Know what one of my pet peeves is? I supposed I should clarify—you probably don’t care that I can’t stand it when people carry dogs around in purses. So, do you know what one of my pet account service peeves is?
When clients choose bad results.
It happens more often than you might think, and certainly more often than I would like. It happens when we make a strategic recommendation based on a deep understanding of the audience, significant research and our years of experience, and the client says, “No, I just don’t like online/radio/insert example here.” It happens when we develop campaign concepts that serve up our clients’ key differentiator in completely compelling, fresh way, and they get killed because we didn’t get to present the ideas to the decision maker, who wasn’t involved in the meetings and doesn’t know the strategy or who the audience is. It happens every time a client decides to keep doing whatever has been getting bad results, just because that’s safe and easy.
Not that we’re the be-all and end-all. Sometimes we make a recommendation and a client says, “That won’t work because of x, y, z” and “x,y and z” turns out to be important and relevant information we don’t have. Sometimes a client will challenge us to be less safe and think more deeply. But in those instances, the end result is a good—even great—result.
Why do I care? I could answer that I care about my clients and want them to succeed, but the more cynical among you will scoff and ask what’s in it for me. So here’s the deal.
What’s in it for me is that when I’m sitting in a new business pitch and showing our work, I want to point to a piece and tell a compelling story. A story about how great strategy, customer understanding and kick-butt creative came together with a concrete result. I want to be able to say “This campaign increased new customer acquisitions 10%” or “This email had a 72% open rate.” Because that’s the true measure of success, and what is going to land more clients and let me keep doing the job I love and do really well.
So, please. Don’t choose bad results.
~ Valette
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Labels: Account Service, bad clients, clients, good ideas
Simpler. Faster. More efficient. These are the demands we all face, each and every day. The economy demands it. Our livelihood depends on it. And it’s not going to change anytime soon. In fact, it will probably never change.
But we have to be very careful that in our pursuit of efficiency, we don’t lose sight of purpose. Especially when it comes to marketing communications.
At any given time at Stephan & Brady, you’ll find us working at a fast and furious pace, doing smart and strategic work for our clients that is delivered on time and on budget. Oftentimes, when our solutions are ready, we’re asked to simply “send them on for review.” Just like that. No set up. No rationale. No pitch.
This is a recipe for disaster.
When there is no pitch, there is no purpose. The pitch reminds everyone of the goals and objectives that surround the work they are about to review. It refreshes everyone at the table about the nuances of who the target audiences are and what matters to them. It frames the work appropriately, so that it can be judged on a collective understanding of what it is supposed to achieve.
Just take a look at all the negativity surrounding last week’s changes to Facebook. I don’t think I heard one positive thing, either online or in-person. My theory is that it’s because no one listened to the pitch. People just saw that it was different and decided they didn’t like it.
Maybe if they had heard Zuckerberg’s pitch (or better yet, Don Draper’s), they would have had a better understanding of how it works, and why it works. And opinions might have been different.
If you’re a client or prospect of ours, you might be tempted to have us hurriedly hurl solutions in your direction. But expect that we’ll push back in order to engage you in proper presentation. By doing so, we’ll work with you to help ensure both you and your team are properly positioned to make the best possible decisions when it comes to connecting with your customers.
We’re also pretty certain you’re going to like what you see.
~ Emily
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Labels: client relations, concepts, pitch, pitches
If you are a frequent blog reader (and we hope you are!), you are probably very familiar with S&B’s concept of the Chief Customer Officer (CCO). Here’s a quick definition for anyone new to the blog:
At S&B, we are your Chief Customer Officers. This means we firmly believe that in order to do the best work for our clients we need to focus on their customers.
The title of Chief Customer Officer is one that each member of the S&B team proudly earns every day. And when I say “earn,” I mean it. Our focus on getting to know our client’s customers goes far beyond pouring over the latest MRI data, trend research or sales numbers. What sets S&B apart is the fact that our employees regularly take on the customer’s role in what we call customer immersions – an opportunity to spend a little time in the customer’s shoes.
