This was the talk I presented at the Mirren New Business Conference on May 2, 2012 in New York. The audience was mainly small and mid-sized agencies - and we had an excellent, engaged audience. Thanks to all who made it (or watched over the streaming service)!

1. lean planning for
nimble agencies
Mirren New Business Conference
2 May 2012
@farrahbostic

2. Stuff I’ve done.
ads
campaigns
websites
games
strategies
businesses
products
media
hosting hackathons
mentoring start-ups
writing a little code
presenting an absurd number of decks

3. “Lean” is hot right now
http://theleanstartup.com/

4. It’s a reaction to waste,
superstition, and bias.

5. Th
et
Requirements ra
wa diti
ter on
fa al s
ll of
mo tw
Design de ar
l e
Implementation
Testing
Maintenance

6. The results for start-ups:
Full management teams
Assuming the customer is known
Assuming the features are known
Assuming growth happens by execution
High burn rate
Swinging for the fences

7. Principles of Lean Start-ups
Assume customer and features are unknowns
Continuous customer interaction
Revenue goals from day one
No scaling until revenue
Low burn by design, not crisis

9. Let the stealing begin...
Do Agencies Need to Think Like Google #Firestarters:
Software Companies? Agile Planning

10. Fact:
It’s easy to talk about “lean”.
It’s hard to be Lean.

11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J9KhpgYVB0

12. Lean Pirates &
Agile Ninjas talk about
‘pivoting’ a lot

13. Pivoting isn’t a goal.
It’s a necessity.

14. It happens when you’ve
done all you can
with the 1st idea.

15. And you make the intuitive
leap to a better one.

16. Where does this intuition
come from?

17. Empathy • Discovery • learning

18. Empathy • Discovery • learning
Learn

19. Empathy • Discovery • learning
Learn
Build

20. Empathy • Discovery • learning
Learn
Measure
Build

21. why nimble agencies aren’t agile

22. the ‘insight & creativity’ waterfall
Client Creative PROFIT
Planning Creative The Sell
Briefing Briefing ?
Research Media
Production
Testing
Accounts
Planning
Creative

23. this looks like a time-consuming
& expensive process, right?

24. in the race to win & keep clients,
we make 5 key mistakes

25. we take orders
1
Agencies facilitate and
manage the production
and placement of
advertising on behalf of
their clients.
The client asks,
and she shall receive.

26. “we don’t get paid to think”
2
The traditional model:
Billings = The total cost to produce & place advertising
Revenue = ~10% of billings
Profit = ~15% of revenue

27. it’s hard enough to keep up
with our own industry...
Clients Consumers
Publishers
Ad Agencies Production
Media Houses
Agencies

28. let alone our client’s
Businesses Growth
Shareholders
Consumers
Partners
Competitors Regulators

29. our process is wasteful
3
Client Creative PROFIT
Planning Creative The Sell
Briefing Briefing ?
Accounts
Agency
Planning
Creative
Research Media
Parties
Production
3rd
Testing

31. our hand-offs can be
more like show-downs
“I don’t need any more ideas.
We’ve got plenty of ideas.
I need to know what to make.”
- Anonymous Creative Director

32. we tend to think
ideas ‘just happen’ 4

33. WE EXPECT THIS GUY TO BE A GENIUS.
EVERY TIME.

34. we’re struggling with
product-market fit
“What do you want from me?
5
Fine writing? Or do you want to see
the goddamned sales curve stop moving
down and start moving up?”
- Rosser Reeves

35. WE BET ON A HOLE-IN-ONE. EVERY TIME.
{BUT WE’RE NEVER SURE WE MADE ONE.}

36. so.
that’s not working.

37. hired for lots of ‘reasons’...
http://www.rswus.com/survey/2011-survey-clients-look-ahead-at-agencies

38. ...fired for only a few
Bad strategy, bad creative, bad service.
http://www.rswus.com/survey/2011-survey-clients-look-ahead-at-agencies

39. how do we fix it...

40. three reality checks
Client briefs are not to be trusted
they are often disconnected from the real business
objective, and assume facts not always in evidence
Our business model is double-sided
we have to design for both our economic buyer (the
client) and our end-user (the consumer)
Strategy isn’t (solely) about research and testing
it’s about efficiently seeking a campaign model that scales
- and this doesn’t have to be expensive or delay ideas

41. Principles of Lean ad agencies
Assume the client briefs are hypotheses to be tested.
Continuous customer interaction - with both client & consumer.
Establish clear goals for the campaign from day one.
Start simple, iterate on successes and learn from failures.
Create right-sized, integrated teams,
and use the right resources & tools as they are needed.
Keep score with clients, vendors & partners.

42. a note:
I  open source ideas & models.
So all of the models & frameworks you’re about to see
in this deck are in the Creative Commons.
Using them is not stealing my IP. Please use them.
Mahalo.

43. how to do lean planning
5
in really hard steps

44. 1 start with the business problem
What is the problem your client is
trying to use advertising to solve?

