| What accounts do you work on? | |
|---|---|
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Lowe's, Humana, Husqvarna, TaylorMade |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | P&G |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Adobe, Best Buy, Cricket, Dyson, Dolby, Electronic Arts, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nokia, ooVoo |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | BP, HP, Soccer, Jim Beam |
| Alex Beer, SVP | The brands of Altria (Marlboro, Skoal, Copenhagen, Black & Mild among others) |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Visa, New Balance, Chase, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Dirty Girl Mud Run, 7-Eleven, Benjamin Moore |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | HBO SPEED Cintas Best Buy |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Altria. Four main clients, Marlboro Green, Marlboro Black, Copenhagen and Skoal. We have another 5 or 6 clients that rotate in with project work |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | GMR for close to 10 years. CLC for 2 years prior. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | 100% of career on agency side IMG (9 years) - Coca-Cola, AT&T Broadband, Visa, Comcast, Food Lion PRIMEDIA (3 years) - Sports & Entertainment Agency in Atlanta - American Express, NASCAR, House of Blues |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | I have worked at GMR since 1994 and it is the basis of my professional work history. From 1994 until 1999, I worked on a variety of clients across a variety of CPG, retail and consumer electronics brands. Since 1999, I have worked pretty exclusively on technology brands. My experience naturally includes events and experiential programs. Over the past 4-5 years, my team's scope with clients has broadened to include many areas outside of traditional events, including digital. social and sales promotional programming. I have a long track record of working in integrated team dynamics (v-teams, agency collaboration). |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | 6 years on client side (Bank of America), 9 1/2 years at GMR and other agencies - worked on MillerCoors Account, Bank of America, Gatorade, Jim Beam, HP, BP and all Soccer clietns (Puma, MLS, VW) |
| Alex Beer, SVP | I have worked at three agencies in my career, and I have worked in the advertising and marketing field my entire career. J. Walter Thompson, BBDO and GMR. At all of the agencies I have worked on the account side of the business in both traditional adverstising and sponsorship and event marketing |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Lifetime GMR employee. 13 years with this agency. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | I worked closely with GMR, Octagon and IMG (and others) during my time at USA Track & Field and INDYCAR as both a client and as a property whose sponsors retained agencies. I also worked with the client service team at INDYCAR to assist them with the manangement of their accounts/deliverables (via contract negotiation/drafting/management). |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | I have worked for two other agencies, J Walter Thompson and BBDO. And JWT I worked on Ford Motor Company, and at BBDO Chrysler |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | GMR Marketing is a global, full-service engagement marketing agency that blends offline and online marketing to create branded experiences. We do this by leveraging the consumer passion areas of sports, music, entertainment and lifestyle interests. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Sports, entertainment and lifestyle marketing agency that connects brands and companies to consumers through engaging platforms and programming. GMR helps clients tap into the passion points of consumers that allow brands to be a part of the conversation, experience and relationship. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | GMR Marketing is a full service, global engagement marketing agency with the depth and breadth to direct client business needs from planning through activation across a variety of core disciplines including sports, entertainment, and lifestyle marketing strategies. We are a nimble group of driven marketing professionals spread across North America and key global markets. Our size and unique structure allows us to support client business needs of all shapes and sizes in a turnkey, efficient and effective manner. |
| Alex Beer, SVP | We are a stratigic, creative agency that is rooted in flawless execution. Our stregth is our passion to each project that we tackle. We cannot do everything for you, but what we can, we excel at. |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Experts in identifying and connecting consumers to brands during moments and in places where consumers are enjoying their passions. Full service engagement marketing company with creative, digital, ideation, measurement, research and project management services all in house. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | GMR is one of the most exeprienced and decorated marketing services agencies, focused on sports and entertainment, in North America. With 17 offices in 10 countries and over 650 employees around the world, it is our passion to create brand engagements that capture consumer attention, influence opinion and change behavior. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Thanks for asking about GMR. We consider ourselves and Engagement Marketing agency, what does that mean? Well, it means we live in the space where brands meet people in a meaningful way, not mass media, or untargeted campaigns, we create emotional bonds for our clients with their brands and consumers. |
| What has been your role in working to grow your client accounts? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Both organic and new growth of the relationships. Have taken both a leadership and support role. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Worked to identify the best point of entry for GMR with P&G, which turned out to be sports from a P&G scale perspective. My team then helped grow the relationship with P&G through providing strategic counsel, solutions and insights for P&G's USOC partnership, which has now lead to a global relationship with P&G working against its TOP Partnership with the IOC. Our strategy has been to be an extension of the client's limited sports marketing team, providing expertise, bandwidth and manpower where the client had significant gaps. We are now focused on building relationships outside of the Olympics program with P&G's brands and regions. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Development and presentation of RFP responses, on-going client relationship management, internal trafficking of new business opportunities (creative, ideation, support teams, etc.), identificiation and development of leads with current and extended client contacts |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Point person for all new projects coming in from xisting clients. |
