Mirren Summit 2016 - agency takeaways

Mirren Business Development2016 CEO Summit, Chicago

ABOUT MIRREN

Led by Brent Hodgins, former Business Development Director at agency Wieden + Kennedy, Mirren is a niche firm that provides BD training and online resources for creative/ad agencies.

● Position creative agencies● Convert more pitches● Build a pipeline of leads

The Mirren Summit is an event for CEOs and their top leaders (not junior people), focused on driving four pillars of agency growth:

● Model● Operations● Marketing● Leadership

WHO IS MIRREN?

WHAT IS THE MIRREN SUMMIT?

FOUR PILLARS OF AGENCY GROWTH

Operations

KEY POINTS

Keynote presentationThe emerging competitive landscape and how it’s about to change the agency business as we know it

Increased competition from large companies like IBM and Accenture, who say they can do all the things an agency does, is placing new pressure on smaller agencies who lack the same funding and resources.

● Accenture was named #1 digital agency in 2016

There are so many agencies in the market (60,000 in the U.S. alone) that they need to clearly define their offering and value.

● What do they offer today? Will that stay the same in the future or change?

● What people and systems do they need to put in place today to deliver on their offering three years from now?

1 2

Bruce Biegel Senior Managing Director Winterberry Group

HOW CAN AGENCIES COMPETE? WHAT DO THEY OFFER?

KEY POINTS

PresentationThe new agency CEO dashboard: Critical ratios and reports

This is not an online dashboard. It’s more of a mindset where agencies join the financial mind of a CFO with the CEO’s strategy to grow the business.

The differences between new business development and pitching.

● New business = the ongoing process of marketing, generating leads, and converting them to client work.

● Pitching = different teams working on different concepts to pitch the agency’s style, thinking, and creative ideas.

1

Angelo KritikosCFOHavas Media

THE CEO + CFO MINDSET NEW BUSINESS VS. PITCHING2

KEY POINTS

PresentationThe new agency CEO dashboard: Critical ratios and reports

● Agency level● Client level● Employee level

Goal should be having junior employees 80% billable and senior employees 60-70% billable.

3

Angelo KritikosCFOHavas Media

THREE LEVELS OF METRICS BILLABLE HOURS AND PRICING4

“Who wants to buy your costs? No one. They’re buying your thinking

and ideas. You should charge for that.”- TIM WILLIAMS, IGNITION CONSULTING GROUP

“New business is the second job, not the first job.”

- ANGELO KRITIKOS

Marketing

KEY POINTS

PresentationOperationalizing digital services: The progression of agency structure

Should the Business Digital Leader or the Account Director lead the strategy portion of digital work? Historically, it’s been the Account leader. Now they reco the BDL.

● Digital leadership titles at agencies: Technical producer, Digital strategist, Experience strategist

● New trend: Multi-pitching, where different agency types roll up the best talent for a client. Leveraging their combined expertise, so they can win the work and nurture the relationship.

● Clients need a North star to follow. What is that North Star - Strategy? UI? Storytelling?

1 2

Ben KennedyVP Market Development and VentureThe Integer Group

WHO LEADS DIGITAL STRATEGY? HOW TO POSITION FOR THE CLIENT

KEY POINTS

PresentationOperationalizing digital services: The progression of agency structure

● Give agency Subject Matter Experts a stage with clients. Let them pitch, teach/mentor + present.

● Digital Business Leaders should be able to lead back-end work (C-Level conversations about roadmapping an agency into an interconnected space, not coding)

● A typical agency process is: Discovery, Design, Development. Take your time and do a thorough discovery!

● Jira to manage work? A more iterative way to scope and change deadlines, etc.

● Be cautious of siloed client teams driving disparate, internal agency teams

3 4

Ben KennedyVP Market Development and VentureThe Integer Group

SPOTLIGHTING SPECIALISTS AGENCY PROCESS AND SCOPE

“You just don’t see ‘website agencies’ anymore. If you’re digital, then that’s a given.”

- BEN KENNEDY, THE INTEGER GROUP

KEY POINTS

PresentationBenchmarking agency sales and marketing performance

● RFPs● Organic Growth● Proactive Prospecting

Clients want to work with agencies that show they understand their business and can help move it ahead.

● New agency model = ½ management consulting and ½ creative, brand, ideas

● Clients feel agencies lack innovative thinking. Too many legacy people, systems, and cultures.

1

Brent HodginsFounderMirren Business Development

THREE METHODS OF NEW BIZ MOVING CLIENT BUSINESS FORWARD2

KEY POINTS

PresentationBenchmarking agency sales and marketing performance

● Since the AOR (agency of record) is now limited, project-based work will accelerate

● It’s challenging to make project-driven profitable.

3

Brent HodginsFounderMirren Business Development

AOR vs. PROJECT-BASED WORK

KEY POINTS

PresentationData visualization: Presenting the story behind your data

To help companies make business decisions. ● Communicate data/information in 1

second for audiences to understand● Always tell people what the chart means.

Use simple and short headings.● Chart first, text second (our brains think

in images)

● Balance white space/negative space● Use flat design rather than

dimensional so it doesn’t distract from the meaning of the data

● Think about color associations (ones that might already exist out there like Red/Green for Christmas) and avoid bad ones. Make use of contrast.

1 2

Nolan HaimsDirectorNolan Haims Creative

PRIMARY GOAL OF CHARTS/GRAPHS DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Model

KEY POINTS

PresentationAgency models: The next 5 years

ROI continues to be a challenge for agencies. They need to get at real numbers that matter most to their clients.

● Generic ROI is dead● Agencies need to learn who’s

measuring the value of what they’re selling, then speak in their terms

Be honest about your capabilities vs. your expertise. Capable means you can do it. Expertise means you’re great at it, you have a lot of experience with it, and can win on it.

● Sell your expertise because that’s what you can charge for

1

Jon BondFounderTomorroist

ROI FOR AGENCIES CAPABILITIES VS. EXPERTISE2

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