Small Agency Diary

What Kind of Agency Are You?

Argument About 'Traditional' vs. 'Digital' Misses the Point

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 11.19.09 @ 12:54 PM

Darryl Ohrt

The recent hoopla over the difference between digital agencies and traditional agencies got me to thinking "What kind of agency are we?"

Small agencies are in a unique position of understanding both sides of this "leadership" challenge, as we sit on both sides of the fence every day. Smaller clients count on us as their one and only agency. Larger clients and other agencies bring us in as the specialists to accomplish specific tasks and goals.

Is Your Agency a Few Phone Calls From Closing Shop?

How to Optimize Your Shop for Lean Times

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 11.04.09 @ 02:55 PM

Darryl Ohrt

Four calls from being out of business. That's how a colleague summed up the plight of many smaller agencies. Or the agency business in general. We've seen some fantastic, talented, historic agencies shut their doors this year. Big and small. How can we better prepare ourselves to weather the storm if one or two or three clients pull out?

The Art of the Spectacular Fail

Your Agency Should Be Kissing More Frogs

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 10.07.09 @ 10:46 AM

Darryl Ohrt

Our industry is one of the most self-congratulatory industries short of Hollywood. There are award shows for every success in our industry, every market, every town, for every pixel that was ever touched by a creative person. There are top 10 lists, charts, and metrics galore that illustrate just what a big deal our agency's creations are.

Transparency Begins at Home

Keeping Employees in the Loop Makes a Stronger Agency

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 09.14.09 @ 12:10 PM

Darryl Ohrt

You're blogging about your agency. Tweeting about minutia. Pitching transparency to your clients left and right. But how transparent are you, really?

We've been operating under an open book and open management philosophy at our agency for more than a decade, and it's one of the greatest policies that we ever created.

Still Working Nine to Five? Why?

Rethinking the Traditional Work Day

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 08.19.09 @ 11:35 AM

Darryl Ohrt

As summer winds down and we all return to regular hours from our "summer" work schedules, our agency is thinking that it may be time for a new approach to the office work schedule.

Entrepreneurs, senior executives and serious career employees have known for a long time that the "work day" is all day -- and all night. (And if you're doing what you love, it isn't work at all.) Meanwhile, the tools that we have been afforded have allowed the boundaries between work and play to become effortlessly intertwined.

How Our Experiment in Self-Promotion Revved the Plaid Engine

Roadshow Started as Fun Event, Now Key Component in New Business

Posted by Darryl Ohrt on 07.22.09 @ 11:30 AM

Darryl Ohrt

A couple of years ago, we were having a brainstorm about how to spread some Plaid awesomeness across our nation, and one of the Plaid crew suggested: "Let's get a van, paint it plaid and drive it across the country. We could visit brands that we like or would like to get to know."

We chuckled for a bit, and then said, "Why not?"