Mercer Island Group

03/24/2025

It just happened again. We are running a review for a fantastic client. A CPG firm with smart, wonderful leadership. A terrific brand, number one in their category. And, as we reached out to the small, heavily researched and finely curated list of agencies we were inviting to participate in the revi...

03/17/2025

A pitch is a performance. It might not have all the lights, costumes, and orchestra that you’d find at a Broadway musical but there will certainly be an element of song and dance. You’re standing in front of a potentially critical audience and asking them to believe in you. To…

03/12/2025

For several years the team at Mercer Island Group has been contributing to an annual “One Piece of Advice” publication on the topic of business development. Here are 10 of our best tips collected in one place: Don’t Be Generic “Teaching new business development folks in agencies to sound jus...

03/03/2025

How do you write proposals that win new business?

This is a common question from agencies. Many of the proposals we read are not compelling, are poorly organized and fail to stand out.

The trick to writing a more prospect-friendly proposal: make it even more about the prospect and their business. Here’s how.

The Prospect Friendly Written Proposal Outline:
Section 1: The Cover Letter
Section 2: Business Issues and Implications
Section 3: Business Issues and Implications
Section 4: Recommended Solutions
Section 5: Case Studies
Section 6: Relevant Experience
Section 7: Agency Background
Section 8: Next Steps
Section 9: Appendices

Read more below on what to include in each section. And go win more business!

How do you write proposals that win new business? This is a common question we hear from agencies. And many of the proposals we read are not compelling, are poorly organized and fail to stand out. Many proposals focus more on the agency than on the prospect’s business and challenge. There is…

02/27/2025

We often hear that client-run reviews can be unnecessarily challenging to navigate and impersonal. What a missed opportunity! The client may be leading an agency review, but the agencies are also evaluating the client. It’s a dating process. Agency staff want to work for the most appealing clients...

02/24/2025

You’re considering an agency for a key assignment. You may be well into a competitive agency review or simply are exploring agencies for near term or future efforts.You’ve done your homework. You’ve found an agency that looks promising!But any agency decision is an important decision. You’ve...

02/17/2025

This year’s Super Bowl included some historic advertising and overall, the creative was more effective than recent years’ ads. And… there is a potential crisis brewing in advertising.I’ll get to the potential crisis in a moment. First, some good news. System1 Group’s review of 2025 Super B...

02/10/2025

Want to stay in good shape? Have a daily workout plan. Eat well, exercise and keep up your emotional wellbeing.

Want to stay in marketing shape? Commit to a daily marketing workout.

It takes a plan and commitment, and the rewards are significant.

Successful marketers and agency execs share a number of characteristics:

They know what they know AND what they don’t know.
They stay current with their industry and with marketing knowledge and expertise.
They are in-touch with their target audiences and how those audiences spend their time
How do these successful marketers remain current? How do they enhance their expertise daily?

They have a daily marketing workout.

Interested in your own daily marketing workout? Try the following…

Want to stay in good shape? Have a daily workout plan. Eat well, exercise and keep up your emotional wellbeing. Want to stay in marketing shape? Commit to a daily marketing workout. It takes a plan and commitment, and the rewards are significant. Successful marketers and agency execs share a number....

02/03/2025

Want to grow your agency?

Look like you deserve to grow. Many don’t. Many act small.

Marketers want an agency they can have confidence in. But many agencies fail to stand out and fail to be memorable. They act small.

Here are some strategies any agency can employ to look more successful and inspire more confidence in prospects. To act big!

A Strong Point of View: Most marketers want a strategic partner, and strategic partners have a point of view. When Mischief’s Greg Hahn proclaims, “I often tell clients that they don’t have a big enough budget to be boring”, he is screaming a point of view.

Expertise: Whatever your type of agency, you need to be current in your expected knowledge and expertise.

Content & Social Presence: If you aren’t active, you’re probably invisible.

A Prospect-Friendly Website: A prospect-friendly website has everything the prospect is looking for (i.e., key agency details and capabilities) and presents the agency distinctly and positively.

Start Now! If you’re wondering why your agency’s inbound traffic is less than you’d like, take charge of your presence. Act big.

Read more below.

