Category: events

5 Signs You Need Another Ad Agency

Posted on by o2admin

You have an ad agency. Things are going fine. Or maybe they aren’t. Your agency’s client service may be great, the creative so-so. Your creative may be awesome, but client service is more order-taking than proactive with help and ideas.

In today’s blisteringly fast pace of change in media, technology, and service delivery, no one agency can give you 100% of what you need 100% of the time. Increasingly, companies are partnering with a number of agencies based on the agencies’ main strengths.

Here are 5 signs you’re ready to expand your agency roster.

  1. No diversity of thought.

Today’s customers are getting more diverse and savvy every day. Your advertising must also become more diverse and savvy – especially if you’ve approached your marketing the same way for years. Plus, there’s more competition for your customers’ attention and loyalty than ever before. Even if you like your current agency, consider expanding your agency mix to bring diversity to your marketing – and more customers to your business.

  1. Your agency simply takes orders.

When was the last time your agency presented you with a fresh idea? Something that could bring in new customers or create an additional revenue stream? The best agencies don’t deliver only what you ask for. They give you what your business needs.

  1. The competition out-hustles you.

Right now, your competition is doing everything in its power to take away your customers. Your company and its agency partners need to use every creative idea you can to stay one step ahead of the competition.

  1. Your agency is a navel-gazer.

Your agency is more concerned about promoting itself than promoting you. You’ll know if it’s true.

  1. You’re always waiting on your agency.

For decades, agencies have touted the mantra “Good. Fast. Cheap. You can pick two.” With the speed of commerce today, your company doesn’t have the luxury to allow your agency to live by this axiom. You can have it all – you just need the right partners.

Buying in to what you’re working on

Posted on by o2admin

In the fall of 2015, the first all-new 2016 Honda Civic rolled off the line at the Honda Manufacturing of Indiana plant in Greensburg, Indiana. A complete, from-the-ground-up remodel, it represented a huge leap forward in both design and aesthetic.

civic_line_off

As the Creative Director working on the campaign for this particular vehicle launch, I had the opportunity to see the rebirth of this newly reimagined flagship brand up close and personal, literally seeing it being put together before my very eyes. If you’ve ever been in a manufacturing plant, you’ll know the sense of awe and wonder that comes with seeing first-hand the sophisticated process that produces these modern feats of engineering genius. Heading home from the launch celebration, the seed had been sown: I had to have one.

So it was, that almost a year later, I found myself driving one off the lot at my local Honda dealership here in Birmingham, Alabama. It took me an age to decide the style and level of accessories – heck, it took me two weeks just to decide on the color ­– but here I was, the decision made, behind the wheel of a beautiful Honda Civic LX in dark gray. It was everything I remembered it to be.

Ian_civic

And that’s how it is sometimes. We work on a product so intimately, come to understand its value and beauty so minutely, that we become the ultimate brand advocates: We become owners.

Working as I do for a company that seeks to put smiles on the faces of its clients through the work we do and the way we go about creating it, it’s nice to have the feeling reciprocated. Making happy happen is what we do, but it sure is a great feeling when one of your clients can do the same for you.

Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day 2015

Posted on by o2admin

One of my client’s annual fundraising events is just one day away. It’s a draining, stressful and overwhelming project, requiring branding, design, interactive, video, PR, event planning and social media. I’m also working with both the easiest and hardest clients – myself. Along with my 8- and 10-year-old daughters.

blog_article_image-1For Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day, I am client, mom-of-the-client(s), account executive, account director, producer and publicist, while also doing my job as director of client service for o2ideas. The stress may be high, but the reward is worth it.

As the third annual Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day approaches, I’ve been reflecting on three things every project needs to succeed.

A Great Idea

I’m surrounded by great ideas on a daily basis. At o2ideas, it’s what we do and who we are. I’m not typically the idea person, though. I’m the make-it-happen and make-sure-everyone-is-happy person. But Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day is different. The idea initially came from my then 6-year-old daughter, Ruby. Her daddy had brain cancer and she wanted to do something to help, so she asked if she and her sister could have a lemonade-and-cookie stand to raise money for his hospital. Ruby didn’t think about where the cookies or lemonade would come from, where the stand would be, how we would advertise it or any other detail. She just had an idea and it was a really great one.

The core idea determines the success or failure of a brand, campaign or project.

blog_article_image_2Action

After I pointed out some of the logistics involved in creating their lemonade-and-cookie stand, Lucy and Ruby recognized the importance of not just having a great idea, but also following through. They made posters, asked Publix to donate cookies and lemonade (another great idea) and asked me to post about it on Facebook so my friends would come. They took three relatively small steps and raised $3,000 that first year.

A great idea remains just an idea until action is taken to bring it to life.

Teamwork

Now that Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day has grown beyond a child’s lemonade stand, it takes a team of people who are a lot better at a lot of different things than I am to make it happen. o2’s culture has always been one of teamwork and selflessness, and I’ve been reminded of how special that is through Brainy Day. A team works together. They care about a project’s success as much as the client. And they challenge each other to make it better. You can count on them day in and day out. And that’s a great thing, especially when your event strives to make life better for people affected by brain tumors.

Teamwork makes it all possible.

So, here’s to great ideas, taking action to execute them and to the best team in the business. Oh, and of course, to great clients, if I do say so myself.

To learn more about Lucy & Ruby’s Brainy Day, visit lucyandruby.com.

Free Consultation

Take your brand to the next level.