Why Every Series B Startup Can Benefit From an Ad Agency Relationship

Stytch’s founders and their internal team worked closely with Division of Labor Advertising to create their hugely successful first advertising campaign.

The people who work at ad agencies are generally not Rhodes Scholars, rocket scientists, or Mensa members. They didn’t graduate from Stanford, Penn, or MIT. And if you’re the CEO of a Series B startup, you may be smarter than many of them. But intelligence doesn’t make great advertising. Insight does. And ad people know how to connect emotionally with people and make them want things.

Yes, it’s sometimes hard for really smart people to relinquish control, but if we could give you one piece of advice when running a Series B start-up it’s this: Stop solely collaborating internally on how best to market your product and bring in an ad agency to help you and your team get the job done.

If you have the money to build an internal agency, that works too. Keep them independent and hire experienced talent and internal agencies are amazing. But before you spend the millions, spend a few thousand. Why?

We don’t know everything

And that’s a good thing. You all know too much; about the product about the market about the technology about the details. Your target audience doesn’t think about your product 1/100th as much as you do. Neither do we. But an agency can help find that little piece of truth, that one thing that will make people sit up and go, “Ooah, what’s that?”

Strategic Planning: Sure, you can draft a business plan, but can you craft a campaign strategy that weaves seamlessly beyond just digital and social clicks? An ad agency does more than just draw pretty pictures; they map out the entire journey, sorta like a GPS with a PhD in marketing.

Copywriting: Anyone can string a few adjectives together, but crafting copy that’s actually memorable is an art form. Your product or service may be as exciting as watching paint dry, but in the hands of the right creative team, even insurance can be entertaining.

 Design: Product design is not graphic design or art direction. You probably have great product designers and UX designer on staff. But that’s not the same as a conceptual art director or a designer who can bring a campaign to life and create a brand that’s unignorable. 

 Media Planning: Buying Ad Space is Not a DIY Project. Ad agencies are like real estate agents for your content, securing prime advertising spaces and negotiating deals that make your budget stretch further than your yoga instructor doing downward dog. We’ve seen countless campaigns get messed up because the wrong media is bought or the timelines aren’t clear or the specs are wrong or the assets are shipped incorrectly. Yes, you’ll pay a small commission. But do it right or don’t do it.

 Data Analysis: Ad agencies don't just throw darts in the dark and hope for the best. They dive deep into the data, analyzing the performance of your campaigns. They can adjust the messaging and adjust the target media to get the absolute most from your media spend. At the same time, we do not blindly follow data. We use it to craft holistic campaigns. If advertising was pure science, we would have written the algorithm and retired a long time ago.

That’s it. What an ad agency does for you isn’t exceptionally complicated But it’s a skill like any other best left to the experts. You trust them to know their craft and you’ll benefit from their perspective.

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. They also offer brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.

LGBTQ in Advertising - A Brief History of Inclusion in Brand Marketing

2009: Absolut saluted 40 years of Gay Pride marches with a rainbow bottle.

If it’s not already apparent from the onslaught of rainbow-themed merchandise on display at malls across America, June is Gay Pride month. And while the overcommercialization of holidays tends to insight naysayers, critics, and purists, it’s hard to see this turn of events as anything but a win for both the LGBTQ community and humanity as a whole. In the not too distant past, it would have been unthinkable that retailers, including Macy’s, Target, and even gun-loving, music-lyric censoring Walmart would be stocking their shelves with LGBTQ pride merch. So as we near the 50th anniversary of Stonewall— it’s June 28th— this small San Francisco ad agency would like to add to the marketing fanfare with a look at the evolution of LGBTQ inclusion in advertising.

Ellen

The backlash that ensued after Ellen Degeneres outed herself on her self titled 1997 sitcom, which aired on ABC, is a good place to start. Advertisers including Chrysler and JC Penny boycotted the episode, and Wendy’s stopped advertising altogether. In the months that followed, religious groups began picketing the studio. There were death threats, bomb scares and endless hate mail.  The network responded by backing off on promoting the show and even aired disclaimers before every episode suggesting there may be themes that are “inappropriate for children.” Eventually, the show was canceled.

