Razorfish firing dozens of people
February 6, 2009
A Razorfish spokeswoman confirmed that the digital ad agency laid off about 70 people on Thursday on the West Coast, including its Seattle headquarters and offices in Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It goes back to what people define as “digital advertising“. Clearly our definition of Digital and theirs are not identical.. actually.. not even compatible.
What Razorfish does isn’t digital advertising, what they do is Traditional Advertising and throw it online. That isn’t digital… or at least what we define as digital.
I do Digital! … uhh…. sure you do.
NYT : Ad Agency ‘Trust me’ is already outdated
January 25, 2009
According to the New York Times the new TV show “trust me” is already outdated, specifically points to online marketing, SEO, SMO, as lacking in a big way on the show, because when the show was filmed prerecession the BDA’s didn’t give a crap about ROI for the client. Not sure if they wanted to admit the truth like this, or if that was the intent, but neverless it was outed in an extreme fashion.
It’s what happens when 4 companies control all the advertising dollars, the truth isn’t the truth until they say so, no matter what the reality on the ground is.
“Trust Me,” a TNT series set in a Chicago advertising agency, is clever and likeable — which, incidentally, is what most commercials try to be. But the series, which begins Monday, was created before the collapse of the credit market, and accordingly it looks at times like a period piece. Its characters live in the contemporary world but operate in a prerecession economy when television and print commercials still ruled the market, and advertising executives paid scant attention to the Internet, DVRs or the bottom line.
Classic, advertising agency fat cats talking about how to bilk the client when just right around the corner is the mother of all recessions.
I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!
Define Digital Advertising for 2009
January 1, 2009
We figured someone had to define “digital advertising” for 2009. Many of the holding companies are using the word “digital” when in fact what they are doing is not even close. The advertising agency holding companies have made very little investment in digital. What they call digital is Flash and Photoshop, what the client is asking for is SEO and SMO.
These are wildly differing disciplines.
SEO and SMO firms don’t view Flash as digital marketing or advertising, not by a long shot. They complain that Flash does not spider in the search engines properly, requires plugins and is virtually useless for client ROI. To make matters worse, it doesn’t even render properly on many mobile devices.
Advertising Agencies are focused on flash because it’s the closest they can get to a “shiny new site” that mirrors a “killer” TV look as possible.
Virtually none of the ad agency holding companies have invested in the first discipline but have extensively invested in the second leaving a gaping hole in their capabilities. It’s a shortfall of extreme measures.
So next time an agency pitches you, ask them to define digital… if you get answers that don’t include SEO and SMO… keep walking.. because what they are talking about isn’t exactly what you are.
Adage shows what’s wrong with Advertising
December 29, 2008
It’s not the article that showed what’s wrong with the Advertising agencies, it’s the graph. On this article is a link to this graph:
All that is wrong with Advertising
The problem we have with this is that even though digital generally generates the highest ROI, it only accounts for 10% of total ad spends. It’s what happens when the agency of record is a BDA with limited digital / SEO and SMO skillset.
Even though this could potentially save accounts, the BDA’s have invested limited resources in flash heavy digital, and hardly anything with SMO and SEO.
So when broken down even further, you’ll notice that the vast majority of digital is in fact flash that the search engines have trouble spidering and reading the content inside. Meaning even with their digital approach they are going backwards to charge the clients more, and generate less ROI for them.
Fairly amazing stuff, considering the state of the economy you would think that the BDA’s would be focusing more on ROI… but they are still focusing more on bilking the client.
FORBES : “the market pricing is accurately forecasting the Great Depression of 2009, ’10, ’11, ’12 and ’13″
November 12, 2008
Something that every advertising staffer and management needs to know, advertising is the FIRST thing to go out the door during a recession. If you don’t understand economics, then you are in the wrong business.. because this is going to DIRECTLY affect your career and your ability to continue to work in an advertising agency.
