Developing Millennial Advertising Agency AE’s.

I had a glass of wine the other night with a friend who runs a large local agency.  He talked how committed his agency was to training its young people really well by rotating them around into all the areas of their product so they would be well rounded.  He lamented the fact that after a certain time many left causing a lot of turnover at the agency.

At first I was a little surprised at the rate of turnover in this economy but then again the advertising agency game has changed.  There aren’t as many layers as in past and often you get senior people stretched over too many accounts and the young worker bees.  Well trained ones are even more valuable today because there aren’t as many firemen around to put out the fires quick enough for today’s client.

Keeping talent in the advertising industry has always been an industry issue.  Deutsch in conjunction with the 4A’s conducted a study on the issue that was reported in Fast Company.  The study found that 25% of people in the business don’t love it.  That sounds high but I recently heard that in the general workforce, 40% of people don’t like their job.  I also know many people in transition who would be more than happy to be unhappy at a job just to have one.

Not only has the number of people in the advertising industry declined in the last decade according to the 4A’s but the average age of the industry has increasing become younger.  According to an IPA study in the UK the average age of an employee in the Mad Men biz is 34 and more than two fifths are said to be thirty or younger. I think it is the same on this side of the pond.

I often blog on today’s Millennials.  I have lived surrounded by them.  I have a number of friends in advertising and PR who are 28 and are working at their third or fourth agency. In a thin margin game even young people can be put on the beach.   Advertising has always been an industry where you get your first job at an entry level salary and then jump to another agency for a salary increase.  The other option is to stay and get promoted to increase your salary.  The first option is more expedient for many when they have today’s college loan debt levels. Rock on Congress.

Some people feel that young people move because they are the entitled generation and are self focused.  I don’t buy into that.  Maybe for a few but not the majority.  I think the entitled generation went away after the world melted.  A 23 year old has lived a quarter of their lives in the great recession.  Many have seen a parent or both parents in transition.  They know what foreclosures are.  They also know plenty of friends who are unemployed or having trouble finding a job.

So how do you foster an environment in the advertising, PR or digital game that Millennials want to work and stay?  Certainly training is important but they want more than that.  I think like most people in a relationship they want to know where they stand. Young people like direction.  In this case what is the agency’s career plan for them?  Not for the next month but the next two years. That provides vision and objectives for them.

They also want guidance. In this case it translates into mentoring and mentorship.  I think that everyone that joins an agency should be assigned a mentor.  A mentor for somebody who is 23 in today’s advertising business can be somebody who is 27.  I have always been a big believer in mentoring up and down and everyone in the Slash Generation has their own set of skills that everyone can learn from.  Capturing that helps everyone grow no matter what their age.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

You can watch a video by Hank on Why Young People Shouldn’t Try to Find a Job.

You can also read some other Hank Blank blogs.

Why Every Solopreneur Needs an Intern from the Slash Generation.

The New Glass Ceiling.

The Three Slide Agency New Business Pitch.

The Most Powerful Word in Agency New Business is NO.

The most game changing word in new business is one that advertising, digital and PR agencies rarely use. It is NO.

Yes. NO.  Agencies need to say NO more often in New Business.  I can’t do that you say.  I am a yes person.  It’s time to change.  The industry has changed.  Technology has changed.  Marketing has changed.  But many agencies haven’t changed.

I went to a very interesting New Business Conference recently sponsored by Think LA and Mirren.  I wrote about some observations in an article called To Grow Agencies Need to Focus on Things that Clients Can’t Do.

So here are suggested ways to respond to the New Business inquiries your agency may receive from companies, start ups, etc.

We are looking for an agency that can invest with us.

Say NO.

We would love to meet with you guys and get some new ideas.

Will you pay us for our time?  NO.

Then say NO.

Or you can also send them a ten page agreement with lots of legal terms saying a bunch of mumbo jumbo outlining you will own your creative and their children.  They will go away.  A proportion of clients save their careers by using agencies and have no idea how to conduct an agency search.

You may think that there is a ray of hope.  It is a mirage if people that don’t value your time, your work and your product.

Our budget is small but we are looking for a partner to help grow our business and then we will invest more.

Say NO.

When the calls come ask them if they are doing this review because it is mandated?  If they say YES. Then you say NO.

We are anxious to go to market.  Our timeline is aggressive and our budget is small but we are looking to grow.

Say NO.

All misguided New Business efforts aren’t just stimulated by untrained clients.  Most badly planned efforts at agencies start internally.

Here are some ways to respond to the internal amped up, often politically riddled New Business meetings you may have each Monday morning after the your status meeting.

This could lead to something.

Say NO. It will lead to nothing.  It is a low probability opportunity and New Business isn’t about playing the Quarter slots.

We should just give it a shot.

Say NO.  The person who said that had too many shots on the weekend.

Here are some things you can say YES to in New Business.

Say YES to growing your existing clients.  It is easier to grow your existing clients than winning New Business.

Say YES in taking the time and money that you would invest in fruitless searches and apply it to marketing your own agency.  The majority of you don’t do it very well.  I have seen it countless times as a search consultant and new business development person.

Say YES to NO.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video on the Power of Networking.

You may also enjoy these articles.

When is it time to Fire Your Agency.

Peeling the Onion or New Business.

Winning New Business Is Easy.

Should Marketers Conduct Their Own Agency Searches?