And while homophobia may have been socially acceptable in the nineties, not every CMO was complicit in tolerating it.  

Ikea

In 1994 a small, but rapidly expanding Swedish furniture company called IKEA  became the very first company to feature a gay couple in a mainstream ad.  Ikea ran the ad after  10 p.m. in three markets:  New York, Philadelphia as well as Washington, D.C.  It did this intentionally so as not to conflict with "family hour" programming. But this concession did little to silence the objections of the American Family Association and its leaders who called for boycotts of Ikea stores. The retailer, however, continued to air the ad, which was part of a lifestyle campaign featuring different types of consumers, including a divorced mom, adopting parents, and an empty nester couple.  (Keep this in mind the next time you try to assemble one of their particle board desks only to discover half the screws you need to hold it together are missing. It will keep your frustrations in check.)

Volkswagen

Other retailers took a softer approach: In 1997 Volkswagen aired its  “Sunny Afternoon” spot (also called Da Da Da)  which featured two young guys rescuing a piece of furniture discarded on the street in their VW Golf.  Incidentally, the spot debuted on the Ellen coming out episode. But unlike the Ikea spot, the relationship between these two men was intentionally left vague. Were they friends, roommates or boyfriends?  It allowed for multiple interpretations meant to cushion against criticism. The spot was perhaps the first in a category known hereafter as “gay-vague.”

A tongue in cheek ad for Ambassador Scotch that passes judgement on some old-school thinking.

John Hancock Financial Services

In 2000 John Hancock Financial Services aired a spot where two Caucasian women are in line at a crowded airport immigration line, holding an infant girl with Asian features. As they're waiting, they coo over the sleeping baby.  One might infer from the dialogue that the two women are a couple on their way home with their newly adopted daughter. The tagline: "Insurance for the unexpected. Investments for opportunities. John Hancock."  Then on the cutaway with only audio, one woman says to the other, "You're going to make a great mom." Her partner replies, "So are you."  The company, of course, caught flack for the ad. And while they didn’t pull it, they did send it back to the editing room, pulled out the cutaway dialogue from the end and ran a re-released, “gay vague” version. (We scoured the internet to find a link to this one but came up empty. If any knows finds send us the URL so we can post)

Heinz

Fast forward another eight years and America was still struggling to come to terms with LBGTQ PDA. The Heinz company went for it anyway releasing a commercial for Deli Mayo. It opened on a typical morning scene as a family gets ready to start their day. There’s the obligatory kiss as dad goes off to work. Nothing amiss here, except that this man’s spouse is also a man. A week after its airing, Heinz caved to pressure after receiving hundreds of complaints from consumers suggesting it was “offensive” and ‘inappropirate to see two men kissing.”

Gillette

Even today, any of these ads might still cause a stir in some communities.  The difference: Today advertisers are much more likely to stay the course because the backlash from the other side for caving to social pressure will be that much greater. That said: there’s still plenty of room for companies to push the envelope and show consumers what America really looks like. Last month, Gillette did just that, running a documentary style commercial featuring a father teaching his transgender son how to shave. Simple idea. Well executed. Wish we’d thought of it.

Being an ad man or ad woman may not be as noble a profession as, say, a teacher, a social worker, or a mental health counselor. But it’s worth remembering that a good advertising campaign can do more than just sell widgets. We can use our craft to change the way people see the world, shape public opinion, and focus on the greater good.

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top San Francisco ad agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. And also offers brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and smaller brands. Click here for a free consultation.

An All-In-One Marketing Kit For Startups

No one needs great branding more than a startup. But too often, startup companies have startup budgets. Since the day Division of Labor opened its doors, we’ve had a steady stream of requests from startups in this exact position. VC funding, but never enough.

So we got to thinking; we’re a boutique creative agency, designed to run lean and churn out the best advertising on the West Coast without sticking clients with huge markups to cover overhead. If we got even more efficient and had clients willing to do the same, we could serve startups in the early phases of funding, which is, in actuality, the ideal time to build a brand.