These customer immersions happen frequently – not just with new business or at the beginning of a new project. Customer immersions are a regular, ongoing activity for S&B employees, something many of us do in our personal time. We view immersions as valuable opportunities to see things through the customer’s eyes, watching and listening as they interact with our client’s brand or products.
So, in a typical month, what types of customer immersions might we do? You name it, we’ve tried it! We’ve visited more cheese shops than we can count, kept a bee hive on our rooftop, scaled a 12-story building, jumped into freezing cold water in the middle of February and spent a day at a grain elevator, just to name a few.
But beyond our more exotic immersion events, we also spend time watching other customers in our everyday lives – at the grocery store, the gym, the farmers market, in restaurants. So next time you get the feeling your being watched as you make a cheese selection in the deli department, don’t be alarmed – most likely it’s just a member of the S&B team, earning our CCO title.
~ Megan
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Labels: CCO, client relations, customer focus, customer immersion, test marketing
We work in a deadline driven business. I understand that every business is deadline-driven, but in advertising and marketing communications, I think its fair to say it’s amped up. A lot.
I’m lucky enough to work with some of the most service-oriented people in the business. Exceeding client expectations isn’t something that’s kind of nice to do now and then. It’s expected. And we do it. Especially when it comes to meeting deadlines.
But this year, I think its important that we take our eyes off the clock—if only for a few minutes—to take a deep breath, a step back and a fresh look. Because no matter how rushed we may be, there is always time to make sure we’ve got it right. The first time.
I’m sometimes amazed that with the frenetic pace of agency life, there aren’t more mistakes or oversights. I have to admit, they’re rather rare here. I guess that’s a testament to our processes and procedures.
But still, I can’t shake the feeling that we may be on thin ice if we don’t make it a priority to slow down every now and again make sure that we’re on the right track. “I’s” dotted and “T’s” crossed and that sort of thing.
It’s everyone’s responsibility. And we must all embrace it. Because if something is on time, but horribly wrong, it would be better if it was never produced at all.
It’s kind of like that old saying you hear when you’re rushing to get somewhere: It’s better to be late in this life than early in the next.
~ Emily
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: time management
Being the best at anything is hard. But, we make it our jobs to be the best information resource for our clients. It’s an incredibly important and overwhelming task–because believe me, if we don’t have the answers, someone else will.
So how do we do make this happen in the New Year? I have a couple of ideas:
Know the customer. With our clients, it all starts with their customers. In order to be the best resource, we need to know everything we possibly can about their customers. Who are they? What are their choices? How do we creatively and effectively communicate with them? Learning about our client’s customers should never end–it’s an ongoing process, our information should evolve just as the customer’s habits and choices do.
Anticipate the questions. I try to do this before every planned meeting or conference call. What could the client possibly ask about this project or recommendation? What questions did I initially have? What information can I provide to make the client comfortable with our recommendation? I make a habit of bringing about 17 file folders to meetings–because I always end up needing an answer from the folder I don’t have. Anticipate.
Know where to find the information. Generally, finding the answer is all about who you know. Agencies have the unique benefit of collective resources and contacts. If I don’t have the answer, someone in media or creative or accounting might be able to help.
~Megan
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: information resource, preparedness
When I first started my career, I was incredibly afraid of failure. I took all the anxiety I used to lavish on my grade point average and transferred it to my job. I’d obsess over mistakes, mentally beating myself up, even if no one else even seemed to notice them. (I admit it—I’m totally Type A, obsessive-compulsive, Little Miss Perfect. So sue me.)
One of the best things that ever happened to me was having a boss who encouraged—almost demanded—that I fail. This isn’t a novel concept. Plenty of business and lifestyle gurus talk about how we only learn when we fail. My boss accepted that failure was a necessary step toward success, because it isn’t failure—it’s learning.
So, for 2011, we’re going to learn more. We’re going to push our clients to test messaging and creative before it launches. We’re going to use the flexibility of interactive media to test a variety of online ads and outlets. We’ll take what we learned, apply it and then do more of what brings success with the customer. And we’re (I’m) not going to stress about it.