It appears that Forbes is predicting the great depression of 2009, 2010, 2011,2012 and 2013.. and by reading the headlines that include nothing other than lay offs, bailouts, foreclosures and markets crashing we have to say we agree.
This author worked in the .com world during the .com crash, that was bad.. this is worse.. like not even in the same league worse. We already surpassed the 2002 recession months ago… and this is not bottomed out.. not by a long shot. We will be seeing double digit unemployment within 4 months at current job loss rates.
We’re in an economy that’s going to experience a severe structural adjustment. Many things happen during a recession, 90% of them are bad, but 10% of them actually are a positive overall. This recession / depression whatever you want to call it is forcing some pretty dramatic changes in the Advertising world. The rush to digital such as SEO and SMO is dramatic, where the ROI tends to be much higher for the client. Generally it’s not bad news for the digital firms, but it’s a nightmare for firms that mostly derive their revenue from traditional.
Here’s why it’s a nightmare, the client dumps their 120 million a year budget, the agency fires 50 people working on the account. The client then turns around and hires a SEO / SMO firm to run a campaign during the down turn to the tune of 300k a year. The SEO firm hires two additional people to manage it. It’s a net loss of 48 people in advertising, but the argument here is that the two individuals are doing the same relative work for the client as the 50… at least in terms of revenue generated for the client.
Now for the Forbes Article:
The average prices for certain loans have dropped to 70 cents on the dollar, what they usually fetch in bankruptcy. The differences between corporate bonds and Treasurys now stretch beyond some investors’ beliefs.
“Spreads are more than ridiculous,” said David Kotok, chairman of Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, N.J. “Either we have dysfunctional credit markets evidenced by absurd pricing, or the market pricing is accurately forecasting the Great Depression of 2009, ’10, ’11, ’12 and ’13.”
Full Story
Hill Holliday lands Dunkin’ Donuts digital account
November 3, 2008
BOSTON, Nov 03, 2008 — Today, Hill Holliday announced that it was awarded digital media planning and buying responsibilities for Dunkin’ Donuts. Hill Holliday is the advertising agency of record for Dunkin’ Donuts.
“Hill Holliday offers outstanding online credentials and a proven track record which will take our digital efforts to the next stage,” said Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President of Consumer Engagement for Dunkin’ Donuts. “We are excited to be partnering with Hill Holliday in a critical marketing segment of our business.”
“Consumers don’t think of online as a separate element of the brand experience,” said Baba Shetty, Hill Holliday’s Chief Media Officer. “By thinking about the consumer experience consistently across all media channels, we can drive greater impact and ultimately higher ROI for the Dunkin’ brand.”
As part of this assignment, Hill Holliday will handle all digital media planning and buying responsibilities for Dunkin’ Donuts. As the current advertising agency of record for Dunkin’ Donuts, this alignment will allow for more seamless media planning and buying across traditional and interactive platforms.
About Hill Holliday
Hill Holliday, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies and headquartered in Boston with offices in New York, Miami and Greenville, S.C., is one of the top communication agencies in the nation. Hill Holliday has won every major award for advertising excellence and effectiveness and has among its roster of clients leading national and regional brands including Anheuser-Busch, AOL, Bank of America, Chili’s Grill & Bar, Cleveland Clinic, Covidien, CVS/pharmacy, Dunkin’ Donuts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Liberty Mutual, The Massachusetts State Lottery, Novartis, Partners HealthCare, Procter & Gamble, the Rockport Company, TJX Companies, and Verizon Wireless. Hill Holliday can be found on the Web at www.hhcc.com.
About Dunkin’ Donuts
Founded in 1950, Dunkin’ Donuts is America’s favorite everyday, all-day stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin’ Donuts is the #1 retailer of hot and iced regular coffee-by-the-cup in America, and the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world. Dunkin’ Donuts has earned the #1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for two years running. The company has more than 7,900 restaurants in 30 countries worldwide. In 2007, Dunkin’ Donuts’ global system-wide sales were $5.3 billion. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Dunkin’ Donuts is a subsidiary of Dunkin’ Brands, Inc. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.