So, after numerous internal discussions and an equal amount of time spent crunching the numbers, Division of Labor developed a strategy which we believe can bridge the gap between the marketing needs of small companies and that irritant, reality.

We call it “The Start-Up Marketing Kit”. For a flat fee of $35,000 (a pittance compared with typical full-service agency fees)  Division of Labor now provides start-ups with the basic necessities of a successful brand launch without the commitment of a long-term agency contract.  

The Start-Up Marketing Kit includes the following:

1) A Brand Manifesto. We start by developing a strategic positioning. We determine what you stand for and what you stand against. Then we craft the story of why you exist. A Mission statement is a rational document. A manifesto is the emotional story that brings the mission to life.

2) A Clear target. Who are you talking to? Not a demographic, a personality type that will embrace why you exist and want what you’re selling. We use Simmons proprietary research and our strategy group to isolate the target audience.

3) Home Page Story and Design. We bring the mission and manifesto to life with a simple, singular statement and design that greets everyone who comes to your site. We write and design a home page and secondary pages.

4) Social Media Assets. This is the start of advertising and what takes your message to the world. At a minimum, you’ll do social media marketing. You need a simple campaign that gets your product and message out there. We create executions for LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

5) Video. People want video more than anything else. Your video should celebrate why you exist and introduce what your product does. It should live on your homepage and be sent out via social media platforms as a promotion. We write and storyboard a video and prepare it for production.

And, of course, clients always have the option of adding additional pieces, including logo design, digital advertising, integrated advertising, TV, Radio, outdoor, design, media planning, and video production. Division of Labor recognizes that the idea of a set price for engagement is a bit unconventional. But we see it as a long-term investment. We give clients everything they need to get started with the assumption that when they get that VC cash infusion, they’ll remember who helped them in the early days and will re-engage for the Super Bowl commercial. Click here to learn more.

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The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top West Coast advertising agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. And also offers brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and brands interested in testing new ideas, but who aren’t quite ready to invest in an integrated campaign or media spend. We can assist with brand strategy, brand voice, early stage asset development, video creation and other communications to get things up and running without busting your budget. Click here for a free consultation.

Brand Loyalty: a Marketing Case Study.

Marketing agencies are always trying to encourage brand loyalty. But the smart ones are also thinking about reciprocating brand loyalty. In other words, if you want people to love and embrace your brand, how do you give away and engrain your brand into people’s lives?  

The San Jose Sharks have some of the most loyal fans in the NHL. They love the players and the organization and the passion the Sharks have brought to San Jose since 1991. So as the San Jose Sharks marketing agency, we at Division of Labor thought about how we could be even more loyal to those most loyal to us.

Fans already spend a lot of money on tickets and jerseys and swag. But there’s an even more passionate group of fans that have taken our Sharks for Life mantra to the literal level. The number of fans with Sharks tattoos is amazing and humbling and a beautiful sign of loyalty. It’s the kind of thing that makes the players want to win it all for this town more than anything.

So earlier in the season, we came up with the idea to give away free Sharks tattoos to fans. We’d already encouraged fans to paint their houses teal (Teal Houses of Sharks Territory) and we expanded that to create the Teal Cars of Sharks Territory. But giving away free tattoos? We weren’t sure how that would go over.

But the Sharks loved the idea. They embraced it immediately and knew they had to make it happen, the question was how and when? We wanted to bring artists into a suite and have them ink fans while they were watching a game. But that proved logistically difficult. So we developed a digital marketing plan around the playoffs.

The plan: We partnered with three local San Jose Tattoo Shops to give away free sharks tattoos during each away game of the Western Conference Finals. The first 40 fans to show up at the designated shop will get to choose one of six sharks designs. Of course, we couldn’t execute the idea until we made it past the second round. But we still had to prepare.