| Alex Beer, SVP | Since joining GMR, I have always had a hybrid biz dev, client lead role. A big part of my job is growing the business |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Project leader. Most senior person with attention to day to day operations of every project on my team. Deliver good work. Be realistic with clients. Manage expectations. Keep client satisfied in current work and leverage the happy client to make connections with others in the company. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | My role is to think strategically, anticipate what is next and continually look for opportunities to expand organically. I have also been working closely with my Directors to try and instill in them a sense of responsibility and desire to want to grow their accounts. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | I manage a huge piece of infrastructure here at GMR, a lot of people. But my number one priority is looking forward, growing my clients. I look at my role as 50/50, managing and growing. |
| What would you say are the most important qualities of a strong account person? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Service attitude. Business accumen. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Resilience, Foresight, Proactive and strategic thinking, ability to connect people and integrate teams (client & agencies), humbleness, relenting quest to evolve, learn and improve |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Good communications skills (written and verbal), good ability to listen, thoughtful and trusted leadership (internal and external), strong ethics, someone who clients can trust, organized, ability to see all aspects of the client relationship through - from pitch to project management |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Organization, relationship management,can do attitude |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Risk taking. Verbal presentation skills. Concise communication. Supporting your people inside the agency. Representing your clients inside the agency. Confidence to say "no". Eye to financials, especially as it relates to client profitability and cash flow. Mediator of challenges. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Leadership, diplomacy, problem-solving, time management, detail oriented and incredibly strong knowledge of your client/industry. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Honesty, number one. Along with that it has to be someone who knows the difference between managing and leading. An account is managed, teams are lead. |
| Personally, what do you consider to be your account management strengths? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Relationship building. Presentation and meeting organization and leading. Leadership of team. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Ability to read and understand the needs of clients before they realize what their needs might be. Ability to build relationships with clients that help drive organic growth. Ability to build teams that meet and exceed the needs of the client by matching the right individuals to the right account. Then, to evolve that team as the client business dictates. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Strong communications skills, good people management skills, strong writting/presentation skills, organized program/process manager, strong financial acumen |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Organization, people skills, detail oriented |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Oh, well, i answered 1 with 2 in mind ...so... Risk taking. Verbal presentation skills. Concise communication. Supporting your people inside the agency. Representing your clients inside the agency. Confidence to say "no". Eye to financials, especially as it relates to client profitability and cash flow. Mediator of challenges. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Leadership, diplomacy and ability to solve problems. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Hard question. I think what has served me well is that I am a person of my word, I mean what I say and keep my promises. Another strength of mine is mine is my ability to connect with clients and see the big picture. That, and the fact that I don't overreact to any situation has helped me manage clients and lead teams. |
| Personally, what are you most wanting to improve as an effective account person? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Creativity. Focus and priorities. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Organization and prioritization- need more time to think and less time to react! How to push beyond the existing relationship that we have with the client. They see GMR as sports. How do we position ourselves to be seen more broadly and provide incremental opportunities for the agency outside of the current scope. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Being more assertive in internal and external relationships, strategic interpretation of client briefs |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Presentation skills |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Confidence. Bad cop services when necessary. Coordination of the multitude of moving parts which occur between a win and launch of a program. Brevity in verbal communication - say more with less. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Knowing the GMR system and services to better grow organic business as well as developing even deeper relationships with my current clients. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | I'd like to improve one key areas, knowing what makes my teams motivated and happy. If I am honest, the business side seems to come in front of personal development at times. We are a "get it done" agency, and not enough time is spent developing talent, I want to improve that. |
| When you consider your clients, what do they most value about the agency? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | The fact that we are full service. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Consistency, ability to build and deploy processes globally, 100% success rate on delivering programs despite client changes or complications, expertise, communication |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | It varies per client, but I would say that the clients trust that the agency will deliver on their needs - no matter how crazy the timeline or unique the needs might be. Additionally, our ability to cover many needs from soup to nuts within one shop and with generally a single point of contact. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Our knowledge, ease of working with the account teams |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Dependibility...we can be out of sight and trusted to do the job. Tireless commitment to getting the job done. Attention to detail, particularily financial. Various service offerings all "under the same roof". |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Our true partnerhsip approach. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | First, they value the people. My team is made up of people that are dedicated to clients business and they know it, but I also think, and this may sound strange, that consistency is highly valued. Since our client is in a regulated category, they need to have faith in the consistency in our execution. |
