Katherine Patterson
Transcript of Katherine Patterson
For the next 40 minutes
• A bit about me
• What’s the client thinking? (about our agencies)
• What’s next?
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Who is this lady?
• Global Director of Marketing Operations, Brand
GE Healthcare
• Agency consolidation
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• $18 billion: global business unit of GE
• 46,000: number of employees
worldwide
• $1 billion+ per year investment in R&D
• 35,800 patents filed by GE since 2000
• Core strengths in bio-sciences, medical
imaging & information technologies
• Headquartered in Pollards Wood, UK
– President: John Flannery
GE Healthcare Today
R&D Facilities2,800 scientists and technologists in 8 facilities
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The assignment: Cull the agency roster down to one agency per GE business
341
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1,500
40% 1200
We had to admit – 341 agencies was a bit much.
The rationale:
Control & reduce rates
Better consistency on brand
Clearer understanding of who to contact
Stronger leverage for negotiations
Cost savings
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Categories & Classifications
Agency type
• Full-service marketing agency
• Regional marketing agency
• Strategic branding agency
• Digital agency
• Media planning & buying
Specialty Agencies• Technical writing
• Consultant
• Research & testing
• Photography
• Video & graphic animation
• Graphic design
• Print & production
• Tradeshow production
• Event planning
• Guerilla marketing
• Talent agency14
Noteable Trends
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Agency tenure short
Movement toward
specialty groups vs. full-service
Preference for small boutique
firms
Marketer tendency to shop around
Painful learnings
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We are a pain (dangle the carrot)
DIY craze is apparent
What we say we want and what we actually want are two things
Digital ruined everything. (Culture of instant gratification.)
Ad spend is not apples to apples (exhibits, events, sponsorships)
Trends aren’t limited to us
• Avg. client agency tenure – 7.2 years
1984
• Avg. client / agency tenure – 5.3 years
1997• 3 years
Today
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Agency size
2/3 are less than 5 people
Billing NYC 2008 - $751
NYC 2011 - $637
How many?
13,200
Big fish WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic Group of Cos
2x as much as next 50 largest agencies combined
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Today’s reality is a game of constant
auditions.
There is more forgiveness with
smaller agencies.
Honesty is lacking in today’s market
The client contact varied – and results
in inefficiencies
Things clients can’t get over
• Bad billing practices
• Recycling old work
• Pushing to speak to leadership vs. client contact
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“We are always waiting for the perfect brief from
the client. It almost never happens. Good briefs
don’t just come along. Successful solutions are
often made by people rebelling against bad briefs.”
~Paul Arden
Measurement ≠ Effectiveness
Logic
Outputs
Doing things right
Divides
Resists change
How well did it work?
Emotion
Outcomes
Doing the right thing
Unifies
Embraces learning
How can we do better next time?
Emotional
strategies are 2x
more profitable
than rational
strategies.
~Peter Field,
Marketing in the Era
of Accountability
“Push the branding envelope. Be edgy!”
“Let’s make our business stand out from the rest of
GE.”
“That’s old – let’s refresh it. Something new.”
“It needs to be 360 marketing.”
Agency as order takers vs. thinkers. “I am giving them an assignment – but really just want them to give me
only my idea “made pretty.”
“We need to include social media on everything.”
Client training:
• Resist the urge to tweak.
• Keep the layers of approval
down to two.
• Understand what’s driving the request
for changes – is it to aid understanding?
Or just the reviewer’s personal style?
The second one should be challenged.
“
Any fool can write a bad advertisement, but it takes
a genius to keep his hands off a good one.” ~David Ogilvy
Top ways to make sure your project is confusing and over budget:
Don’t consolidate comments from your team. Instead, send them as
they come in and have the agency update the document multiple
times.
Be vague with your reactions. “I don’t like it.”
They’re the agency. They’ll figure it out.
Encourage all the team members to reach out
directly to the agency.
Go ahead and pretend you’re the art director.
Draw out the layouts and provide specific details.
Give broad direction. “Maybe try something funky.”
Don’t tell them what funky is.
Make sure you get every data point in without focusing on the big story.
Simplification is for suckers.