I started getting to know HL2 in a recent ad agency search I conducted for a client in the Pacific Northwest.  Their clients include HTC, SBC, Microsoft, HR Block, ATT Wireless, Hotels.com

There were a few different long chats with Don Low, one of the founding partners which gave me a lot of insight into this group of 70 creative professionals, but I really started to get HL2 watching the pieces in the 4th chamber–more so than seeing their work.

I’d like to hang out at a Fat Burger or shoot hoops with them (I think I could stuff the TaxCut box) –but apparently they’re also pretty good at that marketing thing.  Founded in 1994, they’re more fun than most 15 year olds you know–and they won’t talk back or steal your car.  OK, they won’t steal your car.

What was the aha moment when you realized “Our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been”?

My business partner, Tom Horton says, “Only through suffering do we become wise”. While we love new business wins, it usually takes a major loss for us to get pissed off and make dramatic changes. Two years ago we lost a major pitch and in the ‘loser’ call we heard, “We loved HL2 but the other agency just had a stronger analytics methodology”. We now have an analytics group of 8 and every campaign in the office has accompanying KPI’s with a corresponding dashboard for reporting. It’s transformed our business and the new business effort has never been stronger.

What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader?

Soldier of the Great War by Helprin, A Distant Mirror by Tuchman and biographies of Mark Twain and Einstein. My personal reading takes precedent when I get home.  But I’m also working through a book called Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe. At work I spend time with a few key blogs – Seth Godin, the Dachis Group, Ad age and the Web Analytics blog.

Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why?

Sprint is giving it a good go. Coke media is extremely focused and disciplined. I like the traction that Bing is getting as a start up brand.  The Nike+ Join the Race campaign is experiential and inspirational.  Each of these brands has deployed a multi-disciplined approach that spans TV to event promotion and social media.

We’ve all read that the agency RFP process is broken. Many agencies aren’t even interested in competing in pitches. Do you see an alternative to the process?

I actually believe that, for many companies, the RFP levels the playing field and brings new agencies to the table. I believe you win the work you deserve. Either you’re digging deep, investing and setting up your agency to win or your coasting. The RFP process has allowed HL2 access to clients we never would have met on our own.

However, all clients don’t need to go through this formal process (especially the clients we’re currently pitching). Meet with 4-6 select agencies, get to know their culture, see their work, learn how they think and narrow to two. Then ask for proposals and presentations. While this is more legwork for the client initially, the long-term relationship is more likely to stick. It makes no sense to sit in a room and review 20 written proposals in today’s marketing world.

What does the ad agency of the future look like?

Lean, mean, smart, resourceful, marketing saavy, focused on the numbers, uber-creative.

Yes. That about sums it up. With a really cool space and an interest in the client that goes beyond billable work.

The agency of the future will need to spend more time looking for ways to tell stories and exploit technology to deliver great experiences, participate in the conversation and bring real value to consumer.

What do marketers need that ad agencies are not giving them?

Love. They’re not giving them love. Unconditional, immutable love. I’m-waking-up-in-the-morning-thinking-about-your-business kind of love. As agencies are working to wean their business model away from large media commissions and making their nut on fees, they are squeezed for talent–creative, account, planning, production, analytics talent. Larger agencies are no longer able to over-service accounts like they used to because there just isn’t enough money there. Clients stop feeling the love. Today’s agency is learning to be more nimble and is working to create a culture where the every employee is working to deliver superior strategy, creative and service.

Whom do you admire and why?

Winston Churchill. Primarily because he is proof that you can lead when you get old…. (Many historians now think he was suffering from pre-senile dementia while he was the PM. I think Winston; either drunk or affected was better than the rest of us with all our wits). Churchill is history’s portrait of resilience. A drive that never quit, unwillingness to compromise and foresight that saved the world.

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Third in the Ad Industry Innovators series is Alain Thys from Futurelab in Brussels.  Very smart marketers in Brussels–and the beer’s not bad either.  Futurelab also has offices in Moscow, Munich, Hamburg, Shanghai, Athens, and Kiev.  

I first heard of Futurelab by stumbling on their blog.  Then through Google searches I kept finding these wonderfully insightful slideshare presentations and PDFs and quickly realized that many were coming from Alain’s company.

In Alain’s words

Futurelab is a marketing strategy consultancy focused on profit, customer-centricity and innovation.  We help marketers get a higher ROI, CEO’s to get their business focused on the customer and innovators to build innovations that make a difference in the market.