~ Valette
P.S. Thanks, Mike, wherever you are…
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: failure, learn, success, test
Every now and again, I’ll challenge a strategy or direction and ask “why are we doing it this way?” Often times there is solid rationale. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit that the answer I’ve sometimes heard is “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
To me, this is 100% unacceptable. The ultimate wrong answer.
Doing something because “that’s the way we’ve always done it” is equivalent to being stagnant. And stagnancy leads to irrelevancy. That’s a surefire way to get our message lost in the eyes of our customers. Possible opportunity for motivating them? Zero.
The amount of tools and technologies we have at our fingertips to help communicate any given message is staggering. We must explore them at every turn. But new technology isn’t the only answer. Sometimes it’s a new angle. A new approach. A fresh look at the target audience.
Whatever the case, we must constantly scrutinize and evaluate what we’re doing to make sure we’re doing it for the right reasons. And that reason is never “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
Clients and co-workers have come to know that this answer forever frustrates me. But in the coming year and every year after that, I resolve to move beyond frustration and into action. And I guarantee we’ll all be better for it.
~ Emily
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Get in to the office. Check voice mails. Emails. News alerts. Head to a meeting. Get pulled into another meeting immediately after. Work on project for ten minutes before the next meeting. Work on it ten minutes more before getting interrupted by a phone call. Put out fire. Return to project. Can’t remember where you left off. Start all over.
Ugh.
It’s a matter of course that working at an agency requires you to juggle multiple deadlines while satisfying other ever-escalating demands. It’s not easy, but there’s some sick part of every one of us working in the business that loves the pace. And the craziness.
That said, there are times when you have to forcibly control the craziness. Especially when it comes to creating exceptional work. In order to give each project the brain power it deserves, it is absolutely necessary to spend some quality time with it. Good work rarely comes from pecking away at something in scattered fifteen minute increments. Rather, it requires full immersion. Uninterrupted focus.
That’s why for each and every project, I’m going to schedule time on my calendar to dedicate myself fully toward it. This is time that cannot be stolen by a last minute meeting or some other seemingly urgent need. Of course, there will be exceptions, but for the most part, this is my rule. And I hope it’s the rule of others, too.
It’s just one of the many ways 2011 is going to be a great year for S&B clients.
~ Emily
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: Creativity, focus, time management
Don’t get me wrong, logos are perfectly fine. Plenty of time, creativity and money gets spent on logos. For some companies, the logo is a crucial part of its brand identity—remember in 2010 when Gap tried to change its logo to reflect its new “modern, sexy, cool” image and consumers revolted?
But most companies’ customers couldn’t care less about logos. If a customer is looking at your ad, Facebook page, outdoor ad, direct mail or whatever tactic you’re using to capture them, I guarantee they aren’t thinking “Wow. Who cares what this product can do for me, I must buy from a company with a logo this cool!” Customers will only notice the logo if it’s completely hideous or if it s undermines the brand promise or messaging in the tactic. Customers care about content, not logos. A logo is visual shorthand, not the message itself.
So this year, we’re going to help clients understand that it’s not about them, or their logo—it’s about what their customers want.
~ Valette
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: Advertising, branding, logo, New Year's resolutions
Welcome to Stephan & Brady; may I take your order?
Okay, so that’s not exactly how all of our conversations go, but you get the idea. In the agency world, it’s easy to have days where you feel like a drive-thru. The client places an order for X and we are expected to deliver as fast as we can with a price tag from the dollar menu.
Strategic thinking, sound reasoning and quality work all take time, and we really like that part our job. Cheap and fast are great, but they aren’t always the most effective.
So, this year when the order comes in for cheap and fast, we promise we won’t tell you to go someplace else, but we do vow to push a little harder and stand our ground when it comes to timing and the value of our expertise.
~ Megan
This is one of 31 entries that will be posted during the month of January describing the New Year’s resolutions proposed by the 40 vibrant and talented CCOs at S&B.
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Labels: Account Service, agency life, drive-thru