| When you consider your clients, what do they need but are not getting from the agency? In other words, do you see any missed opportunities in terms of fulfilling unmet client needs? This is not meant to be negative, but instead to have you consider Organic Growth from a "client need" perspective. | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | More competitive pricing across support groups. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Cross-platform integration- collective agency teams coming together to deliver one plan, one solution that has all elements vs piecemeal delivery of programs as each agency contributes their portion. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Greater investment in long term client development. Using Microsoft as an example, I feel that we could substantially grow that account if we were willing to invest in meaningful account resources in Seattle. It is always the cart before the horse though. Greater dedication of strategic and creative resources. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Deeper insights into the business, more activation ideas |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Faster process as we often step on our own feet from a procedure standpoint. More time away from the details and the firedrills to think strategically for the client. More knowledge of each client's industry and enterprise-wide business objectives. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Dedicated creative-from concept to execution. Response times are slow and, at times, the concepts are simply not up to par. Really, not a reflection of the talent of our people, but more a statement on the bandwidth. Are we giving the those whose job it is to come up with creative, ou t of the box ideas, time to do that? And, once we have that idea, does the creative team have the bandwidth to follow through and truly service the client as a stand along creative agency would? |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | The unmet need is to have a stronger bench on our team. We are executing against each of our core areas, and we could grow business if I had more people the client trusted to pitch. |
| When you are competing to win business, what are the top few agencies you compete against most often? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | TMA, Wunderman, Momentum |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Octagon, Momentum, Team Epic, IMG |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Momentum, Wunderman, ePrize, Gage Marketing, various west coast digital shops, |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | IMG, Octagon, The Marketing Arm |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Great question and i should know better than i do. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | IMG Octagon Wasserman |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Leo Burnett |
| What benefit do you provide to clients that they don't? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Broad reaching, diverse background, key relationships, solid client roster, backend support services. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Internal support services- creative, mobile, digital, etc Property/Asset agnostic as GMR has a singular focus on brands and corporate clients vs selling and representing of assets (athletes, events, etc) as some of our competitors do |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | With the sales promotions agencies, we provide full service support and a general higher level of client service. this comes at a higher cost though which often results in us losing out on opportunities. With the Momentums and Wundermans of the world, I would say we offer comparable services. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Ease of working with us, flawless execution |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Vast internal resources across various departments. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | True partnership approach and turn-key solutions due to our in-house services. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | We are the arms and legs of their marketing programs, as well as the voice of the consumer. The reason we've been successful is because we follow the same game paln for every project. Business need --> Insights --> Strategy --> Execution. Above anything, we are experts in the experiential space |
| What benefit do they provide to clients that you don't? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Not sure |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | They are willing to spend more as it relates to investing to win and maintain the business |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Lower costs in some instances. With Momentum and Wunderman, I feel they dedicate a higher level of creative resources to new business opportunities. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Less expensive (in some instances), Better name recognition |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Less expensive pricing model. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Significant presence in larger markets (LA, New York, Chicago) |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | True brand management. THey are a traditional agencies that consider themselves "stewards of the brands" |
| What do you think the agency most needs to improve to have a more effective account management/client services department? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Continued investment in its people and innovative resources. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Vision and alignment of senior management on the principals and approach that the agency will deploy. Commitment to these principals across all teams. Clearer senior management structure and role definition. Global integration that will help the international offices work together on shared clients. Better way to engage the resources needed to provide clients with added value and thinking. (Ex- if creative is under-resourced to provide even the work needed against assignments, how can they be leveraged to provide new thinking that the client hasn't asked for but might provide us new opportunities) |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | Greater (dedicated) creative resources, ideally aligned with account teams. A more competitive pricing / overhead structure that allows us to provide more rounded services (e.g., creative support) without necessarily markedly raising billings as we are already higher than many competitors. Overall more support team resources to allow us to react to business opportunities in a more nimble manner. Removal of laborious and time draining process barriers (legal / purchasing / contracting). |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Less red tape with support services, value add to teh clients that do not cost them (for example being able to provide creative ideation to them without having to charge them unless they buy off on it) |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Grow out of a situation where everyone is running too thin and move away from the mindset of doing 100 at an average level to doing 25 things very well. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Greater interaction/learning/best practices between VP's and account teams. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | More of a team approach, we are set up as silo's and there is little movement. |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well does the logic of a typical client presentation set up the program with an irrefutable logic trail? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | 7 |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | 5 |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | 7 |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | 8 |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | 8 |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | 7 |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | 5 |