SOURCE: Hill Holliday
Hill Holliday
Greg Winter, 617-366-4179
[email protected]
or
Dunkin’ Donuts
Michelle King, 781-737-3585
[email protected]
We don’t know what shocks us more about this Advertising Age Article
October 29, 2008
We are totally unsure what to think about this advertising age article. It is written as if it’s breaking news and shocking,
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) - Digital agencies are not only being invited to pitch brands as agencies of record — increasingly, they’re winning.
Really? Perhaps the ROI is higher?
Tribble Ad Agency was founded on this concept that Traditional Agencies are in trouble, they don’t understand SEO, they don’t understand Social Media.. they do understand profit at 20% over ad spends and expensive print and TV media campaigns…
It’s been written for years now, and finally advertising age saw it? Almost a decade late?
Ignited LA makes big push for New York City
October 1, 2008
You are seeing BDA’s laying off people right and left.. you think life is hard for all advertising agencies, however that isn’t the case.. the case is that only the really expensive, low ROI forms of advertising are being hammered… we are not saying this won’t trickle down… but it will trickle… not a mass Hoover Dam collapse unleashing a great flood.
As it stands now, InterActive, Digital, SEO and Social firms are hiring whereas BDA’s are firing… Companies at this time, during a recession, want a positive ROI.. not a bunch of fluff…
This release was sent out a few hours ago by Ignited..
Ignited Advertising Expands to the Big Apple, Adds VPs
Advertising agency success reflected in new marketing hires, media promotions and Ignited N.Y. presence
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. October 1, 2008 — Ignited, one of the top independent Los Angeles–area advertising agencies, has made several important strides in the effort to support current event, digital and media clients, as well as make the agency’s services available to new clients across the country.
Despite the country’s current economic situation, amidst turmoil comes opportunity. We’re going to see a major shift in media dollars toward digital and experiential event marketing. With David and Bryan, we’re now in the unique position to build metrics tied to business results, as well as offer our experiential marketing solutions to brands on the East Coast.
The agency has hired Bryan Duffy, EVP, experiential marketing/managing director, Ignited New York, to head the agency’s newly established East Coast office. With seventeen years of combined client- and agency-side marketing communications experience, Bryan leads the New York office and Ignited’s experiential marketing division with a focus on expanding the agency’s overall business reach. He most recently served as EVP, sales and marketing, for TransWorld Marketing, an in-store/shopper marketing company specializing in retail communications. Previously, Bryan managed the New York offices of event agencies Proactive and PGI, working with such clients as Diageo, ESPN, IBM, Ricoh, Time Inc. and Warner Bros. Earlier in his career, Bryan spent 8 years at Converse, working his way up to global brand director, basketball, where he was directly responsible for managing all aspects of the $75MM+ category.
The agency has also added David Axline as VP, business intelligence. David joined Ignited to spearhead the agency’s business intelligence division. Prior to the agency, David served as VP, director, strategic services for Young and Rubicam brands, where he was responsible for developing strategic direction through analytics and proprietary research for clients such as Land Rover, Jenny Craig, Toshiba and Hilton Hotels. Earlier in his career, David served over 20 years at Hyundai Motor America, with the majority spent as national manager, customer relationship marketing. Additional brand experience includes Nestle, Comcast Communications, 21st Century Insurance and Toyota Motor Sales.
“The new senior management additions and N.Y. office are really indicative of the agency’s growth and direction,” said agency president Eric Johnson. “Despite the country’s current economic situation, amidst turmoil comes opportunity. We’re going to see a major shift in media dollars toward digital and experiential event marketing. With David and Bryan, we’re now in the unique position to build metrics tied to business results, as well as offer our experiential marketing solutions to brands on the East Coast.”
