10 Things to Remember During These Trying Times
Times Are Bad? So What Are You Going to Do About It
Bart Cleveland |
2. From every bad situation an opportunity appears. Many people lose their job ultimately say, "It was the best thing that ever happened to me." Why is that? Simple. Losing one's job forces a reevaluation of one's place. It affords a person the time to try something different or find something he's better suited to do. The same can be said for businesses. In the end, a business becomes better, more marketable and more competitive.
3. Don't forget to have fun. I've been through enough tough times to remember that you can't get through them unless you keep some perspective. The truth is, if you're sitting around worrying about what bad thing might happen next, you're wasting energy and time. Get busy doing what you love to do.
4. Be an optimist. You know those people who walk around with a little black cloud hanging over them? It seems that bad luck always befalls them. I find that these people bring bad luck upon themselves. If you worry that the worst is going to happen to you, it usually does. I believe the opposite is equally true. I'm not a Pollyanna, but I do believe that winning only comes when you believe you're a winner.
5. If you're going through it, so are your clients. Bad times give an agency a golden opportunity to be an even greater asset to its clients. You should know what your client's challenges are during the current economic conditions and offer solutions to minimize the negative effects of those challenges. How would you feel as a client if your agency did that without being asked?
6. Don't procrastinate. I've seen too many companies try to weather the storm without making any adjustments. I can't remember any who survived. Assess your business early and often and make adjustments for today, today.
7. Get better at what you do. An agency's capabilities must continually evolve. Just because times are bad doesn't mean you should put capability growth on the shelf. Invest in your company's future. During a struggling economy, these investments can be found at bargain prices.
8. Challenge your employees. Just as your agency should make an extra effort to help clients during a challenging time, your employees can do the same for you. Don't be surprised when they take on the challenge as if they owned the agency. In a very important way, they do.
9. Relax. If you've ever played a sport, you know that your best execution happens when you're relaxed. You don't worry about making the shot when you're taking the shot. You just take the shot. If you don't play loose, you can't do your best. Tensing up usually spells defeat. Get in the game and don't look at the scoreboard.
10. Look over the horizon. What will our industry be like when we come out of this recession? Will it be stronger or weaker? Will client expectations have changed? Will your agency's abilities match what clients need? Discover the answers to these questions now and you'll know where your agency needs to be when good times return. If history is any indication, they will be here before you know it.
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Things must be really sh*tty in your part of the country - or you are anticipating the ax, or getting ready to give it to someone.
Astute-advertising-people understand that what they do, is for others. And that by extension, when their clients are doing well they are too. All anyone can expect is to do their best at their craft, honing their skills and being mindful that we don't do advertising for ourselves-in-a-vacuum, but instead for others. And it isn't what we've done but what we do now that counts. The end-game for personal introspection is that we as individuals did our best. Who can do better than that? We want to leave the game knowing we did our best without any "I should have done this or thats."
So instead of navel gazing, the smart-people are thinking of innovative ways to advance the business of their clients. We live in a competitive world, where brands exist in categories and each is positioned within that category. Developing creative methods and techniques to advance your clients' brand(s) within their respective category is the secret to long business life. And as an outcome you gain the reputation as a value-added-agency, building your brand.
RIght now the Big 3 have a problem. The problem is unsold inventories. Are their agencies finding new ways to move out the unsold cars? Or are they closing their doors, waiting for a cash-infusion? Of all of the strategies I saw, I looked twice at the "Employee Discounts" offered by them. Perhaps they need a Once in a lifetime half-price sale.
I have never met a client who didn't want to get a leg up on their competition even if they were already beating them - and when I would ask them what they really wanted they always said increased volume, sales, and profits. If the Big 3 had that, they wouldn't be in the soup they made for themselves.
Bart, it is going to take more than platitudes to make 2009 a banner-or a breakthrough year for agencies. It will require conjuring up strategies that advance your client's brand(s) yielding increased volume, sales, and profits.
