We’ve compared the waterfall marketer and agile marketer in previous posts – specifically Agile marketing and ‘give it a go and see what happens’. We’ve been talking here about how that relates to the agency world and it came up in a conversation I had yesterday too.  So I went back to the original post – Sex and the Agile Marketer – and asked myself how does this apply to the agency world? Are there fundamental differences between agencies and what are they?

If the waterfall agency does exist is this a valid description?

Focus is on fixed annual marketing plans
Repeats familiar programmes
Runs a few expensive programmes
Focuses on the size of the budget associated to an account
Creative over analytical
Sees things as predictable
Brand is rooted in strategy
Makes decisions based on data from media owners
Fights for maximum budget each year
Sees client supplier relationship as them and us

By comparison does this describe a different type of agency?

Builds monthly, weekly or even daily plans
Is always testing new programmes and media
Runs many low cost programmes and the successful ones get scaled up
Focuses on the results delivered on an account
Analytical over creative
Lives in an unpredictable world
Brand is rooted in customer experience
Invests mostly in measurable programmes
Justifies budget from bottom up based on objectives
Sees client supplier relationship as an extension of the internal team

Clearly different. Either end of the spectrum maybe but there definitely seems to be a new breed of agency that has a different mindset and approach to things. One where fail better and fail faster is entirely acceptable.

Tags: agency selection, agile, digital marketing

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Our Managing Director Jon recently celebrated a big birthday. One with a zero involved, that’s all I’m saying. His birthday present to himself was a ‘top of the range’ road bike.  He sure does love that bike. I’ll ask him to post his thoughts on how much he loves his new bike very soon. In-between his euphoria he has fleeting moments of tormenting guilt about how much it cost.

This got me thinking about how pre-purchase thinking and consuming conscientiously is in part about making sure you’re really going to love something for the long term. If you love it, you value it, and if you value it, you’ll care for it.

Nowadays I seem to agonize longer over purchases then I ever did before. Shopping is something I avoid unless absolutely necessary. Some of the questions I try to untangle go like this:

Did the person (or company) have ‘fire in their bellies’ about making it the best it could be? Were they passionate about it? Has obsolescence been sneakily built into the design? Is it inherently disposable? Do I love it? And will I love it ‘long time’. Why do I love it? Fashion? Kudos? Have I given this purchase proper thought? Will I use it regularly? Is it practical? Ahhhh! Buying things is tough.

Here are a few things I thought hard about and decided yes I would love them and yes they would bring me a bit of joy every single time I used them.

My ‘box of Poppets’ size camera. It’s dead handy and bloody lovely to look at and hold.

My Roberts Radio. It’s on almost 365 days a year in my house. I love the buttons and the lovely rounded, deep sound.

My new shower cap. An obvious solution to keeping the ‘hairdo’ in check and adding a bonus ten minutes to my day. Got to love that.

And so to the real ‘digital’ point I’m trying to make. Web content, websites and blogs need constant nurturing; they are living things that are never finished. Owners have to continuously invest time into maintaining and developing the content and functionality. Being the demanding little buggers they are its vital that people love their websites and that using them brings them joy.

Making sure users enjoy their websites is a core design and UX (user experience) challenge. Not only should it look lovely up front it should be quick, easy and enjoyable update and maintain from the back end.

If using your website brings you (or the team) no joy it’s destined for neglect and will inevitably end up in the big digital landfill in the sky. Our Word Press blog is testament to a great back office user experience and a great design by Pete and his team on the front end.

We love it, it’s a joy use.

Tags: design, nice stuff, random thoughts, usability, user experience

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Mobile has got to be one of the biggest digital marketing trends of 2010 and anyone and everyone is talking about it. Smartphones are proving to be a game changer for most and in one of the offices we work in there’s an almost unhealthy level of phone geekery and banter.

While researching my ‘top trends’ for a keynote we are giving at the International conference of Information Technology in Travel and Tourism ENTER 2011 I came across this slideshare presentation on mobile trends 2020. These people are not anyone and everyone. They are 46 very smart folk that really know their onions around mobile. Pulled together by Rudy De Waele and well worth having a flick through over a cuppa sometime.

Tags: conference, mobile, trends

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If this is shameless self promotion please forgive me.  We have been two plus a tight network of partners since we started this adventure back in 2004. Since that time it has served our clients and us well. But in the near future we are hoping to become four plus a tight network of partners. The four of us have been working on some new products that we can get the business behind. It’s enlightening, exciting and it has given us an opportunity to stop and think a little more around what we are about and the way we approach things.

We talked about personality. The stuff that defines you. The stuff someone might use to describe you and your character. Here are ten things we have on that list so far.

Serial helpers.
Obsessive list writers.
Pretty bloody positive almost all of the time.
Full of beans and always moving forwards.
We love starts, ends, outcomes and learning.
We really enjoy developing teams of  people.
It matters to us that people are happy and fulfilled at work.
We really care what people think about us.
Unless things are changing and we are driving forward we get restless.
But perhaps most of all. We love what we do. We feel lucky.

For those of you who know us we really hope you agree. We are proud of what people say about working with us. Our testimonials are one of our greatest achievements.

“The great thing with Jon and Beth is that what you see is what you get. Which is pretty rare these days. They really are an endless source of energy, enthusiasm, and know-how. And with the number of calls I put into them, I’d certainly have caught them on an off day by now! They always remain true to a campaign idea from start to finish, no matter how long the process, they’re open to discussion and debate at any stage, and with the complete absence of any ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality, their approach is truly a collaborative one. Quite frankly, it’s refreshing to find two people who intuitively ‘get’ marketing and all its inner workings, and who you really look forward to picking up the phone to”

Caroline Macpherson | Partners Andrews Aldridge

I  hope we can remain true to our values and what people are saying about us once we are four. I know we can and I know the guys that are joining us will help make our personality even stronger and more colourful. I’m looking forward to it.

Tags: Our News, random thoughts

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