| What is your name, title and agency name? | |
|---|---|
| Addie Gillespie, Creative Director at DARE | |
| What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency? | |
| Since May, my partner Mia Thomsett and I have been responsible for the look and feel and writing of all the new business pitches. We've worked with our Head of Planning Catherine Piercy to come up with the strategy and brand statements where necessary. We've also been in the pitch room, speaking to Creative. | |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| After school, I started at Lowe Roche in Toronto for about 6 months. I decided to move to Vancouver and landed a job at TBWA\Vancouver where I worked on everything in the agency - Vancouver International Film Festival, Smart fortwo, Okanagan Spring Brewery, Mercedes Dealerships, Yukon Tourism, BCLC (Set for Life, Playnow, Scratch and Win), BC Children's Hospital, Vancity Credit Union, Joey Restaurants and Save-on-Foods. From there, Mia and I moved to DARE where we worked on Honda Dealerships, British Columbia Tourism, Vancouver Art Gallery, Prairie Milk, BC Children's Hospital, Okanagan Spring Brewery, Dianes Lingerie, John Frieda, MTS and new business. | |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| We're an ad agency that would use creativity to add value to your business. | |
| Stuart Elliott, who covers agencies around the world, 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? | |
| People with passion crave process, direction. | |
| 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? | |
| A Jeep. Durable, sturdy and can overcome barrier set in it's way. Over and over again. Orange because it's our colour, so it makes sense. | |
| What agencies do you most admire? Why? | |
| That's always changing. Droga5 because they always do something different, first. BBDO New york because their work for HBO is consistently some of my favourite. Wieden, Goodby and because they usually make something amazing out of pretty standard clients. | |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often. | |
| DDB and Rethink. | |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| I think we look at things differently. We have blind optimism that anything is possible and believe we can change the face of advertising. Which all comes down to the fact that we have people that are more passionate than any others. In terms of our work - It's based on insights and tends to be smart where other work leans on being comparative or slapstick. We work media neutral so we can make sure the best idea is brought to life, not just the best idea for print. Or the best idea for a banner etc. | |
| In the eyes of clients, what do your competitors provide of value, that you do not? | |
| History. We're new, we can't say we've done it a million times, trust us. | |
| Are there any negative perceptions that prospects might have about the agency that could hold you back in new business? | |
| I think there have been a lot of shake ups here in the past 4 years. The amalgamation of all the agencies, people still think DARE and Cossette have something to do with each other, so they're confused right out of the gate. Also, a lot of management level people have left and a lot of people in general, so there are negative question marks out there in terms of "why". | |
| What are the top 3 road blocks that most hold you back with new business? (check only 3) | |
| Specifically regarding Competitive Pitches/RFPs, when you lose, what are typically the top 3 reasons? Consider both the client's expectations and how you compare to your competitive set. (check only 3) | |
| When you win a Competitive Pitch/RFP, what do think are typically the top 3 reasons? (check only 3) | |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| The process. Not scrambling to get it together last minute, but taking the time to dig deep and do what we think is right. | |