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I feel like agencies were really successful in the 1950s when the main pitch was “ooooh with our exclusive connections, we can get your ads on national TV.” It was almost seductive. Now it’s like “how many junior employees can we get to traffic as many programmatic ads as possible before they burn out”
Beyond true
Chief
Mischief is very good at marketing itself. That’s why the work is meh but everyone wants to work there.
Chief
A masterclass in getting industry coverage for every mid “stunt.”
Shops are all the same. It’s the people that matter. So the second you can’t name everyone in your agency…you can no longer position on your people.
So there’s three positioning options:
1) Mischief is following in the mold of mid-2000s CPB. The “oh no you didn’t!” agency.
2) Reliable. This is usually big and blue chip. Rarely it is Wieden, who has strong leadership guiding it.
3) Specialist. The “X agency”.
The best way for an agency to market itself is through award-winning work. And we all know how rare that is.
Yes. The small independents and new “culture” agencies /social agencies. That convince clients they are needed with all the cutting edge, cool things they can do and “buck the system” creative ideas. Worm, hook, clients eat it up. Only to regret it within 18 months. Vayner, conscious minds, cashmere, hidden gems, mojo, opinionated, super connector … waiting for one to actually be bold enough to call themselves smoke and mirrors.
Opinionated makes good work rooted in real insights. The rest don’t.
IMO every shop has the same copy/pasta positioning, with slight variations. On the one hand, they’re too busy working on client accounts to dedicate time and attention to truly work on their own branding in a meaningful way. On the other hand, it’s sadly proof that the “our creative/service/method is breakthrough” is nothing more than a larp
What about your place OP? What are you guys doing? Or what have you seen that’s good?