners, transcending geographic and social differences. I confess to a little binge watching Friday Night Lights here during fall football season! Who doesn’t get fired up when we see […]
Three client-agency challenges & solutions to work better together Dog gone it. We want our relationships with our agency partners to be great, and result in great work. Sometimes they don’t. (Sigh.) Delays happen, complexity sets in, frustrations grow. Discover the reasons why. Then beat the dog days of summer with fresh, practical solutions to […]
Marketers Look Under the Mask to a new era with new awareness on how people and their core values impact successful client-agency team practices
Sweet Question. How many Advertising Industry Agencies does an advertiser need to evaluate to find the right one? Knowing how many of anything is a balance of how many we think we want vs. how many are actually good for us. When is many too many? When is many still not enough? How many is […]
A week ago, we witnessed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers become NFL champions. While anyone can read the box score, the real storyline for the game is as valuable a lesson for Marketers as it is for football and following the principles of the playbook will help any team win more often. Let me start […]
I remember driving to Florida for a holiday break with a friend a long time ago. As teenagers with no income of our own, we decided to drive through the night without stopping. What we saved in hotel expenses, we more than made up for in memories. Part of any such right of passage are […]
Agency Growth doesn’t come from just winning a pitch. When a pitch is won, there’s something that usually matters more than anything else. The win is rarely just because of a piece of work, a plan or an impressive tech stack. The deciding factor is the totality of the entire team coming together. The choice and the agency become undeniable. I’ve lost count of how […]
How to Build Cultural Capital in a messy world As eyes stayed glued to media outlets reporting election results, one thing becomes more clear. Today people make choices through the lens of character, values and cultural filters as much as they consider issues of politics and public policy. We are voting for the who and the how […]
Strengthen Marketing Teams, Increase Cultural Capital Cultural Capital is the emerging frontier of competitive advantage. Brands need it more than ever. Increasing cultural capital starts with building influential connections through the company’s teams of marketing resources. The brand teams, creative agencies and digital marketing suppliers who work closely together to make sure the brand shows […]
Three elephants walk into a bar… It sounds like the start of a joke, but there is nothing funny about the impact that a few elephants can have on the retail landscape. While there are many, let’s start with the three named Google, Amazon and Walmart. Here’s the Punch… Google can put Amazon out of business. Amazon […]
Where does Growth Come from? Everyone wants to grow, especially during times like these. Most brands have ambition. Many have growth plans. Business owners and marketers understand the sweat equity and grit it takes. So with all that intention, and despite what people showcase about their efforts, why is real growth so rare? It can’t be that people are […]
How Diversity Impacts Advertising Agency Selection The creative development process intrinsic to marketing success has a level of mystery about it akin to that of a dragon’s egg. The process can be fragile. Capturing it can be elusive. The conditions for nurturing its potential present an opportunity to birth something quite powerful. When we recruit […]
Rumor of an impending threat has worried the kings and queens of today’s marketing diminions for some time. This ever-evolving beast is said to be so demanding, so consuming that even the most well-tuned marketing functions are being forced to confront its influence. Well fellows, the content marketing beast has arrived and she’s not going […]
Consider marketing programs that are working. Often their advertising campaigns are designed to appeal to the head and the heart to move the target market to take action. They communicate a brand value proposition that fulfills both the rational and emotional needs. After all, people don’t buy chocolates on Valentine’s Day simply to satisfy hunger. […]
This is an update of a popular post regarding advertising agency search and multiple agency teaming practices. Plus I recommend a useful new book by a fellow “lover of collaboration”. Enjoy this second helping! The Gathering Whether preparing the table for a big family event or tackling an ambitious marketing goal, mobilizing the right team […]