| What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency? | |
|---|---|
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | My job is lead generation. And preparing RFI's. When we have written RFP's I generally head get them organized and tap into the team for answers to specific questions re: ideas or pricing. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Primarily presenting in pitches and capabilities presentations |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | Leading piches, presenting strategy |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Participating in and leading pitch teams; presenting at pitches. Until very very recently, I did not proactively solicit or seek opportunities. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | New lead development, database management, qualifying opportunities, business analysis, pricing |
| Rick Stone | Lead pitches |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | I have a lead role in most new business efforts including Salesforce setup and website integration through to RFI/RFP responses and pitch presentations. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | Mostly working with the team to create and prep materials for new business, but not going to the presentations. |
| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | I started the firm in 1978 so have essentially been doing the same job for 36 years. Prior to 1978 I was in grad school; never worked at another agency. In the early years I worked on most every for the past 20 I serve only in a very senior strategic capacity on the largest. For example, when we got a big assignment from P&G it was mine to manage. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Before LSB, I worked in Minneapolis. Agencies there were: Carmichael Lynch/ Harley Davidson, Mercury Outboards and Stern-drives, Winnebago Motor Homes. Campbell Mithun/ Mercury Outboards, Anderson Windows, Land-O-Lakes butter, Target, U S West Communcation, Nature Valley H&R Block, Key Bank. Toro Lawn products Colle McVoy/ Pfizer Animal Health, SBC Communication, Weather Shield Windows, WInnebago Motorhomes, Triumph Motorcycles. I also worked on the client-side for a short time as Marketing Manager for The Parker Pen Company |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | Account service, I usually arrange for any research that needs too be done, qual, quant, ethnographies, etc. We often use clinical psychologists to do in-depth, one-on-one interviews. I've been with the agency for over 30 years. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | 11 years at LSB 2 years at Weber Shandwick Worldwide (Chicago) at director level. 6 years at MilkPEP (milk mustache campaign) various positions including Marketing Director. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | Primarily financial and operational on the client side. No previous agency experience prior to LSB (now 13 years). Limited direct account experience - tends to be more relationship oriented and focusing on contractual issues |
| Rick Stone | Been here 30 years. Touched most accounts. Worked for several other small agencies before joining LSB. |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | 10 years agency experience with fortune 500 brands with roles like: product dev and strategy sales engineer / sales director account lead / account director digital planning and strategy |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | On April 30th this year I will celebrate 30 years with LSB. I have worked on most of the accounts we have had over the years. I work closely with our clients once jobs our in the production stage. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | LSB specializes in the successful launch of new products, brands and categories, and the makeover and relaunch of brands so they live up to their full potential. These are among the toughest challenges facing marketers and we've customized our entire operation (staffing, training, methods) with what works, what's best and what's next. This means we are especially well equipped to provide consumer insights on positioning, switching strategies, engaging creative/digital/social and the analytics that drive optimization. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | LSB is an agency that specializes in jumpstarting brands that are new-to-the-world or brands that feel they could be doing better. We're smart, creative and amazingly fast so you can get great ideas to market faster. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | Right now, I would say, we specialize in jump staring brands; launching or relaunching stalled brands. We define a brand as something that helps people be more of who they are - in other words, we understand how this brand fits into their life in terms of their deeper emotional motivations and bring that to life in relevant and disruptive creative executions. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | The LSB team is led by a cadre of senior strategists with a wealth of experience in what it takes to launch new brands and revitalize under preforming brands, including those in XYZ category. This know-how, combined with a culture driven by curiosity, collaboration and accountability has made LSB the agency of choice for brands from strong regional players to those in the Fortune 500. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | LSB specializes in launching new brands or bringing tired brands a new burst of energy. We are a group of senior level strategists from a variety of disciplines - brand, creative, digital, PR - that helps you discover and understand what role your brand can play in consumers lives. We are very good at using that understanding to create communications that persuade the right consumers. |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | We specialize in launching new products and brands and making them matter to people. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | We are an agency that specializes in what it takes to successful launch a new product or make over and relaunch a brand in a way that helps it achieve its full potential. In business 35 years, we've customized our entire operation know-how, workspace, talent, affiliates, methods and professional development in order to reliably deliver. In competitions like the Clio’s, Effies, O’Tooles, One Show, Graphis International and more, we’ve been recognized over and over for the effectiveness and creativity of our work. |
