Blog Posts
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Lessons from PWC
What can privately owned agencies learn from PWC’s recent disaster? I mean, hopefully you’re not selling state secrets. But beyond that. One of the major recommendations in the August report was to adopt the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. Despite the size of PWC, they hadn’t adopted the same standards of governance as ASX…
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The Future of Digital Agencies
In 2024 “Digital agencies will disappear from the industry landscape.” That was the prediction from Forrester in October last year. It was in reference to the impact of AI, and how all agencies will use it to stand up their own ‘digital’ offerings. Now that we’re halfway through the year, of course that hasn’t really…
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The Pitch Hangover
Have you ever put in a huge amount of work with with your team to win that great new client? You probably focused on putting your best foot forward, polished off some rough edges in your agency, talked up your capabilities, really stretched the definition of ‘industry experience’, said that you use some sort of…
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Director Liability in Marketing Agencies
Another story recently appearing in the news about wage underpayment should serve as a reminder to all business owners to ensure you’re up-to-date with all relevant awards and minimum requirements. Most of the unintentional breaches of this area of law seem to relate to casuals or those under awards. So if you employ anyone that…
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The Future of Agencies
“There are only two types of advertising: straight and great. Straight to the point or greater than it has been. All the shit in the middle is a waste of money” That was David Droga at SXSW Sydney, in discussion about the likely impact of AI in advertising and creativity. We’re not too far off…
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The Replication Problem
The ‘Replication Problem’ happens when founders can’t let go. They feel they need to do everything themselves or check everything the agency produces. It’s understandable— the business is built on their reputation. You’ll often hear things like, “Juniors will take too long, so I’ll just do it,” or “I don’t have time to train that…
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Marketing Certification
Though they’re certainly not all bad (I’m a member of the AICD) I’ve heard enough complaints about professional associations to be somewhat wary of the push for a Certified Practicing Marketer designation. I can’t fault the push for building broader marketing and business skillsets (“horizontal growth”) in marketers though. This quote from a recent Mi3…
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Agency Communication
Whenever I hear about agency owners talking about difficulties aligning their business or communicating with their teams, I think about this diagram. When you add more people into a team, the additional lines of communication aren’t just ‘+1’. This is a huge part of the reason we tend to lament how simple it ‘used to’…
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Governance in Agencies
What does good governance look like for an independent agency? ‘Good’ governance takes many different shapes. At its core, it’s about tailoring the systems that direct or control the business, to the size/structure/needs of the business, and using those systems to drive accountability and performance. One end of the spectrum is the boards of ASX…
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‘Around’ the thing
I’ve spent an enormous amount of time on forums like Superfuture, Styleforum (streetwear and denim, thank you), and Stylezietgiest. I check back in occasionally and it’s quieter now. Forums as a medium aren’t quite what they used to be as consumption habits have shifted. And though I increasingly feel that what’s ‘cool’ alludes me, I’m…