| How would you define a Consumer Insight? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | The core of the solution for the client or what they are trying to solve. Something that the consumer needs or desires that can help us shape our clients offerings. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | A research-based or supported observation about consumers that provides a look into what motivates the consumer. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | A consumer insight would be a fact about the target audience(s) that helps us better understand the target. the insight is used to help determine the best/most logical strategic approach to deliver on the client's objectives from the brief. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | knowledge about a particular consumer segment that is not obvious |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | A concise, simple thought that is concurrently obvious / believable and revolutionary / breakthrough. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | Understanding/identifying a void in the marketplace or how to better meet an existing consumer need of a consumer. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | A consumer insight is when you look at the facts and marketplace and arrive to a conclusion that helps someone understand the consumer more clearly. |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you orient your presentation around a new and unexpected strategic consumer insight vs. a predictable consumer insight? In other words, how well do you always have something brand new to share about the client's target audience? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | 5 |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | 5 |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | 6 |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | 5 |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | 4 |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | 6 |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | 8 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you orient your presentation around a new and unexpected creative/concept/program/tactical idea? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | 9 |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | 4 |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | 6 |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | 9 |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | 4 |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | 7 |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | 8 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you demonstrate the business impact of your recommendation? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | 7 |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | 5 |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | 6 |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | 7 |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | 8 |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | 6 |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | 3 |
| Overall, what do you believe most holds your account teams back in terms of the effectiveness of your client presentations? | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Time. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | The adaptation of strategic thinking into a written/presentation form. We always lose something in the translation. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | timing for presentation development, limitation of resources |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | Understanding their business objectives |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Information from client in the form of thin to non-existent briefs. Partial understanding of client business needs beyond the immediate world of our day to day client. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | At times, I think we spend a great portion of our presentations setting up who we are and less time selling our concept and why the client needs us. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Account people are afraid to push, everyone is so excited to receive positive reinforcemnet from the client and make them happy that they give up opportunities to push back truly push our concepts and ideas. |
| Overall, how proactive are your account teams in growing the accounts you work on and what most needs to improve? Please explain. | |
| Tyson Webber, SVP | Very active. They are our best sales people by doing their job well day in and day out and then recognizing areas of growth for our team and agency. |
| Cameron Wagner SVP, Client Services | Very- we deconstruct every project for ways that we can bring value in the future, course correct mistakes and make improvements. True innovation is where we lack. Solid, dependable, consistent and exception account service is where we win. |
| Jon Steltenpohl, VP-Group Account Director | We are pretty effective at growing our business. While the work on my team is generally project based, we routinely deliver annual year-over-year growth with limited dollars coming from completely new clients. We build strong, trusted relationships with the clients and that is the strongest tool. From an improvement standpoint, we need to stop, breathe and more effectively chase the opportunity that is 3 to 6 months down the road versus being consumed with the current pressing client needs/paid work. |
| Allison Kelly, VP Client Management | We are average in this. TIme holds us back. We are staffed according to what the client pays us for and going after new business often takes additional time and resources that we dont often have. |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | C-; in our current growth phase, account managers have needed to be all in delivering sold in business. This happens at all levels when new projects do not have staff to support and while staff is on boarded, the most senior people get pulled from growing business into running business. |
| Sarah Davis, Vice President, Client Management | My account teams, particularly my Directors, are very involved. I would like to see my teams look forward on a regular basis-not just when the retainer is up for renewal. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Not enough. We talk the talk, but are reactive. We try to get ahead of things, but crunch time comes and we end up in a reactive situation. |
| Any final thoughts for us as we prepare to lead you through the Organic Growth training program? | |
| Bill Blank, VP Client Management | Incredibly curious to learn more and excited based on what we have already learned. |
| Alexander J Beer - SVP Client Management | Nope, looking forward to it. |