Ignited has also promoted Dave Martin and Margie Johnson to VP, digital media and VP, interactive production, respectively.
Since 2000, Dave has worked with clients across multiple categories to translate marketing initiatives into interactive solutions. At Ignited, he has been responsible for strategic digital program development, media planning and campaign analysis for such brands as Universal, Activision, Sega, Namco Bandai, Buena Vista and Jamba Juice. Dave and his team contributed to the highest grossing year ever for Universal Pictures in 2007, including the $70MM+ opening weekend for The Bourne Ultimatum. He began his career in traditional media for toy manufacturers in the early 1990s.
Hailing from a programming background, Margie has led Ignited’s interactive production team for four years. Margie previously worked for leading interactive agencies such as Media Revolution and DNA Studio. Online projects have included global brands, including Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man 2, Nestle Crunch and Nestle Butterfinger, Universal Studios’ Jurassic Park Institute, Universal Studios Parks and Universal Music.
About Ignited:
Founded in 1999, Ignited is one of the largest independent agencies in Los Angeles, offering clients a complete range of marketing and branding services, including advertising, interactive, event management, strategic planning, promotions, graphic design and media planning and buying. Clients include Sony Electronics Latin America, EA Mobile, NBC/Universal Motion Pictures, Agility, L.A. Weekly and the U.S. Army. For more information, please visit www.ignitedLA.com.
OppenheimerFunds goes digital with EURO RSCG
September 22, 2008
Even financial firms continue to spend in this financial industry depression when it comes to digital / SEO / SMO … yet the problem still sits there… the Holding companies invested VERY little on the digital / interactive and ESPECIALLY the SEO side..
The funny thing is, the Euro RSCG site is poorly SEO’ed from a Google Text cache standpoint.. meaning that Google views their site as an Ad for Adobe when viewed in a Google Text Cache. So though their sales staff is up to par, it’s unknown if their technical SEO skills are up to the same level.
Logo EuroRSCG
Welcome to Euro RSCG Worldwide
You need to install the latest version of Flash to view this website.
Logo Adobe FlashClick here to download and install
the Flash Player on your browser.
That is all that is displayed on the main EURO RSCG website.
Some quotes from Google Guidelines that are relevant to the EURO RSCG main website:
Technical guidelines
* Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.
and
Design and content guidelines
* Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
Here is their press release:
NEW YORK, Sept. 22 NY-OFI-ad-campaign
New Approach Uses Digital Animation To Reach Financial Advisors, Investors
NEW YORK, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ — OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (OFI) today announced the launch of Numbers, a new advertising campaign that combines solutions-based messaging with cutting-edge digital animation. Developed in conjunction with advertising agency EURO RSCG, Numbers will appear in television, print and online media, in vehicles aimed to reach both professional financial advisors and investors. It marks the first major advertising change for OFI in seven years and replaces the long-running and successful Hands II/Achievement campaign.
Created with the understanding that most people are faced with inordinate amounts of financial data every day, Numbers is designed to show that this information is more than just cold, hard facts. In reality, the numbers form the pathway to reaching financial goals and personal dreams. The strategy behind the campaign is to demonstrate that OFI is a company that can help make sense of the numbers and has many different product offerings that, along with the advice of an advisor, can help simplify the financial planning process for investors.
“Today’s investment world revolves around numbers that come at us with astonishing speed and volume,” said Bruce Dunbar, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at OppenheimerFunds, Inc. “As a leading asset manager and advocate for sound financial planning, one of our most important jobs is to help advisors and investors make sense of these numbers and understand how to use them as they strive to achieve their financial goals.”
Numbers uses digital animation techniques created by BLIND of Santa Monica, CA, to create a world that is literally made up of numbers. In each advertisement, a character emerges from these numbers and begins a journey toward a personal dream. Upon reaching that destination, the animated world transforms into a color, live-action world where the character lives out their dream. The narration or copy in each ad asks, “You’re in the markets, but what do you want your numbers to add up to?” and then demonstrates how OFI can help investors answer that question in a way that is right for them.