Want to grow your agency? Look like you deserve to grow. Agencies that want to grow need to look the part. Many don’t. Many act small. It doesn’t have to be that way. Marketers that are looking for an agency want to be confident they have found the right partner. They want an agency…

01/27/2025

This is an article I never expected to write. Recent events and some troubling trends over the past thirty years have broken my silence about some important ingredients of sound leadership: kindness and mercy. Mean, recent public commentary, and cruelty for cruelty’s sake, have reminded me that we...

01/21/2025

Attention: a topic that will explode in importance this year.

Karen Nelson-Field’s new book provides critical background you need to know re: what is coming.

Given the stakes involved, we caught up with Karen to learn more!

We covered:
- the hierarchy of attention
(Device > Platform > Format > Context > Demographic > Creative )
- agencies experimenting with attention metrics
- challenges "operationalizing" attention
- the “Fab Four”: creative strategy, media planning, media verification, and optimization
- how the mid market and smaller firms can get started
- gaming the platforms
- what's next
Read much more below!

Written by Steve Boehler with Karen Nelson-Field Attention is an advertising topic that was big in the “olden days”. Modern research methods have brought the topic back with gusto in the past decade. Dr. Karen Nelson-Field’s research and her 2020 book The Attention Economy and How Media Works ...

01/17/2025

How do you create agency thought leadership content that makes a mark?

Learn from baseball's best blogger: Kate Preusser, editor in chief of Lookout Landing, a blog site devoted to my beloved Seattle Mariners (yes, I am biased). Kate and the other writers at Lookout Landing are committed to “service journalism.” To meet their “service journalism” standard, all articles are reviewed by asking three key questions:

1. Does the content inform, enlighten, or entertain?
2. What is the value-add in asking people to spend time reading this article as opposed to doing something else?
3. Who does this help, and how?

Putting this framework all together, great agency thought leadership content is:
- Written with a specific audience in mind
- Provides that audience with useful, valuable knowledge
- Is special in that it informs, enlightens or entertains
Try using these filters in your agency content and let us know how it goes.

And - once you buy into the above framework, you can put it to work best by reading one of the best books on agency content ever written: Sell with Authority by our good friends Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner.

Read more below!

There is much that agencies can learn from baseball. Talent matters. You need a balanced roster. There are more contenders than winners. Only one team can win the (pitch) tournament. And content matters. Great content connects you with your key audiences. It gives people a reason to pay attention. A...

01/15/2025

What are the keys to successful client-agency relationships?

1. Clear Objectives
2. Effective Communication
3. A Culture of Trust
4. Realistic Budgets
5. Routine Performance Evaluation Across Mutually Agreed Upon KPIs
6. A Long-Term Mentality
7. Keeping Strategy Fresh
8. Legal and Contractual Clarity
9. Keeping the Relationship Fresh

These approaches help turn agency partnerships into powerful growth drivers.
Read much more below.

Client/agency relationships only last if both parties succeed.Of course, it was much easier to write that sentence than for clients and agencies to achieve success in real life. Maintaining a highly effective marketing & agency relationship these days requires skills, expertise, and approaches that....

01/13/2025

Omnicom's IPG acquisition will massively disrupt clients, agencies & agency staff.

Realities like:
Layoffs: Likely 7,000-13,000 or more.
Agency consolidation uncertainty: With multiple media, creative and PR brands, consolidations are inevitable.
Omnicom/IPG agency staff disruption: Omnicom/IPG employees face months of distractions, impacting morale, productivity, and client support.
Omnicom & IPG client concerns: Clients may face uncertainty over their agency’s future, leadership changes, and potential competitive conflicts within the expanded roster.

That’s a great deal of uncertainty. What should you do?

Recommendations For Omnicom & IPG Clients: Safeguard your marketing efforts!
- Assess your situation now!
– Audit Contracts:
– Assess Options across your roster
– Strengthen Communication with “top to top” calls
– Seek Expertise: seek the advice of independent experts
– Prepare for Change: If the risks are too high, initiate an agency review now.

Recommendations For Omnicom & IPG Staff:
– Excel at Work
– Reconnect with Networks
– Refresh Your Resume
– Enhance Visibility

Recommendations for Omnicom & IPG Agency Leaders:
– Deliver Excellence: Do great work on behalf of your clients. This is the best insurance you and your people have of coming out of the merger in good shape.