We also have a – not so secret  - agenda to make our contribution to changing the marketing landscape.  We believe that the mass-marketing era is coming to an end.  The symptoms of this can be found everywhere.  Billions are wasted. Marketers have acquired a bad reputation as “frivolous money spenders”.  Consumers are tuning out.   As a result, we believe that – as a collective – business needs to “re-invent marketing” so it can actually make the contribution it should to both the customer and the bottom line.”

Pretty smart, huh?  Keep reading, it gets better.

1.   What was the aha moment when you realized “our company needs to be doing things differently than we have been”?

When my business partner (Stefan Kolle) and I realized that the message we were spreading on a new way of marketing was actually being heard and repeated by others.  We decided we had to grow from a two-man band to a movement hell-bent on encouraging a conversation on a new type of marketing.  And that this could be profitable for all concerned.

2.   What books are on your nightstand or great blogs on your Google reader? 

Right now I’m reading Character & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card.  On the blog front, all the contributors to the Futurelab blog, but I also have a fondness for PresentationZen.  And of course Dilbert.

3.   Give me an example of marketing you think is brilliant and why.

The bakery in my street.  They only go for unique products, know every one of their customers, actually create products on customer demand, participate in every village event with an original little detail and in the 2 years they’ve been open have taken the market (like in people standing in line outside to pay a premium of 20% over the bakery 200 meters down the street). 

 I think this is brilliant because in contrast to many large organisations these people “get” what great marketing is about: truly understanding your customers, making a promise that is relevant to them and then overdelivering against this time and time again. 

4.   We’ve all read that the pitch / RFP process is broken.  Many agencies aren’t even interested in competing in pitches.  Do you see an alternative to this process?

I don’t believe that the RFP process is broken at all.  It’s just that people needs to re-adjust their expectations of what it can deliver.  In the mass-communication culture, big budgets went to big agencies which spent them at big media.  In those days an RFP that said “run my communications” made sense. 

But today, only very few agencies are capable of delivering against 100% of a brand’s needs.  If we would compare building a brand to building a house, each agency is like a “contractor” who specializes in one part of communication or the other.  So just like you wouldn’t ask your plumber to give an opinion about the windows in your roof, you wouldn’t ask a traditional advertising agency to have an opinion about the integral structure of your brand.   But I regularly see that some brands still expect this to happen (or agencies presuming they can do this).   That is where I think the disappointment comes from.

But just like when building a house this doesn’t mean the RFP process goes away.  It just means that it becomes more focused.  In short, brands need to be much more specific in their briefings to agencies and how they fit an overall picture (or employ “architects” like us to do it for them), while agencies need to let go of the illusion that the advertisements they come up with will “move the world” for the brand that commissions them.   

5.   What does the agency of the future look like?

I think the industry will evolve to resemble the movie or construction industry.

-       A large number of micro-specialists.  Forget about the PR agency or the digital agency.  Think about the Agency specialized in leveraging short message social media for spreading positive customer experiences in the banking sector.   Just like the guy who knows how to set up a particular type of solar panel which is government subsidized, they will be contracted on a project basis.  They can be creative, they can be production oriented, it all depends

-       A medium number of project management shops.  These probably best resemble the agency of today, be it without the in-house creative and possibly even production deparments.  They take the briefing of a client and ensure that the variety of micro-specialist implement this to excellence levels.  This may include creative, but mainly in a sourcing capacity (the role of art director in these environments is to ensure that the creative that is sourced meets the client need, not “come up with new stuff” inhouse).   Just like movie houses these project management shops may have privileged relationships with micro-specialists & creatives to provide them with a competitive edge.

-       A small number of strategy shops:  These will be the “architects” of the trade.  They will be a lot smaller than the project management shops and assist brands to formulate their strategy in a way that project management shops can implement it.   They are much more “numbers” based than most agencies of today and in style probably are more comparable to the McKinsey’s and the Bain’s than the McCann’s or Ogilvy’s.

6.   What do marketers need that agencies are not giving them?

The number one thing that marketers are looking for are solutions to business and marketing issues (grow sales, protect margin, ensure customer loyalty, …) while they typically receive “campaigns”.   For other examples I happily refer to our report Bridging the Brand Agency Divide.

7.   Who do you admire and why?

Muhammad Yunus.  For not only coming up with a theoretical concept to fix poverty in a structural way, but also pushing forward to making it happen.  In short, for making a difference.

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