I have been building businesses in and around software for over 15 years and while I am passionate about the startup world, things can become tiresome after a while. Generally speaking my career has focused on growing companies that have developed enterprise class software that is sold to large organizations in very long complex sales cycles. Recently though Balihoo released its Marketer Edition and I have to say that I am having more fun than I have ever had in my career. The software is so powerful and well designed that it practically sells itself. It has brought a renewed focus and energy to the company. The difference in getting up every day to begin working on something that is fun and successful, vs. something that is laborious and questioned is tremendous and I for one am jumping out of bed and ready to work - it’s a nice feeling.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

I will admit it, I love brands. Patagonia, Hershey’s, Nike, Quaker, Haagen-Dazs, Disney, North Face, Cadbury, The Body Shop, Starbucks, J.Crew – all of these brands resonate with me. Not only do I feel like I “know” them but I also feel that I can rely on them. They are consistent and let’s face it; even somewhat eccentric people naturally gravitate toward what is familiar. 

I associate each of these brands with completely different feelings, emotions and time frames but what is most significant is that I trust (perhaps foolishly) that each of these brands will remain exactly how I recognize it.  As a consumer (who doesn’t regularly consider herself a consumer) I feel almost as if I know these brand’s personalities.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it is that makes a brand a great brand – wondering what it is that gives a brand an existent and believable personality, so when I came across this article featuring Scott Bedbury (of Nike and Starbucks marketing fame) I soaked it up like a sponge.

Basically, Bedbury highlights 8 brand-building features:

1.       A great brand is in it for the long haul

2.       A great brand can be anything

3.       A great brand knows itself

4.       A great brand invents or reinvents an entire category (EX: Disney, Apple, Nike, Starbucks)

5.       A great brand taps into emotions

6.       A great brand is a story that’s never completely told

7.       A great brand has design consistency

8.       A great brand is relevant

When you think of great brands what brands do you think of? Why? What do you think it is that makes a brand, a great brand?

Construction is considered a nuisance to most people, including me. Road work slows traffic, home remodeling disrupts your daily life (and covers it in a layer of dust), and building construction at the office can kill concentration. Lately, the commotion and clatter of construction has been a delightful rattle and hum under my feet. Why? It’s the sound of progress!

Let there be light!

Super cool glass walls

2×4 walls made from salvaged lumber from demolition- glass will be set in the gaps

Stud Walls- also recycled lumber

My fellow Balihooligans have been volunteering to paint. We’ve been holding a daily “Paint Party” to move the project along.  Check back for updates!

Halloween was celebrated in classic-Balihoo form. Crazy costumes, funny costumes, cute costumes, inspiring costumes and downright terrifying costumes topped off with a delicious potluck, abundant laughter and inner-office trick-or-treating made for one wonderful and memorable office celebration.

I stumbled on this response in Google Answers and was amazed at its relevance – particularly given the fact that it was written in March of 2003! Follow this link to read one person’s take on why certain companies survived, and even flourished, during and immediately after the Great Depression. Common traits included 1) advertising to create demand, and 2) “being there” with your brand when times were tough.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=178334

Franchise Update Magazine, a well-known and explanatory management resource for practitioners who want to learn about effective franchise lead generation strategies and techniques, is currently featuring Balihoo on its website.

Make sure you check out Franchise-Update.com and read ‘Enabling Local Demand Generation’ written by Balihoo’s CEO, Pete Gombert. 

‘Enabling Local Demand Generation’ touches upon the various components and issues that go into cultivating and maintaining a national brand’s or franchise’s image and poses the question: Is your brand’s corporate and local advertising in concert?  If not, why not?

On Friday we had our second annual Balihoo Halloween event replete with a costume contests and a great potluck lunch followed by our kids coming in for trick or treating.  It was a fun day and Valerie, who is on our media buying team, won best costume for her homemade “Queen Bee” costume.

As you can see from the photo below, we have a lot of kids in the Balihoo “extended family”  - I was struck by how much that family has  expanded since last year.  I was further struck by how many kids dressed in Star Wars costumes (my kids included).  Hey, wasn’t that also the most popular costume when I was a kid (circa 1978)?  That got me looking to see what George Lucas’ net worth is (in case you’re interested, he’s #243 on the Forbes list at $3.6Billion.)

One of the blogs that I follow is called Innovation Playground by Idris Mootee.  Every so often he will post on the topic of advertising and media, and always has some very insightful commentary.  A post from Halloween entitled "How Clients are Showing Interest in Digital Agencies to Serve as the Lead on Integrated Marketing Efforts"  raises some very interesting points on why traditional agencies are struggling in a market that is in upheaval. 

The article talks about how the old school giants of media are trying to evolve to effectively compete in the new marketplace.  He points to the fact that their thinking is about 3-4 years behind and the clients are starting to see that.  He goes on to state that ‘Global alignment of agencies is out’ and that today the ‘agency of record’ status can go to anyone.

There are a number of interesting points raised by the author as to why these traditional shops are losing their competitive edge driven from an org structure that is at least 50 years old or more and not designed for cross disciplinary collaboration, including the current state of the talent pool, antiquated account management structures and their heavy cost coupled with slow reaction time.

He sums the post up at the end with what I think is the key point: 

In short, clients are becoming less and less fixated on the type of agency handling their ad accounts and more on the “strategic capability” and “speed of execution.” In short, BRIGHT and FAST.

I think this biggest issue that agencies face is the same thing that has already begun in many other industries - the democratization and commoditization of the vast aspects of the industry.  What was once a ultra complicated and mysterious black box is no longer.  Just like airline/travel reservations, real estate sales, and publishing, the same forces are beginning to impact the media marketplace.  Any like these other industries there are still components that are complicated and required expertise, but much of it no longer requires huge teams of specialists to do the work.  Technology is producing amazing advancements in execution.  The good thing is that there are lots of case studies on successful and not-so-successful responses to these shifts in other verticals for agencies to look at. 

Agencies need to re-evaluate their business model and make drastic changes based on the changing market space.  In short - business model innovation.  For example:

• I suspect they will need to move away from having a large portion or their staff focused on managing the transaction aspects of their business and move more to media consulting role. 
• This shift will drive them to hire fewer people, with a different skill set and likely pay them more.  They need to move away from commoditized work to specialist work. 
• Revenue will likely shift more to a pay-per-performance model based on the success of the campaigns over hourly rates. 
• The transaction aspects of the business need to be automated and/or outsourced for optimum speed and efficiencies. 

There are definite challenges ahead, and this will likely be a humbling experience.  What made these firms successful in the past is now hindering them now.  Its like trying to turn the Titanic.  As Seth Godin put it in his book from 2006: Small is the New Big.  Act small, think big.  This concept will be key to drive the right type of thinking as agency business models are re-evaluated.