45. 1 start with the business problem
What is the problem your client is
trying to use advertising to solve?
“Who do you “Who owns the
report to?” budget?” “How is their
“Who approves bonus calculated?”
the work?”

46. 1 start with the business problem
What is the problem your client is
trying to use advertising to solve?
“Who do you “Who owns the
report to?” budget?” “How is their
“Who approves bonus calculated?”
the work?”
“Who owns the
“What is the
parts of the value
business problem?” “What can we
“What’s the root chain?”
influence/change?”
cause of the
problem?”

47. The client brief is just one input.

48. 2 charge for strategy
Call it discovery, campaign planning, client roadmaps, etc.
Do the work to understand your client’s business
(note: this is different from their ‘brand’).
Involve your client in this process -
do stakeholder interviews, workshops, etc.
Don’t call it an add-on or suggest it as optional.
Charge enough that it looks like it matters as much as it does.
Connect it to measurement & KPIs.

49. they pay for strategy.
just not from you.
Reason #1:
They don’t think agencies do strategy -
and if you don’t have a highly visible planning team,
with a history of solving business problems, why should they?
Reason #2:
They don’t trust agencies to be honest -
they think you’re learning what you want to learn
to make the work you want to make.
Reason #3:
They believe in ‘best in class’ when buying agency services -
but are constantly frustrated by the inefficiencies.

50. Day Month Year
No.
Who are our Key Partners? What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require? What value do we deliver to the customer? What type of relationship does each of our Customer For whom are we creating value?
Who are our key suppliers? Our Distribution Channels? Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve? Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them? Who are our most important customers?
Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners? Customer Relationships? What bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer Segment? Which ones have we established?
Which Key Activities do partners perform? Revenue streams? Which customer needs are we satisfying? How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
How costly are they?
What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require? Through which Channels do our Customer Segments
Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships? want to be reached?
Revenue Streams? How are we reaching them now?
How are our Channels integrated?
Which ones work best?
Which ones are most cost-efficient?
How are we integrating them with customer routines?
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model? For what value are our customers really willing to pay?
Which Key Resources are most expensive? For what do they currently pay?
Which Key Activities are most expensive? How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to pay?
How much does each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues?
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51. if nothing else, it shows you care

52. 3 collaborate to learn
“We always have a vision that is clearly
articulated, big enough to matter & shared by
the whole team.
“Our goal is always to discover which aspects
of this vision are grounded in reality & adapt
those aspects that are not.”
This vision is the ‘brief’...
http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/

54. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’

55. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’
About the customer.

56. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’
About the customer.
About what matters to them.

57. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’
About the customer.
About what matters to them.
About how they live their lives.

58. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’
About the customer.
About what matters to them.
About how they live their lives.
About what they desire or how
we can solve a painful problem.

59. PLACE BETS:
generate hypotheses before
‘finding insights’
About the customer.
About what matters to them.
About how they live their lives.
About what they desire or how
we can solve a painful problem.

60. 4 Get out of the building.

61. do what, now?
Talk to people - not respondents.
Not a lot: 5-10.
Get the people you meet to introduce you to other
people they know who do things a little differently.
Don’t use a “facility” - try to go to where they are when
they use the product or interact with the category/brand.

62. Be nice and listen.
http://giffconstable.com/2010/07/12-tips-for-early-customer-development-interviews/

65. 5 measure to succeed
You know the old adage...
“Half my advertising is working...
I just don’t know which half.”
KPIs aren’t making this better, most of the time.

66. “You need to add value to people's lives,
not just expect them to participate
because you goddamn well asked them to.”
Mel Exon, BBH Labs
http://anjalir.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/sxsw-in-retrospect-the-last-of-the-launch-and-leave-ems/

67. Learning.
Understanding.
Empathy.

69. measure like a pirate
“[Vanity Metrics are] numbers that make us look good
but don’t really help make decisions.”
- Eric Ries, The Lean Start-up
Actionable (a.k.a. ‘Pirate’) Metrics:
Acquisition: users from misc channels come
to site, landing page, widget, etc
Activation: users enjoy 1st site visit, "happy"
user experience
* Retention: users re-visit site multiple times
Referral: users like product enough to refer
* others referral happens via email, links, blogs,
widgets, word-of-mouth, etc
Revenue: users conduct monetization
behavior (e.g., buy, download, affiliate sale
trackback)

70. Bonus round: “It isn’t iterative if you
only do it once.”
do it again. - probably one of the
made by many guys

71. Bonus round: “It isn’t iterative if you
only do it once.”
do it again. - probably one of the
made by many guys
Learn

72. Bonus round: “It isn’t iterative if you
only do it once.”
do it again. - probably one of the
made by many guys
Learn
Build

73. Bonus round: “It isn’t iterative if you
only do it once.”
do it again. - probably one of the
made by many guys
Learn
Measure
Build

74. thanks.