| What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency? | |
|---|---|
| Mark Tilghman, President | Involved in all pitches and proposal development as a part of a team. Usually the partner group, Brad Benbow, Beckie Manley and myself. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | To proactively seek new business leads. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Key generator of leads, by default really. We originally expected my role to be less lead generation and more a part of the actual pitch dynamic. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Bringing in new prospects, outlining the pitch many times or at least on the team that outlines, communicating with the prospect leading up to the meeting, outlining the clients objectives as i understand them from meetings with the prospect, briefing the JDA team regarding deliverables needed for the meeting. Holding the hand of the prospect leading up to the meeting. Following up with the prospect after the meeting to secure next steps, answer questions, etc. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | As a partner, I'm part of the pitch team. I designed and wrote the website, helped create our new brochure with my Sr. AD as part of our new business effort and worked on the direct mail campaign we began. I work on research, strategy, writing and planning as well as creative presentation in final meetings. |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | Over a decade selling with Rutter Communications (media rep firm / local cable -- National Sales Manager) / Rutter also had 2 different agency efforts that I was a part of Rutter National and Ideavenue. Founded JDA 7 years ago. Worked personally on key accounts: SeaPak Shrimp Company, Pictsweet Vegetables, Sea Island Resorts. Also contribute to other agency key accounts, AiG, Creation Museum, Warner University. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | I have sat on both sides of the desk. First as an advertising director, then as a General Manager of a national television rep firm, a director of sales for a video and film production company and now at the agency for the last 6 years, I have managed a large account load and small account load. I have managed and trained account executives and production and creative personnel. I have been in some form of the ad business for 24 years. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Ackerman & McQueen, Sheraton Hotels (1982-1983) Travelhost Magazine, Director of Marketing (1984-1985) Cable Advertising Systems, President (1985-1987) Rutter Communications, Co-founder and President, (1987-2003) leading cable ad sales rep firm in industry (several major account involvements, including Ameritech) jda, 2003-present |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | JDA is the first agency I've worked with, starting in 2004. Prior to that, 1999-2004, I worked in media sales as an account manager, key account manager and then general manager. I worked directly with various direct clients in all industries ranging from retail to health care, single-owner entrepreneurs to large corporations. I also worked with the agencies that representive some of these clients. Both in my media sales and agency experience, my role has been to secure new business while maintaining current business. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | I have worked in agencies and freelance on the side since 1994 when I graduated with a BS degree in Design/Creative Writing--mostly boutique agencies in SC and Atlanta. 6.5 years ago I started Tenth Planet Advertising in SC and then 4.5 years ago started as a partner/CD with JDA. My experience is 100% on the agency side. I am an award winning copy writer and designer and I love working on strategy, research, account planning, focus groups, branding, etc. I touch every area of our shop. The area I have the least experience and knowledge would be media. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | Our mission at JDA is "ideas that work." We help emerging brands do things they didn't realize were possible. Then we turn possibility into reality -- a reality that grows distribution and increases sales for clients like you. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | If you want clearly defined strategy, innovative media and magical creative let JDA fight courageously for your brand and your vision. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | If you are looking for an agency that will dig in and dig deep into your objectives and work with your team to accomplish those objectives, jda could be a magical partner. With a track record of long term client relationships, the jda team is known for it's creative solutions and hard working approach. Strategy first thinking, difference making national media relationships and award-winning creative are ready and available to you. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | We're advertising agency strategically located on an inspiring island. Most clients haved hired JDA to provide an objective eye and expertise to uncover new insights into their brand and then execute a marketing strategy that leverages that insight. We bring experience with marketing tools that you're probably familiar with like TV and print...and emerging ones like online, social and even mobile. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | JDA is a full service agency. We have three main areas of expertise: strategy, media and creative. We like to differentiate ourselves by not just being about ideas--but being about idea that WORK for our clients and make a difference for them everyday. |
| Stuart Elliott, who covers agencies for the New York Times, decides he is going to write an article about your agency. After spending a day at your offices, and then going back to write the piece.... what would the headline be? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | No cynics at JDA |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | David can slay Goliath |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Big time results from the beach? |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Head: Ideas that work. Isn't this what clients are really looking for? Sub: Island based agency reminds us what's important. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | "JDA: One lick of the lollipop of mediocrity and you'll suck forever." (This is my favorite quote and I put it on the wall (in HUGE letters) that you pass as you enter the work area of JDA so that each of us would have to see it and read it and embrace it every day and remember not to allow mediocrity ever for our clients.) If he had visited our space, it would have left an impression on him and we would have smiled and discussed why it was there. : ) |