| 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? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | Well we've actually hosted Stuart, several years ago. (Known him for 20 years. Visit him often when in NYC.) But if we were new to him his headline would be: If you've a new product to launch, trust it only to the experts at LSB. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Big agency thinking without the big agency bullshit. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | A really smart agency |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Wisconsin Agency Banks on Brand Launches |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | New brands defy the odds and jumpstart success with LSB |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | The Best At Making Your Brand Matter |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | There's an advertising agency in Madison, WI worth checking out. |
| 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? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | An Audi concept car. Sleek, futuristic, aluminum in color if not in actual material (could be some new innovative material that performs better but looks like aluminum) All this because we are way ahead of others with what performs best now, and leading the way in experimenting/seeking/figuring out what will be next to work best. This means we may look a bit odd to the traditional car buyer. But to those that desire responsive handling and top performance --in something that is not big and clunky but rather lean and new to the eye---they will find it in LSB. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | A Silver Tesla. Because it's fast, nimble, made by a small start-up, quiet, has some inventive features, cool but not flashy, but no one knows what it is. And when you go into a Tesla dealership they have a need to over-load you with information about the car instead of just letting you sit in it and drive it. And customers have anxiety that our range won't get them where they want to go. And occasionally we catch on fire (metaphorically speaking of course). |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | A Cadillac, steel gray, blends in, a quality car that may be held back by it's older image which it keeps trying to throw off. Even though it is redesigned and has a new slick marketing campaign, underneath, it's still a Cadillac. Because of our conference, Brandworks University, and the proclivity of some in management, we come off as more of a constancy that an agency - much to the chagrin of the creative team. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | A Lincoln MKX. A very nice luxury car, but not flashy or ostentatious (like a luxury import). The types of prospects we've been engaged with lately see us as expensive and are surprised at the amount of our proposals and estimates. The MKX is a crossover which is analogous to our ability to be nimble and handle all sorts of assignments and clients. It would probably be a sensible color, beige or champagne. Again, not flashy. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | a late model blue Ford Mustang - fast, high performance vehicle that satisfies the car geek yet is accessible to a wider audience. More affordable than more exotic models. The iconic "pony" has an element of being free spirited (in our thinking and creative). I say blue because it is a calming color which I hope we bring to our clients when we ask them to do something "risky" |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | I think of LSB as a red Tesla. It's sexy on the surface and uses cutting edge technology and electronics as it's power source. It's also a car that is complicated and takes a rocket scientist to explain how it works and why you should pay tons for it. Heck we even talk about ourselves like rocket scientists in pitches. The problem is the masses have the perception that Ford Focus and others do the same thing. They don't. But it's too late at that point - like Tesla, we may never even make it into the consideration set. We have to change that. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | Red VW 2014 Beetle. You may think the small and modest Beetle does not deserve attention, but the beauty of the beetle has survived 65 years of competitive design. It is a car for the people. It feels like us. |
| What agencies do you most admire? Why? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | In addition to the ones I grew up in the biz admiring --(Disruption's thought leaders in both a real and literal sense--TBWA, Chiat Day, Weiden), the last 5 years or so I've come to admire and envy these 3 especially 1) Anomaly because they approach their work not as advertising but as analysts of a business problem, creating a new definition of an agency that was contrary to the mold, developing their own IP and investing in it even with clients (as we talk of doing). I've often said, there but for our location and guts goes LSB. They seem to practice well what we preach--which in the words of one of my mentors Scott Cook founder of Intuit is 'fall in love with the business problem, not the solution.' 2) R/GA for similar reasons. And also because they are all about commercial solutions, including developing the IP to solve them from which they can create platforms of new and additional revenue. 3) And I guess to stop at 3, I'd add Olson.They've grown so fast, and reached a tipping point of work for Target that it let to more and more opportunities. They are now a juggernaut in the Midwest. Of course it helped that in Minneapolis they have hundreds of great brands they could work for close by. In Madison we have only 2-3 in the city, and thus our new biz efforts are almost always out of town, in the hometowns or regions of other great agencies with whom the prospect may have existing friendships or commonalities. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Goodby. Consistently great work. Have recreated themselves to shake off the traditional. Weiden. The work for Old Spice, Coke, Nike. Always big thinking Baldwin. Burt's Bees stuff is really nice Mono. Love the thinking, really admire the stuff they do. Droga 5. Do equally great work for big and small clients |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | TBWA Chiat Day - because of their Disruption positioning. Goodby because they made the hard choices to retool the creative department to be more digitally focused. CK - they moved from parochial Milwaukee into larger markets. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Any small independent agency that knows who they are, what they stand for and are successful despite location, size etc… I think of an agency like The Martin Agency - before Interpublic - based in Richmond, they developed a national reputation, got good clients and eventually got gobbled up. Or an agency like Holland + Holland in Alabama - how'd thy get to work for Porsche? I'm guessing it's because they decided to capitalize on their female-centric positioning and leveraged it to get a big account on the roster. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | Redscout - they seem to do what we pride ourselves in doing: innovating new ways for brands to stay relevant with existing or new consumers. Strong in understanding consumer insights and motivations; developing effective ideas that leverage that understanding |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | Hill Holiday, 72 and Sunny, TBWA I like the way they go right at it. They don't hide behind complicated theories of branding and strategy. Sure they have them. I'm sure their processes are as unique as any others. I bet they even have fancy names for them too. For them it's about charging ahead and taking risks. At least that's the perception I have of them. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | The agencies that have been winning the Ad Age small agency of the year for delivering great work and solid business results. Mono, Pollinate, Bailey Lauerman |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often. | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | We do not do many shoot outs. And there are few agencies we face up against frequently. In the course of the last few years, in vying for assignments or pitches there were some Boston agencies (like Hill Holiday), and a few from SF and LA (like Ogilvy out there), CK in Chicago once or twice, perhaps Laughlin in Milwaukee twice and locally, Shine and Hiebing once or twice. NO data of sufficnet note to draw any conclusions except we go up against all types of agencies, with staffs of 40 to 400 or more, all over the US. And sometimes the competitor is more a brand consultancy like Prophet than and ad agency. From time to time the agency is a tactical specialist, like in social or digital. But again, almost never the same one more than once. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Locally, in Wisconsin we compete with Laughlin Constable, Shine and indirectly, Planet Propaganda Nationally, we tend to compete against people we've never heard of but about a year ago we competed against Arnold. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | We don't really have a set of constant competitors. Wee may compete against local agencies for local accounts but here are not enough large local accounts to allow us all to survive so we pitch nationally. But that means we could be pitching against local agencies from the client's home market. We pitched against San Diego and Kansas City agencies for a piece of business in San Diego. We are pitching against 4 unknown agencies for a piece of business in Nashville. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Honestly, we've been all over the place. Competing against large multi-nationals to small independents down the street. What I can tell you is that, as far as I know, we have never competed against any of the agencies that claim to be brand launch specialists. Since many of our clients are pretty Midwest-centric, we do tend to compete more agains agencies in Madison and Milwaukee. Bt we've also won and lost against large agencies that are par of the holding companies. We've snagged PR biz from Ogilvy Los Angeles; we've lost biz to Stephan & Brady across town. It's all over the board. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | lack of knowledge in this area. we need to get better at finding out. |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | You wouldn't know them. They are small and regional. That's a problem. It means we are in small pitches and not playing where we want to. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | It is different each time we compete. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | In performance reviews with clients, over and over again we hear the same things: "You are more strategic than others we've worked with. They go on to say--"You are so thorough, so thoughtful, so strategic with your recommendations and the data, science, rationale to back them up. And you even help us script the case to take up to our bosses for sell in." Or they put it this way: "You are way ahead of others on how you see what is best and what's next--in part because of who you've staffed on my account and how seriously they as individuals delve deep into my business, my target, and fuel what we do with the world class learning from Brandworks University on what is best and what is next. The other thing we hear from time to time: "We feel like LSB's only client, because your responsiveness is so exceptional, and we have easy access to your top people." Beyond what I hear in face to face performance reviews with clients, and the testimonials they give us (all variations of the above) I have no way of knowing, truthfully, much about the value we provide over and above that of our competitors. We have few new biz shootouts and when we do, requests for feedback are usually gracious, not at all candid, or nothing we can do anything about. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | I believe there's two things that we do incredibly well. We're very fast and nimble. We get to great solutions as fast or faster than any agency anywhere. And our work is based on extremely solid underpinnings strategically. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | Tough call. Not much. We try to say it is our knowledge of what it aces to jumpstart a brand. But that is more hype than reality. We are really smart people that tend to ooh at things strategically. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | An academic curiosity about the issues facing marketers. This manifests itself outwardly in Brandworks, but does permeate our culture throughout the year. Some clients may see this as a value; others may not. We are also very very integrated and can be nimble - though I can't say that none of our competitors can't claim this. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | With our current roster of small to mid size clients, I believe clients value our strategic understanding of their brand, our creative work and ability to help them effectively manage most of their marketing needs - more of the full service model. And clients tell us we have the ability to move much faster than other agencies they work with. |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | We excel at branding and strategy. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | We are smart, fast, respect our clients and deliver results. Does no else do that? No. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do your competitors provide of value, that you do not? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | Our competitors are almost always lower priced. And to my eye, they usually provide more schmooze, more BS, --the kinds of things that give a client a sense of personal perqs, entitlement, control and ego reinforcement. To my eye, with this is the valued comfort that comes from competitors agencies being more male (even part of the old boy's network of martini or beer drinking buddies) than ours is perceived to be. Here is my emerging hypothesis: Client decision makers remain predominantly male. And they don't realize it but they feel, subconsciously, an increased sense of risk or anticipate discomfort with what they perceive to be a middle aged woman's agency because of --well because of the things Pantene noted in their recent commercial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2kfgW7708 |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | Simplicity. While we're fast, we make everything sound complicated instead of working behind the scenes and just bringing them the solution. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | More resources, human and financial. Better insights into the consumer. More exciting creative - our tends to be expected. Some of that is creative talent, but mostly it's lack of resources to dive deep into the consumer. We have no planning department |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Deeper category experience/knowledge. Deeper benches. Bigger names on the client rosters. More national experience. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | To the larger clients/brands we aspire, we probably do not have enough breadth and depth of in the areas of planning, strategy and creative, technologists - talent in more of the upfront development of brands and idea generation. |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | Willingness to take on project work without an AOR arrangement. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | We are not as specialized in specific areas of business as we could be. |
| Are there any negative perceptions that prospects might have about the agency that could hold you back in new business? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | Two possible ones: 1) That subconsciously, an agency founded and headed by a women (despite a healthy mix of both genders on the team) might not be as comfortable to work with as an agency with a man in charge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2kfgW7708 2) That an agency located off the coasts could not possibly have the depth of knowledge, experience and strategy to perform as would those in places like NYC or LA or San Francisco 3) That Wisconsin is comprised of hicks, or that Madison (if they know of the University of Wisconsin-- long hailed as the Berkeley of the Midwest--or if they have witnessed on CNN the labor union protests around the Capitol Building the last few years) is comprised of ultra liberal, pot smoking crazies that couldn't possible be reasonable and serious business professionals. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | I don't believe (and this could be my own bias) that prospects know exactly what we are. Our communication to the outside world is primarily about Brandworks and my guess is that they feel we're some kind of brand consultancy. Our communications also tend to be long and didactic and very, very serious. What that means is we have an uphill battle to convince them that we actually are creative and nimble. Most of our presentations exceed 90 slides. We just don't seem simple. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | We are located in Madison. That may be a perceptual problem, it is definitely a talent recruiting problem. We may be viewed as more of a consultancy than a creative force - that may be good or bad depending on your point of view. |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Size. Un-sophisticated (since we're not in a major market). For some clients, we are viewed as expensive (though on a national level, I am sure this is not the case) |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | We lack large client brands for which we have had primary responsibility, small agency in the Midwest, insufficient depth/breadth of competencies |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | We have spent years developing ourselves as experts in branding and strategy and that could keep us in that sandbox. For example, "Your great at branding but your not a digital agency. Your website says so." is something I hear often. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | Not sure. |
| What are the top 3 road blocks that most hold you back with new business? (check only 3) | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | |
| 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) | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | |
| When you win a Competitive Pitch/RFP, what do think are typically the top 3 reasons? (check only 3) | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business? | |
| Marsha Lindsay, CEO | Learn how others have been counseled and trained to do so, so our methods, tactics and more are competitive now with industry standards and best practices. If we know the latter, we can and will do them better, paired with our specialty know how. And since most of the new biz we get we get without a shoot out, we will use the new best practices to do this even better. |
| Bill Winchester Chief Creative Officer | To me, new business starts way before the pitch and we're not positioned or known well outside of Brandworks. I also think our creative is often based on shaky or non-existent insights. Our overall knowledge of strategy, in general, is awesome, but we don't have an account planner so often, while the creative is really good, big ideas, it kind of comes out of nowhere so we're asking clients to take a leap without the real proof it's going to work. |
| Rick Stone, EVP Brand Strategy | I'm not sure our issue is just new business. It may be the business model, or talent, or location. Could we be better at new business? Absolutely. But underneath the lipstick, guess what? |
| Amy Rohn SVP, Director PR | Get smarter about our prospect categories businesses, challenges and opportunities and do a better job of conveying that in an engaging presentation that doesn't turn into a lecture. |
| Phil Ouellette - President/COO | stand for something, determine our "why" |
| Todd LaBeau VP, Digital | We need a dedicated new business team/person. We need to shrink our pitch team size. We need to get to insights faster. |
| Julie Herfel/EVP/Director of Client Services | Engage with the client's business more and talk about ourselves less. Have the best presenters in the room. Position ourselves as the most relevant specialist so the decision is easy for them. |