Your Agency in 30 Seconds

Your agency in 30 seconds

Presented by Tim Williamsignition consulting groupwww.ignitiongroup.com

The four questions that define agency positioning strategy

We’re full service! We’re integrated! We have a wide range of experience! We’re creative! We’re strategic! We’re nimble! We’re media neutral! We’re dedicated! We’re your marketing partner! We assign only senior people! We get results! We’re fun!

What makes us different?

The “red ocean” of agency claims

CONFIRMATION BIAS

“Our offering is highly differentiated.”

Percent of company executives who agree: 80%Percent of customers who agree: 8%

“I wish that the agencies would stick to what they are good at. They try to do everything, and they would be better served to narrow their focus.

You can’t do everything, and if you try to do everything, you do nothing. It drives me crazy when the agency is trying to pitch you every single service available.”

WHAT CLIENTS THINK

“The common failing among agencies seeking new business is their inability or unwillingness to name what they stand for.”

Bob Lundin

WHAT CONSULTANTS THINK

WHAT THE PRESS THINKS

“Telling an effective agency brand story should be easy for companies that are in the business of telling brand stories, right? I can tell you, after perusing many an agency website, that fewer than you’d think have figured it out. Very few take stands.

All this has made the agency landscape feel too flat and featureless, and that is exacerbating the commoditization of the business.”

Matt CreamerAdvertising Age

How would a prospect find your agency in a Google search?

“full service advertising agency”

Focus Diversification Complexity

THE COMPLEXITY TAX

PRODUCT CODES (SKUs)60 15,000

“I’m more proud of what we haven’t done than what we have done.”

Steve Jobs

Apple

THE DIVERSIFICATION DISCOUNT

①  There’s really no such thing as “full service”

②  Clients don’t hire you for “everything” but for something.

③  “Full service” simply doesn’t scale

Full service doesn’t scale

Focus does scale

①  People, competencies, and systems constantly improve.②  Time and money are directed toward a coherent strategy.③  Expertise can be deployed across a large client base.④  Alignment between your strategy and day-to-day decisions.

①  Clear criteria for identifying the types of clients who want you for what you do best.

②  A stronger win ratio in new business, because you’re playing to your strengths.

③  Clear hiring standards for the kind of people you need to deliver on your strategy.

④  A self-promotion program based on a meaningful, unifying theme.

⑤  More pricing leverage because you’re offering more differentiated services.

⑥  A clearer direction for how you should spend your limited time and resources.

Fear of focusBenefits of focus

You can be good at something, but you can’t be good at everything

Positioning =

Michael Porter

Harvard Business School

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”

Deciding what not to do

Positioning = Deciding what not to do

Source: Jan Rivkin, Harvard Business School

Positioning = Trade-offs

Positioning = Trade-offs

“What makes a great museum is the stuff that’s not on the walls.”

Seth Godin

Positioning = Curating

Positioning = Curating

Positioning = Letting your clients outgrow you

“Companies need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.”

Jason Fried

37 Signals

Positioning = Letting your clients outgrow you

Positioning = A reliable way to repeat success

Positioning = A reliable way to repeat success

Positioning = Letting clients outgrow you

“Companies need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.”

Jason Fried37 Signals

“A business strategy is about deciding where to play, and how to win.”

A.G. Lafley CEO, Procter & Gamble

Three Main Models Today’s clients use to work with agencies

Client

1.

Best-of-Breed Model

YOUR FIRM IN 30 SECONDS

Source: Millward Brown Study on Agency New Business

①  Desire to focus on best-in-class specialists②  Lagging business results③  Creative failed to perform as expected④  Agency’s failure to update capabilities⑤  Creative differences⑥  Lack of team chemistry⑦  Poor service⑧  Agency’s poor project management⑨  Agency’s lack of cost efficiency⑩  Agency’s lack of desire to facilitate integration

Top reasons clients search for a new agency

Clayton ChristensenHarvard Business School

Author and leading thinker on disruptive innovation

“We are seeing a shift in the competitive dynamic from the primacy of integrated solution shops, which are designed to conduct all aspects of the client engagement, to modular providers, which specialize in supplying one specific link in the value chain.”