| Now bring the agency to life. You have certainly been through this exercise, however applying it to your agency agency can be quite revealing in understanding more about your "DNA". If the agency were a car, what kind would it be? What color? Why? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | An Acura. Black. Good stuff under the hood. More on substance than style but high quality. As a result don't stand out as unique from other cars -- even lesser cars sometimes. Not the same prestige as a Lexus although the story is similar. A great value. Understated quality. Black because we look sophisticated but when we walk up to it we can see the dust layer. Seems we need to keep going to the car wash. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | Red, "stand out or you don't stand a chance" |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | A Chevy Avalanche...we are versatile but not quite sure what we want to be. And it's black, because we don't have the guts to be red. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Mini Cooper. Silver. Sleek, small but powerful and noticed by all. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | My initial thought is an RV. It’s a new one--shiny on the outside, cavernous on the inside with lots of room for people to climb on board. A gas guzzler as RV’s can be. Expensive to fill up and you are never quite sure where all the gas went. We follow a map but we seem to change course a lot. It's capable of taking us anywhere we want to go—we just have to pick the destination, put our foot on the pedal and drive. The color is silver but it has a metallic fleck--this represents the magic and pixie dust that I insist on at our shop when it comes to our work. It has to accompany all the research and strategy that we offer. We have to believe in the magic and possibility of our client's brands--and inspire our clients with that belief every single day. |
| What agencies do you most admire? Why? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | Naked. Because they tell their story well. They seem to have created a new way to say who they are -- and their story is compelling. I'd like to see us do what they've done in terms of their story. Martin Agency. Their work with GEICO is not only revolutionary advertising but also incredibly effective -- those are some bold "ideas that work." They are also off the beaten-path (New York) like we are so that is promising. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | Leo Burnett, I like the fact they are NOT in NYC and are still one of the top 10 ad agency's. I see a lot of the creative work they do and it's impressive. They are responsible for great work on some of Americas iconic brands. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Leo Burnett. Long term, non-trending success. At the end of the day, they do it right, day after day. Weiden & Kennedy. They push the envelope for real. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | The Martin Agency. They're in touch with the consumer...so many of their efforts resonate in a big way like the "rollback guy" and the GEICO multi-campaign efforts. Plus, their identity isn't determined by their location. Their business grew 12% this year, so they seem to be up to the challenge of today's economy. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | I love Ogilvy and all that it has stood for through the years. I love its history and find inspiration from them every day. I love this from their current site: "The first two fundamental components of that brand would be the quality and diversity of the people, and the quality and class of the operation. "Only first class business, and that in a first class way." I also love Saatchi & Saatchi. When I first read the book Lovemarks, it changed my entire perception of brands and the potential they hold. It always sits on my desk and I refer to it often and it's required reading for my staff. I love how Kevin says "All my emotions are invested on the edge" when he talks about this business. I often feel that way myself. There are many amazing agencies out there today--many are doing great work that inspires me or makes me laugh or makes me think. I discover new agencies every day and am grateful to see that our industry is still passionately creative. |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often. | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | We've come up against PHD and OMD a few times on the media side of our business. Currently MediaVest. On the creative side it seems that we don't have competitors that keep coming up. Recently we've competed with Faulkenberry Certain in our local area on St. Simons. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | That is an interesting question, I wish I came up against more agency's. I live in the Indiana so the agency's I run into most are out of Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne IN and in other parts of indiana. Keller Cresent MARC USA Heavy Weights |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | OMG PHD Martin Agency Various regional shops |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Recent proposals...Local/Regional in GA: Faulkenberry Certain, Blink, H20 Jacksonville based and Savannah based competitors. Nationally with KRAFT, we've been up against the biggest of big. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | Right now it has been local agencies like H2O and Faulkenberry Certain Advertising since we are pursuing more local work at the moment. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | We raise the level of excellence to beyond what their internal marketing department can do. They value that level of creative excellence. And they value the strategic direction we provide that gets way deeper into their businesses than most. On the media side we forge meaningful alliances with media outlets rather than just spots and dots. These alliances allow our clients to do more than many other clients their size. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | Better account management, I have earned a reputation for complete customer satisfaction. Which is a hard thing to live up to sometimes. Everyone says they have the best service so its not a point of differentiation, but the question is "in the eyes of the client." |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | We are smart. We are capable of surprising our clients with solutions that are both out-of-the-box and very effective. Plus we are much harder working than what they are use to from other agencies and their own in-house staff. Biggest points of difference...national media connections at a very high level, strong and well noted understanding of the Christian market. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | With the many who have no marketing department or CMO...it's brand direction, management and execution. With health care and banks...it's ad and materials, design, media planning and placement. Others like SeaPak...it's media planning and execution. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | Partner level involvement is a big deal when it comes to JDA. When we commit to projects or clients, the partners dig in. We are not on the golf course--we are in the trenches and working hard. Our work ethic as partners is unprecedented in this business. Our clients feel important and the partner level involvement yields excellence and results. |
| Are there any negative perceptions that prospects might have about the agency that could hold you back in new business? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | I just don't think that we are well-known enough to have perceptions, negative or positive in areas we are pursuing. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | I'm sure this is different in other parts of the United States but here is that we don't take "small clients" we don't do "project work" and that its an all or nothing. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Sure. We lack process on the creative front, as well as coherent brand strategy process. We have been the typical "pitch the big idea" kind of shop, and clients don't feel as if they have had sufficient input. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Locally and regionally, some may think we're above their needs...working with only national. That's because we do such a good job of positioning ourselves as bigger than we are. Building size, website, etc. Nationally...we have long standing experience with certain categories like CPG...but, no deep category experience. We've worked with two to three national CPG, all privately owned, and two recognized nationally. Health care and higher education, we have worked with more clients...but still only 3 to 4 in each category at most. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | I feel sometimes people assume we are a faith-based agency, not a secular agency with a faith-based client division. |
| What is one of the most innovative "pitch or RFP tactics" the agency has ever applied in a new business situation? This might include a distinctive questionnaire response or RFP, "presentation theater," dressing of the room, unique video content, innovative research, a special way of engaging/interacting with the client, etc., etc. | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | We took an RV and breakfast-tailgated in front of the NASCAR Hall of Fame to emulate what race fans do when we delivered our rfp response. Didn't win that one. We've also utilized Snippies for a video presentation to Pictsweet. That was very well received & we won the business. We do something we call "JDA Mom Squad" -- focus groups with local moms that inform our proposals and presentations. We just pay for lunch & watch their kids & always get some nuggets |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | The pitch we did for the Nascar Hall of Fame, we rented an RV to deliver the RFP on the site where the museum was being built. This was one of those events where we came in the "top 3" but they remembered us. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | The most innovative pitch may have been when we used Miss Indiana to sing to the prospective client...definitely not the most effective though! We have been producing customized brochures for client introductions and they seem to being doing the job. We need work here. |
| The following is a list of potential roadblocks that hold you back with your overall new business efforts. On a scale of 1- 10, rate each on how much it is a road block (1 being not a road block, 10 being a significant road block): | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | 7 |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | 10 |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | 6 |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | 8 |
| Specifically regarding pitches/RFPs, when you lose, what are typically the top 3 reasons? Consider both the client's expecations and how you compare to your competitive set. (check only 3) | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | |
| When you win a pitch, what do you think are typically the top 3 reasons? (check only 3) | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| Mark Tilghman, President | Agree. Commit. Execute. |
| Allison Robbins Account Manager | Have a defined plan on the categories we are going after. Dedicate time/resources/people to it. |
| Brad Benbow, Chairman/CEO | Agreement on what kind of business we want to acquire and then an agreed upon plan to do it. |
| Brent Barbee, Director of Accounts | Stop talking about ourselves and start presenting clear, interesting ideas to prospective clients. |
| Beckie Manley, EVP, Creative Director | Decide what type of business we want, put a new business person in place who is 100% dedicated to new business with 100% partner and staff support and then plan the pitches and pitch the plan. |