So we created social marketing assets that encouraged fans to gather at a pre-game street rally before game five of the second round. We brought a crew down to film fans already inked with Sharks tattoos who wanted to tell their stories. The response was incredible. In less than 2 hours, we rounded up 22 fans willing to share their Sharks ink with the world. And after Joe Pavelski’s triumphant game 7 against the Avalanche, we were off. The digital video went out onto Sharks social channels along with some digital display network ads and, as expected, the press got hold of it.

We are still 48 hours away from the first tattoo shop giveaway and already garnering lots of free, positive publicity for the team, including this story by Kron News.

Certainly, not every brand has the kind of fans as loyal as the Sharks organizations. But, no matter the product, thinking about how you can give loyalty while you get loyalty is a worthwhile, but shockingly underutilized marketing strategy.

If you’d like to talk about more advertising stuff, contact us here. If you’re a rabid Sharks fan ready to get inked, click here.

The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top West Coast advertising agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award-winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. And also offers brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and brands interested in testing new ideas, but who aren’t quite ready to invest in an integrated campaign or media spend. We can assist with brand strategy, brand voice, early stage asset development, video creation and other communications to get things up and running without busting your budget. Click here for a free consultation.

An Advertising and Technology Case Study

Advertising and technology often intersect as media strategies, creative ideas and digital engagements get more and more elaborate and quite frankly, more interesting. But sometimes the intersection of advertising and technology has a different purpose. Allow us to explain.

This Saturday, May 4th 2019, there is an amazing event in San Francisco called ED REV, which is held annually at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

Ed REV, short for Education Revolution, is a day-long event geared towards the 1 in 5 children who struggle with learning and attention differences, often compounded by anxiety and depression. As branding experts, we don’t love the name, but we love the organization. (Perhaps if they call us, we’ll happily offer pro-bono hours to create a name that more accurately embodies their LD mission.)   

Now in its 11th year, EdRev offers education sessions, resources, and consultations with a celebratory community day at the ballpark. It is the only convention of its kind that brings together the entire LD community—students, parents, educators, and professionals. There will be an exhibit hall showcasing the latest learning technology, a stunning art gallery of the works of LD children from 100+ schools, community organizations and service providers focused specifically on learning and attention differences.

And there’ll be plenty of activities to keep the ADD kids engaged. The highlight, for most kids, is the ability to run the bases on the Giant’s field, while you relish in the knowledge that you’re surrounded by kids who all know what it means to live with a hidden disability.

As a San Francisco based ad agency, our small contribution comes in the form of a free assistive technology app we created called ModMath.  It levels the playing field for students who are falling behind in math due to dysgraphia, a condition that makes writing anything out longhand extremely difficult. Rather than bore you with the specifics check out this explainer video which sums up the disability and the app’s functionality in about 60 seconds.

The point is that advertising and technology come together whenever we use our skills to create things that push the envelope, not just for our clients, but for our world. Of course, the obvious question is: Why would an ad agency champion an app for students with learning disabilities?  Well, one in five people have a learning disability. But in my family's’ gene pool, that number is more like 3 out of 5 as it’s often hereditary. And my son (the handsome dude in our explainer video)  has a particularly bad case of dysgraphia to go along with his dyslexia. So, when we realized there was no existing technology to help a student like our son around his disability, we brought advertising and technology together. A lot of agencies are doing amazing things with technology for all kinds of causes.

And if you visit ED REV this year, you’ll learn about dozens of assistive technologies that, like ModMath, are designed to help LD kids realize their full potential. It’s a powerful event you don’t want to miss.

Please learn more by checking out ED REVs fantastic partners Understood and the Children’s Health Counsel, who work tirelessly to educate the public on learning disabilities and related mental health issues.

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The small agency blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top advertising agency and digital marketing agency in San Francisco specializing in brand marketing and digital advertising campaigns. Clients include Ford, Dropbox, Roku, and San Jose Sharks. We offer the services you’d expect from an integrated, digital marketing agency, but we also offer hourly, brand consulting services for startups, smaller companies and brands that want to start doing something but aren’t ready to get into a big integrated campaign or media spend. We can help with brand strategy, brand voice, early stage asset development, and other communications to get things up and running without breaking the bank. For a free advertising consultation.click here .