Recommendations for Non-Omnicom/IPG Agencies and their Leadership:
– Leverage PR: Times of uncertainty are ideal times for earned media.
– Enhance Thought Leadership: Upgrade thought leadership that is helpful to prospects.
– Expand Digital Presence: Be easily findable. Increase your social media presence in thoughtful ways. Make sure your website is SEO and prospect-friendly meaning your agency is well positioned, and the site is content rich and easy to navigate.

The Time to Act is Now!
Whether you’re a client, an employee, or a competitor, waiting for the dust to settle isn’t a good option. Turn lemons into lemonade. Create a plan that works on your own terms and not wait to see the outcome of the merger.

Read much more in the Mercer Island Group report below.

It’s hard to believe that more than a month has already passed since the announced Omnicom acquisition of IPG. Much has been written. Much of it likely accurate! And yet, there are important topics that have not been well covered, like “what does an Omnicom or IPG client do right now”…

01/09/2025

How can your agency win more of the business you really want?

Join us and learn how to uncover and develop strategic insights quickly during a pitch process. Two fun days, using real client challenges, in a great place (Denver).

Agencies have used this approach to win nearly $200 million in AGI in the past couple of years. Get yours!

Details and registration below.

The biggest account wins and the best campaigns are often driven by the best strategic insights. We see this daily in our work with agencies and clients.But… compelling insights are rare.A data point is not an insight. It’s data.Analysis of data is not an insight. Analysis is interpretation. It....

01/06/2025

How can marketers get smarter in 2025?

Follow these folks!

Creative, Media and Marketing Effectiveness:
Billy Ryan
Dr. Karen Nelson-Field
Les Binet
Peter Field
Dr. Grace Kite
Andrew Tindall
Ian McGrath
Ed Cotton

Marketing Science and Strategy:
Professor Dr. Koen Pauwels
Dale W. Harrison
Mark Ritson

Transparency & Data Integrity:
Nick Manning
Arielle Garcia

AI:
Shelly Palmer

Podcasts:
The Uncensored CMO, Jon Evans
Build a Better Agency, Drew McClellan
On Strategy Showcase, Fergus O'Carroll
Soul & Science, Jason Harris
Sell with Authority, Stephen Woessner
The CMO Podcast, Jim Stengel

The Business of Advertising:
Brian Wieser

Heart:
Alan Quarry

Read much more below!

The world is changing at such a crazy rate that it is hard to keep up with changes in technology, marketing, media and consumers. Topics like marketing, creative and media effectiveness, transparency, AI and attention are just a sampling of the areas that are challenging for any one marketer or…

12/23/2024

Gifts marketers and agencies REALY want...

15 gifts for marketers; 15 gifts for agencies. What's your favorite?

Mine for marketers from agencies:
1. More proactivity
5. More transparency & less self-dealing (principal buying etc.)
6. Deeper customer, competitor and brand insights
8. Better trained staff
12. Ways to deliver more impact for the same budget

Mine for agencies from marketers:
1. A client-agency 360
5. Better strategic marketing written briefs
7. More time to do great work
8. A client team trained in how to evaluate creative, media & PR plans
10. Fair compensation

What are yours?

Read the entire lists below.

The year is about to wrap and pretty much everyone needs a break before diving into the new year and its challenges. Small gifts of chocolate, coffee and a spirit or two have been arriving at Mercer Island Group. So thoughtful and so unnecessary! Clients and agencies will often treat their partners....

12/20/2024

Running an agency review in 2025?

Mercer Island Group reviews are guided by clear principles. Try them! We:
- represent our client in a manner that reflects well on them and the industry.
- never charge an agency to be in our database, newsletters or to participate in a review.
- respect the agencies’ work, IP, and confidentiality.
- are readily available to agencies during a review & answer questions in a timely fashion.
- deliver consolidated tissue/strategy session feedback to agencies within 24 hours.
- provide agencies with feedback and improvement suggestions after the review.
- never invite an agency to “fill out a field”. The playing field is always fair.
- never run a review when the winner is predetermined.
- only invite a reasonable # of agencies (typically 10 to RFIs and generally 4 to RFPs).
- continuously research the agency marketplace to be sure we are aware of and familiar with as many agencies as possible. This is good for both our clients and agencies.

Year in and year out, roughly a third of marketers expect to change agencies. The result is hundreds of agency selection processes. About a quarter, mostly the largest, are run by consultants. The rest – the majority – are run by the clients. Some are managed by procurement and the…