(In case you missed my email on The Spectrum of Replaceability referenced below, find it here.) I so appreciate readers who share feedback with me drawn from their own experience running a creative studio. Case in point, I found this note from Brandon, owner at ColourMovie in LA (shared with permission) particularly interesting: “I just…
Joel Pilger
Brands’ needs for “cheaper services” raise ethical questions around the ad industry But, in digital advertising, efficient may be more valuable than cheap The Digiday piece above, breaking down the increasingly “transactional” nature of agency-client relationships, emerged last week alongside side this AdAge piece arguing for ethical media buying, which asked “What would an ethical…
More than a few readers who listen to our podcast have asked me, "Why do you hate testimonials?" Meet Dave, my good friend who is a marketing consultant. For years, I've been ribbing him to nix the testimonials on his website. Each time, Dave hemmed and hawed, but the testimonials remained. Now then, in addition to...
The Video of the Week David Beckham delivers AI-generated, deep-fake multilingual malaria awareness Back in Newsletter #146, I highlighted how deepfake videos (convincing but fake audio and video) “present real challenges, and surprisingly, opportunities for publishers”. Here, RG/A, Ridley Scott Associates and video startup Synthesia partnered produce a video of international superstar David Beckham speaking…
We can safely assume that you’ve received bad news like this before: “Sorry but you didn’t win the job because blah blah blah…” But in that conversation, did you also hear: “blah blah blah… price… blah blah blah… cost… blah blah blah… efficient…” I hope you were paying attention to the signals. Did you hear...
The rise of niche content brings major, meta, cultural questions, too Why it is worth keeping an eye on what Discovery does in SVOD This piece above raises excellent, reasonable questions about what “success” actually means for “niche” strategies in creative and in streaming, if not what the value of niche actually *is*. Discovery may…
While onboarding a new client (a studio at the very top of their niche in the world), my spidey senses were telling me something. What came to mind was classic bit of RevThinking which I shared with them. It goes like this: The best firms charge the highest prices. Right. But why? Because they produce the best…
“The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice.” — Bertrand Russell Two weeks ago one of my clients (a motion design agency owner) was sharing her top goals with me and she let slip this zinger: “Oh, and I want us to generate more consistent revenue……
Earthquakes: Accenture Interactive and S4 Capital models point the way to next gen customer needs As CMO needs evolve to become increasingly digital, two new market entrants find wins I think this interview above should be read side-by-side with this Digiday interview with S4 Capital and former WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell. Accenture Interactive had…
AdAge delivers an inside look into Woven, P&G’s in-house strategy A year later, obvious successes, but more departures than perhaps was anticipated It has been almost a year since we first heard of P&G’s cross-holding company, internal agency model (when I warned in Newsletter #114: “In-house marketers, do not emulate P&G’s new model… yet”) ,…