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San Jose Sharks Playoff Mode

Last year when the Sharks hit the postseason, we launched our Playoff Mode ad campaign.

The marketing plan called for TV, radio, outdoor and digital assets along with neon signs distributed to area bars and restaurants that could literally be toggled on to Playoff Mode.  

The campaign—and especially those neon signs—struck a chord with the Sharks faithful. According to the Sharks VP of Marketing, Doug Benz: “We saw higher TV ratings, stronger ticket sales, and more community activation.The idea of Playoff Mode really resonated with our fans.”

So this year the Sharks, along with their agency of record Division of Labor, invested even more heavily in Playoff Mode—with a neon-inspired campaign that builds on last year’s success but then takes it to the next level.

What did we do? The creative team created 23 unique neon designs—one for each Shark’s team player and as the playoffs commence they will light up all over the bay area.

And we’re not just taking it to outdoor, digital and social. Playoff Mode neon will be everywhere. We’re coordinating with the Sharks internal production teams who will take the neon designs into the pre-game 3D light show—a truly amazing production coordinated by the talented Dustin Lamendola. Additionally, custom Twitter animations will be created and in-stadium signage is already in place. And the biggest piece: 10 different custom neon signs to hang in bars and as fan giveaways.  We anticipate the Burnzie (Brent Burns), The Don Father (Jonas Donskoi), Dilly Dilly (Bendon Dillon) and Jumbo (Joe Thornton) installations to be among the most coveted.

Of course, it’s not feasible to give every fan a five-foot neon sign to light up their living room. So we collaborated with the Shark’s street team who will be heading out into the community and handing out Playoff Preparedness kits, replete with teal phone covers, Playoff Mode rally rags, and teal light bulbs. Fans can then “turn on” Playoff Mode on at home. “You can show everyone you're in playoff mode by putting that (teal light bulb) in your front porch light and showing off your teal.” says Benz.  The new neon designs are now emblazoned on everything from rally towels to T-Shirts, hats, and related swag in the Sharks shops at SAP Center.

The Small Agency Blog is produced by Division of Labor; a top West Coast advertising agency and digital marketing firm that’s been named Small Agency of the Year twice by Ad Age. The award winning creative shop services clients on a retainer or project basis. And also offers brand consulting services and hourly engagements for startups and brands interested in testing new ideas, but who aren’t quite ready to invest in an integrated campaign or media spend. We can assist with brand strategy, brand voice, early stage asset development, video creation and other communications to get things up and running without busting your budget. Click here for a free consultation.

Division of Labor Has Moved

Thanks to the workers at Gianola Awnings for starring in our moving video.

After eight years in the same office, the Division of Labor finally outgrew our space and has relocated. We considered joining the glut of top advertising agencies based in San Francisco, but in the end, couldn’t quit our love affair with salty Sausalito.

We have, however, moved a little further from the fudge shops and souvenir stores to fly under the radar of curious European tourists. It was charming, at first, when folks stumbled into our office with their fanny packs and selfie sticks and began flipping over office chairs in search of price tags. We also loved it when some of the Sausalito locals, often wreaking of gin— dropped in to share their unsolicited political opinions. Guiding them out the door when they outstayed their welcome was less pleasant. On the bright side, it was a great way to hone our conflict resolution skills.

Is our new space a little more grown up? Maybe a little. But it’s twice the size and has assigned parking spaces. And it’s clear that stress levels are down now that our employees no longer live in fear of the meter maids.

Of course, we miss our lattes from Cibo and especially their pastries. But the Nespresso machine in our new kitchen makes a decent cup of coffee. Pair it with a PopTart, purchased in bulk for employee consumption, and quality of life at the new Division of Labor headquarters is pretty sweet.  

On a final note: If any Kellogg or Nespresso executives happen upon this blog post and need help with data-driven marketing strategies and require the services of an agency in San Francisco, we’re already brand loyal.