Everyone loves the chihuahua on your Web site so we have to ask: Who is the dog and why did you choose the underdog theme for your agency and its Web site?
The dog's name is Pinto, and actually, he's a mutt - part chihuahua, part something else. He belongs to a photographer who has been a long-time friend of the agency.
As for the "underdog" theme, we realized a few years ago that what we did very well was to help advertisers who were not the biggest players in their categories successfully compete with their larger competition. We analyzed what we did for those clients, and recognized that there were certain principles we consistently returned to, in order to create marketing communications programs for those clients.
We formalized those principles, trademarked them as "Underdog Advertising," and they have become the core of our business philosophy. Everyone at Flowers & Partners employs underdog advertising principles in their work. (I should add that I recently completed writing a book on these principles, and am about to begin looking for a publisher.)
With the uncertain economy, have you seen companies wanting to scale back on their advertising when you know that's the worst thing they could do and how do you convince them to reconsider?
Actually, we haven't done a very good job of convincing our clients to maintain their ad spending. While we can cite studies that demonstrate how companies that maintain their ad spending during economic downturns will gain market share and ultimately come out ahead when the economy turns around, most of our clients do not have the financial wherewithal to do so. I guess that's one of the problems inherent in dealing with underdog advertisers.
To offset the decline in client spending during downturns, there are really only two options:
1. Go get more clients, or
2. Reduce your staff to match your workload. We have had to do both over the last three years.
When do off-the-wall advertising strategies not work for a client?
Every advertiser has a certain amount of "risk capital" related to advertising. This risk capital defines how bold an advertiser can be before he/she runs the risk of damaging his brand or business.
A bank does not enjoy the level of risk capital that a video game marketer does. The video game marketer can really go off-the-wall in order to grab its prospect's attention. On the other hand, a bank could really damage its image if its advertising was off-the-wall - after all, bank advertising deals with "money," and money is serious business. Who wants their money managed by an off-the-wall bank?
How do you assess a first-time client's advertising needs?
We like to conduct a complete communications audit to determine what needs exist. Then, based on the client's marketing needs, target audience and budget, we create a marketing communications plan to address those needs. The advertising campaigns that fall out of that plan will consequently deliver constant communication about the client's product or service.
We have some proprietary processes to aid in the planning. As mentioned above, our underdog advertising principles guide a lot of our thinking and planning. Where appropriate, we may conduct our "Big Dog Branding Process," which helps our clients identify and refine a branding strategy that becomes a consistent theme in all communications.
We have found that by having an established marketing communications plan upfront, all of our clients' advertising presents a common message that builds as the advertising program continues.