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The Golden Age of Small Agencies: Marketers
Finding Real Value with Smaller
Shops
In the
not so distant past (prior to say 2003), it was only the big agency
with the many arms of services that would capture the big prize,
the coveted blue chip marketer, as a client. In today's world,
marketers are recognizing that they need to take a different look
at how they structure their marketing resources. Over the past 5-7
years, marketers big and small have decided that they need to
diversify their portfolio of shops to get the best of breed
thinking and work in the various disciplines; media, creative, web
development and more. Charlotte's Web has been fortunate to
benefit from this trend, but it's all for good reason. Marketers
need and seek high level strategic thinking without the layers of
red tape often found with big agencies. And they want the money
they invest in these relationships to really help grow their
business, not just have a big name agency as their "AOR". The
reality is that one agency cannot be good at all things. There is
usually a core focus, surrounded by other offerings added on to
appear full service. Where marketers have seen true benefit is to
have a collection of smaller shops that specialize in different
aspects of the marketing mix. And those shops will collaborate to
provide the marketer with the best of breed solutions across the
board.
As this trend emerged,
Charlotte's Web was born to provide marketers with an attractive
alternative to the big agency. Will smaller shops be the sole shop
handling the largest of marketers? Probably not. But they for
sure can provide outstanding strategic thinking and ensure that
their client is getting the best work possible to grow their
business.
Much
has been written about this, but here is a bit more on this trend
in the ad agency
world.
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Industry News
DSP: A
is a buzz word in the digital media planning world right now that
will not seem to subside. What is a DSP and why would you include
it in your media plan? Companies are jumping on the DSP (demand
side platform) train like they did with ad networks and now the ad
network shakeout is upon us. A DSP is a technology platform that
enable the buy-side to purchase in an automated fashion across
multiple distribution sources, namely exchanges. DSPs provide
cost-effective access to scale
Demand-side
platforms are designed to offer greater efficiency and
automation. They offer a viable option for dealing with the
frustrating fragmentation that is prevelant in the online media
buying space.
Many
articles have been written about DSPs, check out these key articles
to learn more:
iAds:
The iPad is garnering lots of attention, and correspondingly
iAds are getting lots of attention in advertising arenas. Here are
CWM we think iAds, as currently arranged, are a viable option for
only the most profligate of advertisers. There are a many reasons,
with a few key ones we wanted to point out. To wit:
1. To be a launch partners for iAds, the price tag is upwards of $1
million, and some packages are rumored to be closer to $20 million.
That is a lot of money for a channel that initially will be
low-reach and not immediately scalable.
2. Apple has touted the targeting options, but Apple is opaque in
everything they do (you can't even open the case of an Apple
computer!), so it is difficult to say how robust this targeting
really is.There is potential to use iTunes and other Apple data,
but for now we have to take Apple's word, and we advise our clients
against doing that.
3. The creative potential of iAds really isn't that exciting - rich
media, smart phones and other executions have been able to do these
types of fancy pictures for a while now. Ad executions will
undoubtedly be visually fantastic, but you don't need iAds to do
that.
So while advertisers that rely on the strategy of being first into
everything (ESPN, Nike, GM) will probably pay whatever Apple asks,
most advertisers are best suitedto wait until Apple is forced to
take iAds into the media marketplace. That market competition will
make the product more transparent, cheaper and more effective, and
maybe worth the while.
For more on iAds, check out this recent article: Why Advertisers Can Skip The iAd
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CWM Employee Spotlight
Farrah Hoehne is a passionate and dedicated interactive media
professional, with over 10 years of experience in account strategy
and management; media program execution, media sales, and
multimedia marketing. She has worked with such clients as DeVry
University, General Motors, Midas, True Value, Allied Van Lines,
Allstate, and ESPN.
Before joining Charlotte's Web Marketing in September 2009
Farrah served as an Account Manager for SMG Search; the search
division of Starcom Media Vest where she leads a team in developing
and managing paid search strategies for Starcom's leading clients
for the past year. Previously, Farrah was responsible for business
development for Collective Media, working closely with interactive
media buying agencies to develop behavioral and contextual rich
media advertising campaigns. Prior to this position, Farrah managed
interactive accounts at TMP Directional Marketing, overseeing the
implementation of SEO, SEM and Internet Yellow Pages ad placement.
Farrah is passionate about educating companies, employees and
clients alike on the importance of effective and efficient
interactive advertising!
In addition to working at CWM, Farrah has been actively involved
with the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association for over two
years and currently is a board member serving as the Director of
Educational Events. Farrah received her Bachelor of Science in
Marketing with a minor in French from the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign. You will generally find Farrah participating in
her passions of cheering the Illini or White Sox to victory,
gardening, scrap booking, photography, home improvement projects,
or twittering.
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Industry Events
Check out these upcoming events you won't want to
miss. You may end up running into a Charlotte's Web employee or
client at any one of these Chicago Events. Hope to see you
there!
CIMA's Survey & September 16 Dinner: Who
decides the future of interactive? You do.
Fill out CIMA's 9th Semi-Annual
Survey and then join us on September 16, 2010 the presentation
and the panel discussion around the survey results.
Social Media Masters' Summit August 23rd and 24th: Learn from
Top Marketing and PR Leaders at Windy City Social's highly
anticipated Social Media Masters' Summit brings together over 200
brands, bloggers, agencies and consultants to connect and share
social media best practices. Register Today
Imedia
Brand Summit
September 12-15: Coronado, CA
Explore today's most innovative digital and traditional marketing
strategies and services this September in San Diego with over 130
senior brand marketers, their peers and their partners. Request
An Invite
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Are You An Ecochondriac? Sindifferent?
Hopetimistic?
Ad agency
Cramer-Krasselt has released the third edition of its Cultural
Dictionary, which lists words the agency has determined represent
current cultural trends. MediaPost
Communications/Marketing Daily |
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