| What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience? | |
|---|---|
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | Past: translator & copy writer / IR Japan executive officer (IR & PR) / MSLGROUP |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | Domestic agency (ADK for 13 years) to client side (UBS for 2 years) and back to the agency side (Designory, TBWA, GroupM) After started my own company and now at MSLGROUP |
| What has been your role in the new business and organic growth efforts of the agency? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | leading new business efforts supporting other directors for organic growth Linking MSLGROUP Japan with Publicis network for client referrals |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | Lead the presentation including concept/ strategy development/ media planning (if needed), deck production, and actual presentation towards clients. |
| As if you were writing to a prospective client, describe the agency in no more than 3 sentences: | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | A full-service communications consultancy, providing real strategies and real innovation. We gear our work to support our client's business by establishing the growth direction -- the impact they desire to achieve business objectives. We look for insights and ways to optimize and intergrate communication. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | We are a PR firm with a global network using resources from around the world rich in culture. We do not just do traditional PR related activities including events we also are focused on digital such as SNS management and including traditional media to digital media planning and buying. We are growing rapidly in the domestic market hiring +10 people within 12 months making us +35 strong. |
| List the top few agencies that you do/will compete against most often: | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | Edelman Weber Shandwick Fleishman Hillard Hill & Knowlton |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | Edelman |
| In the eyes of clients, what do you provide of value, that none of your competitors do? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | We give clients the care and attention they deserve -- we are truly service oriented, as well as proactive. We bring global values and standards to our work. Our multinational clients value our ability to collaborate with their international and regional headquarters to implement global campaigns in Japan. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | We now have a creative arm (Beacon and Saachi & Saachi) who are also strong in strategy development, event management, SNS management, and media planning/ buying. We are now a full scale PR agency + advertising agency. We can choose who to work with to avoid conflicts. |
| In the eyes of clients, what do your competitors provide of value, that you do not? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | Our competitors often have scale of organization, so that they are not dependent on particular staff members that are not easily replaced. Our competitors also have global digital programs ands digital know hnow that can be applied to Japan. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | We do not have the resources that Edelman have such as digital focused tools and real panels which can be accessed through webpages for KOLs and thought leaders. |
| Are there any negative perceptions about the agency that might hold your organic growth and new business efforts back? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | We are not as well known in the marketplace. Lack of scale -- for organic growth, we lack the ability to bring in other programn components to revitalize accounts because we lack staff expertise and donot have adequate numbers to support new programs. Also, current organization is account services based rather than skills based (ie, career path progresses from assitant to account excutive to managment). |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | There are a few sectors where we do not have a professionals appropriate for. |
| What are top 2 or 3 trends you see in terms of how clients are interacting with agencies in your market? What most makes clients unique in your market? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | We are seeing consultancy companies -- Bain, Accenture, Dellotie, Boston Conlsuting, etc. -- entiering our space, especially in the digital arena. Recently, many Japanese companies want to work in a global way. They no longer stress their "uniquiness" because they are Japanese and working in a Japanese environment. The coming 2020 Olympics is providing a sort of trigger to re-assess Japan. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | Now traditional PR is using more and more digital platforms. i.e. Clients are now comfortable working with SNS such as twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others for corporate. i.e. Release is released, and we use social monitoring/ listening to see the impact it has in the market and towards the consumers. But still domestic clients are few years behind other leading markets such as the U.S. |
| Please explain how your office is currently experiencing AOR vs. project-based client work? Are you seeing a shift? What are the biggest challenges you’re experiencing? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | Large clients in industries like pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and FMCG conduct business pitches through their procurement departments. This has led to more short-term, project-based work. Long-term, stable relationships are how agencies can get the best work. And the more you work with a client, the more you can do for the client, expanding the scope of work. But this is now an ideal, not the reality of our business environment. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | I have only been here 12 months but I see both AOR and project based clients. I cannot say which is becoming more usual. |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do your presentations back up the agency’s recommendation with an irrefutable logic trail? In other words, how well do you typically build a strong argument for the agency’s recommendation? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | 8 |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 7 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations 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) | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | 8 |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 7 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you build your presentations around a new and unexpected creative/concept/program/tactical idea? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | 9 |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 5 |
| On a scale of 1-10, how well do you demonstrate the business impact of your recommendations? (10 = we are always strong in this area) | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | 5 |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 7 |
| Overall (and as you consider the questions above), what do you believe most holds back the effectiveness of your client and new business presentations? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | Being able to measure the impact of our work to achieve the client's business objectives. That is why knowing what the "impact direction" is must be the first step in any RFP. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 2 major things. One is that on the client side for PR or corporate communications divisions do not have much budget limiting them unable to execute things which they really would like to do. It is the marketing division who has the budget. Two is internal politics on the client side. Corporate comms. does want to use large budget and execute things but this is hard since it is the area for the marketing division. |
| Bottom line, what do you think the agency most has to do to improve at new business and organic growth? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | 1. Solid research to understand the client's business objectives. Ways to measure this. 2. Insight. Big ideas. 3. Having a full menu of content offerings -- digital, traditional, events -- that we can bring to the table when working out tactics for programs. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | 2 things. One is that we need to develop digital tools which are easy to use for target/ consumer/ market insights available for the client which will give us bit more than traditional PR agencies. Other is people. Need to hire new talents. But this is an egg and the chicken thing. New business = new hires. |
| Any advice for us as we prepare the training program for you? | |
| Eric Hess, Managing Director | As a member of a PR agency, I want to understand how creative agencies operate. I woiuld like ton apply some of these learnings to our agency. |
| Sei Naganuma: Senior Consultant/ Digital Consultant | I really do not have information abut the training yet. As I answered the questions in this survey I kind of understand now that it has something to do with new business and organic growth. I would like to know if there is a model which all of us can share and use since now we are to team with other agencies. This would probably help all of us to move efficiently and effectively. |