The first series of advertisements will highlight the importance of long-term investing and speak specifically to investors seeking a balance of risk and reward through asset allocation. Advertisements in the latter group highlight the Oppenheimer Portfolio Series funds. An additional series of advertisements focused on retirement planning using lifecycle funds will be introduced later this year.
While the new creative takes a more modern, contemporary approach, certain key elements from the former campaign will continue to be used, including the tagline, The Right Way to Invest; the extensive use of black and white imagery; and the same musical signature.
“We look forward to building upon the strong brand presence created by our previous efforts to further deepen our relationships with advisors by providing them with the tangible information they need to have more meaningful interaction with clients and giving those clients ideas they can discuss with their advisor,” said Dunbar.
Numbers will also be supported by a specially constructed micro-site that will provide another level of information about the Company and products highlighted in the ads.
About OppenheimerFunds, Inc.
OppenheimerFunds, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest and most respected investment management companies. At June 30, 2008, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., including subsidiaries and controlled affiliates, managed more than $225 billion in assets, including mutual funds having more than 6 million shareholder accounts.
Shares of mutual funds are not deposits or obligations of any bank, are not guaranteed by any bank, are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency, and involve investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested.
The products and services of OppenheimerFunds, Inc. and its controlled affiliates include: mutual funds, hedge funds of funds, qualified retirement plans for individuals and corporations, investment management for institutions and sub-advisory services. OppenheimerFunds is widely recognized as a leader in educating and empowering investors and for its award-winning customer service.
Before investing in any of the Oppenheimer funds, investors should carefully consider a fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Fund prospectuses contain this and other information about the fund, and may be obtained by asking your financial advisor, calling us at 1.800. 525.7048 or visiting our website at www.oppenheimerfunds.com. Read prospectuses carefully before investing.
Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., Two World Financial Center, 225 Liberty Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10281. OppenheimerFunds, Inc. is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group and is not affiliated with Oppenheimer & Co, Inc. or Oppenheimer Capital.
(C) Copyright 2008 OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc. All rights reserved.
45 percent of Companies “considering switching agencies” due to lack of digital and SEO
September 11, 2008
This has been happening (in large numbers) for the past 3 years… For example W+K lost Nike for a year due to lack of SEO and Digital .. a staggering total market spend of 1.7 Billion… though to be fair W+K’s share of that was ONLY in the tens of MILLIONS you should see that thread as well.. they complained that the story wasn’t correct however we refuse to retract that story because it is 100% accurate…. then Deutsch gets dumped due to lack of SEO by Westin Hotel… what a nasty trend out there… and yet the only company that has taken any real action on it has been Publicis and to a MUCH lesser extent InterPublic (IPG) since they did purchase a token firm to appease their shareholders. In other words, all the big holding companies are in trouble… they just don’t realize it yet… well our guess is that W+K and Deutsch felt it first hand.. and the chances are that they will all be feeling this the further they go along without any SEO or Digital skills.
These firms by now should have 20% of their holdings being SEO, SEM and SMO firms under their belt.. with another 15% of of their holdings going to web development firms.. instead we are looking at a whopping total of .3% of their holdings being SEO … .3% …
No wonder they are seeing firms like Nike and Westin Hotels dumping them… they didn’t have the skills that the client wanted.
45 percent of marketers surveyed said they were considering switching agencies to gain access to more digital knowledge and expertise.
Well we would rather see no SEO skills, then violations of Google Guidelines putting yourself on Google’s radar screen almost having your client banned in our most recent Critical Mass / Rolex Story.
Recognized by Advertising Age Magazine as top Power 150 news outlet for Advertising and Marketing.
Recognized and listed in Google News. Don't stress, we're Satire
Ad Agency Advertising