So instead of navel gazing, this is a time to learn the competition, whose winning and losing and determine why. Develop breakthrough creative strategies for the brands you represent and devastate-the-competition before they-do-the-same-to-you: John Lyons' Killer Creative. Look at what they are doing and develop something better that resonates with consumers. Every purchase consumers make is now measured. Help them find the reason to buy. It is after all, what we supposedly do.
I'm a big fan of Edward Burnays. I loved how he reasoned and how he could 'Crystalize Public Opinion.' In the PR arena some call him the Father of Public Relations, others say Ivy. I think he was the Father of Selling. He took brands and industries and turned them around. He did it by knowing human nature, his consumer, and the brand. Learn about him and his strategic-thinking-for-2009.
"Things must be really sh*tty in your part of the country - or you are anticipating the ax, or getting ready to give it to someone."
Funny, if you Google Bart or his agency, you'll see that it actually exists, is easy to find and has pulled in its fair share of clients (and awards). Seems to be doing OK to me. But maybe you're living in a part of the country where the dollar is strong, the real estate market isn't doing 20% below (or more) two years ago and they're just handing out jobs to anyone who asks ... Can you give the rest of our readers the GPS coordinates? I'm sure they'd love to know how to get there.
Yes, see:
I left advertising for others (meaning I now have my own brand to market), after inventing liquor ice cream:
Advertising made me a millionaire only for me to dump it all into liquor ice cream. That was invented in 1994 - after a six year battle with Federal and State regulatory agencies, the product Blend's® Liquor Ice Cream was launched in 2000. Who knew it would take so long? But while in test-market in Wisconsin the product had to be withdrawn because an employee illegally sold it into several liquor retailers and violated state and federal law. Then, when orders were in hand, our co-packer-production folded and being a perishable dated product, millions in inventory needed to be destroyed under ATF authority. Today things are better, the company reorganized and looking to become fully operational in 2009.
And yes, things are bad here too. But we believe that we have a product perfect for the economic environment: an affordable luxury - super-indulgent liquor ice cream. High butterfat and liquor. The right product for the times in which we live. That affordable luxury to indulge ourselves.
Know that I was trying to do the same as Bart, provide helpful ideas. No slam on him was intended. I like to read Bart's blog and many times react to it. But do know, I am following my own advice. I am pro-active, not introspective.
While in advertising I survived the recession of the seventies and the eighties - actually growing during both. I did it by doing what I wrote in this blog.
PS: The advertising/promotion for Blend's® Liquor Ice Cream will initially be all trade promotion funded by case allowances. Being the only product of its kind in the entire world, makes it easy: Blend's® - The Classic Ice Cream Drink ... Made Convenient. Made the same way as in America's finest Bars and Restaurants: real liquors and liqueurs in rich super-premium ice cream - only now in a convenient new form, solid like ice cream, only now with spirit!
Hope that answers your question. Ken, Bart and all, Happy Holidays and best wishes for a profitable 2009!
Daryl
www.blendsicecream.com
and
www.blendsicecream.com/viking/VCCppt.htm
Just FYI ... when you type anything between the lesser than and greater than signs, it'll disappear in HTML (that's why your links in the first comment didn't show up)
But Daryl -- What is the deal? I don't get the negativity. I don't think looking for opportunity in bad times, being optimistic, getting better at what we do, challenging our employees or any of the rest are "navel gazing". Not at all. And I don't think Bart is suggesting that anybody forget about things like "breakthrough strategies".
Seriously, I am absolutely thrilled to death that you made a million in advertising and plunged it into liquor ice cream (WTF?), but I really can't figure out why you respond to so many posts on here with such supercilious comments.
Lighten up.
Yeah, I'm with Woody on this one...probably time to put it in 2nd gear a little bit. I appreciate your contributions to my posts, but I think a strong dose of optimism is in order.
If you really want to have you and your brand's voice heard, I would strongly recommend that you start your own blog. No disrespect intended, I just think that maybe you need your own forum to talk about what you believe in.
If you'd like to talk to me personally, I've always kept an open-door policy and my email is zanger@xhangcreative.com. I grew up in Deephaven and still have close friends there and in Minnetonka, so I have an affinity for people from my hometown.
Bart, hell of a post (as usual). Keep on keeping on down there.
z
Amen. Great post.