These are interesting and challenging times for Marketers.  I recently read in the Harvard Business Review that Marketing is Dead.

The article cites that CEOs have lost all patience. In a devastating 2011 study of 600 CEOs and decision makers by the London-based Fournaise Marketing Group, 73% of them said that CMOs lack business credibility and the ability to generate sufficient business growth, 72% are tired of being asked for money without explaining how it will generate increased business, and 77% have had it with all the talk about brand equity that can’t be linked to actual firm equity or any other recognized financial metric. Ouch.

I think that clients’ greatest ally and most powerful resource in insuring their success during the careers are their agency partners and I am always surprised by how little time some marketers take in making sure that they have the right resource supporting their marketing innovation.

I help clients with agency searches.  I don’t do agency reviews every day because clients don’t fire their agencies every day although I am sure that some would want to.  I have read that over 80% of clients do their own agency searches.

I often hear about reviews that are conducted in a very superficial fashion.  Clients talk to their friends and network about some suggested agencies they should contact.  These people have no in-depth understanding of the business problems or challenges. They rarely get a copy of the RFP.  Then the clients go out and visit 3-4 agencies for an hour or 90 minutes.  Then they select the 2 or 3 finalists and have another 90 minute presentation with other team members and often make a consensus committee decision.  The whole process often takes less than a day’s work.  Not the way to pick the architect of your future success.  Would you pick your spouse that way?  You may spend almost as much time with your agency partner as you do you with your life partner during a work week.

What I have seen in the agency reviews I have conducted is that the journey brings clarity to the client’s decision making process.  Sometimes they select a partner in the end that doesn’t match their initial criteria.   If you implement an abbreviated process that journey may not provide that clarity.  Clients miss out on a lot of discovery if they try being their own guides.  That is not the way to discover new paths.

Clients face too many challenges today to have the time or the knowledge to conduct their own reviews.  Reviews take a long time to do right.  I know that firsthand. Many marketing departments are much smaller these days with fewer doing more. There is no way that clients today have the time resources to keep up with the thousands of marketing options that are out there in the U.S. today.  Then there are the demands of keeping up with all the changes in the social media space.

What I have learned during my career is that having the right resource walking at your side helps to insure your success in a very challenging world and often you need somebody with better experience and vision to make sure that you are walking side by side.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video on YouTube on Why It’s Time to Change the RFP Process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6jEGgVHx_g&list=UUEigDTyDiFGXVfyg7sRErOg&index=8&feature=plcp

How Clients Can Get the Most From Their Agencies.

I have worked for many great agencies in my career. I have also conducted agency searches for clients like Jenny Craig, Raley’s Supermarkets, and Jacuzzi. I believe I have a perspective from both sides of the street. Consider me a person who loves both worlds and wants to bridge some gaps.

I think that there are a number of factors today that are unique to these times that strain client agency relationships. I have summarized some in a previous blog called What’s Wrong with Client Agency Relationships? There is No Romance.

I thought I would offer up some thoughts on how to get the most from your Advertising, Public Relations or Digital Agency.

1. First off, Educate them.

The more your agencies know about your company and you the more they can help. This is more than directing them to your website. When I worked at agencies I rode with the sales force, I worked in stores; I smelled the product and sold the product. I met the R&D people. I went to the factory. I was immersed in the brand because a client invested in me. I appreciated that investment and I wanted to reciprocate with hard work and love for the brand. Disappointment was not an option.

2. Give them clarity. 

One of the worst feelings I had as an agency person was getting a terrible briefing from a client. You could ask all the right questions but sometimes clients provide a bunch of mumbo jumbo as direction. The briefing seemed to come out of a blender. Probably because they were trying to regurgitate a number of diverse inputs internally.  Driving back to the agency I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day because I was coming back empty handed. I would have to play the client and try to make something out of nothing.

3. Inspire them.

When I worked at JWT in a different day their symbol was an owl and a lamp. The owl was for knowledge which equated to finding insight and the hard work which knowledge takes. The lamp was for magic and yes advertising is magic. It is mercurial. To get great advertising you have to inspire your agency to innovate. That is scary for many clients in this consensus, safe, keep my job world. The clients who got the best work were the outlaw clients who were a different breed within their company. They swung for the fences and they got work which sometimes struck out but often went over the fences and their careers soared. Aren’t you tired of playing it safe? You can’t change many things in life but you can change how you play it. The amount of time spent in that client chair and that office will have a limit. Don’t you want to make if a hard act to follow?

More thoughts to come.

Connect with Hank on LinkedIn, Twitter, & Facebook:

    

How Agency Principals Can Get More New Business? You have to Leave the Embassy.

This is my third blog in this series about How to Get More New Business in the coming year. Something I am sure that most agencies would love. My gut and the street tell me it is going to be a better year and I am closer to the street than most people.

I wrote the initial blog about the need to change to get New Business. Change is very difficult for many advertising, PR and digital firms. They readily advocate change for their clients but rarely practice it for themselves because real change is very hard. The most common change agent is the pain of lost accounts.

That blog was followed by How Agencies Can Get More New Business in 2012. You Need a Plan. Often Said Rarely Done. Few agencies I talk to have a New Business Plan. Sure they want more revenue but that isn’t really a plan.

Here are some thoughts on how Agency Principals can get more New Business in the coming year.