“Marketing organizations traditionally have been populated by generalists, but particularly with the rise of social and digital marketing, a profusion of new specialist roles are emerging.” Keith Weed, CMO, Unilever

Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest, Effective Brands

AORAgency of Record

AOCAgency of Collaboration

Agency

2.

Single Source Model

Client

Lead Agency

3.

Service Integrator Model

Client

3.

Service Integrator Model

Brand Agency Leader

CLIENT SIZE

AGENCY FOCUS

Best-of-Breed Firms

Larger national clients

“Generalist” Firms

Smaller regional clients

+  Has higher fees

+  Has broader market area

+  Has fewer competitors

Power is with the specialist.

NARROW is not the same as small

The four questions that define positioning strategy

What we do

How we do itWho we do it for

Why we do it

Your positioning strategy in 30 seconds

For (Who) ___________________________

We (What) ___________________________

By (How) ___________________________

Because (Why) _______________________

What are our core competencies? In which areas are we truly best in class?

¡  Services we offer ¡  Skills we possess ¡  Communications channels we know ¡  Customer points of contact we know ¡  Strategic assets we own ¡  Value chains we know ¡  How and where customers buy our client’s brands ¡  Outcomes are clients are seeking ¡  Client benefits we deliver

What

Areas of exploration

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Examples of positionings based on

What we do

Who is our best customer? What markets or audiences do we know best?

¡  Categories we know ¡  Distribution and delivery channels we know ¡  Internal and external stakeholders we know ¡  Audiences and market segments we know ¡  Types of brands we know

Areas of exploration

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Who

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Who

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Who

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

TYPE OF AUDIENCE

TYPE OF BRAND

Examples of positionings based on

Who we do it for

TYPE OF CATEGORY

How are we different in the way we think? Do we have distinguishing approaches or philosophies?

¡  Philosophies or beliefs we have ¡  Methods and approaches we use ¡  Our firsts and milestones ¡  Access to specialized resources ¡  Beliefs about organization, structure, work environment

Areas of exploration

Examples of positionings based on

How we do it

Examples of positionings based on

How we do it

Examples of positionings based on

How we do it

Examples of positionings based on

How we do it

Examples of positionings based on

How we do it

¡  Beyond making money, what is the purpose of our

organization? ¡ What are the things we will always do? What are the

things we will never do? ¡ What do we preach? What are we crusading against?

What do we fight for? ¡  If our people were volunteers instead of employees,

what would they be volunteering for? ¡ What would we want to achieve if we knew we could

not fail?

Areas of exploration

Why are we in business? Do we have a purpose that transcends making money?

Why we do it

Why we do it

“Profit is not the purpose of a company, but rather a test of its validity.”

Peter Drucker

Overdeveloped ServicesOverserved MarketsSatisfied Client Needs

Underdeveloped ServicesUnderserved Markets

Unsatisfied Client Needs

Low marginMany providers

Positioning = An opportunity to find a more valuable spot on the client value chain

High marginFew providers

Overdeveloped ServicesOverserved MarketsSatisfied Client Needs

Underdeveloped ServicesUnderserved Markets

Unsatisfied Client Needs

A new positioning strategy is an opportunity to be not just

authentic, but aspirational

“Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum strong enough, and I can move the world.”

Archimedes

Bringing your positioning strategy to life

Reputational capital, by itself, doesn’t make your firm a differentiated brand.

“If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you.

“If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you.”

Bill Bernbach

“It’s not good enough to be the best at what you do; you need to be the only one who does it.”

Jean-Marie DruTBWA/Chiat/Day

www.IgnitionGroup.com

@TimWilliamsICG

www.linkedin.com/in/TimWilliamsICG LinkedIn Influencer

“Positioning for Professionals” by Tim Williams

Propulsion Blogwww.IgnitionPropulsion.com