Here are some we didn’t prepare earlier.
These are ads for ad agencies.
The kind that make agency folk say, “Why aren’t we doing this?”
And while these aren’t ours, something like this could be yours.
Some clients hire an ad agency to do their bidding, and others hire an agency to be a backstop against their own idiocy and biases. This ad puts a foot squarely in the second camp. “Service instead of servility.”
Sell your agency culture – because the reality is (harsh news to all you logical thinkers out there) chemistry matters more than you want to admit. Do the clients like you? Do they think you’re nifty? Is going to the agency the highlight of their week? Amelié sounds like a fun place to hang out with cool people.
In an industry awash in 20-somethings, Ancient & Modern focuses on their key point of difference – their age. As Silicon Valley might say, turn a bug into a feature. “Big ideas – they’re the only ones we can actually see.”
One of the greatest agency startups of the past 40 years, Fallon launched with a claim of creativity as a business advantage. Outsmart the competition rather than outspend them? Hell, yes. (And kudos to following John Caples’ suggestion of using the word “new” in a headline to increase readership.)
Technically not an agency self-promo ad, this was actually an ad for the ad industry – that did an amazing job of making DDB seem like the only agency you’d ever want to hire. “Another word for truth is information.”
Want to convince clients you can find the excitement in a penny-a-pound utilitarian product? You can’t do much better than this 1963 gem from Young & Rubicam.
It’s hard to believe this ad was written in 1964. It could run today without a change and be even more relevant. And it makes the reader want to know more about Y&R’s copywriter, Greta Nissen.
One of the classics of the genre, David Ogilvy demonstrates both that he knows what it takes to run a very successful ad agency (and what client doesn’t want to partner with a winner who has such a focus on every detail?) and that he REALLY likes long copy.
Lots of agencies include testimonials on their websites. It feels good, it’s “social proof.” But who would put anything other than a glowing review on their own site? Post-Keyes-Gardner dared prospects (and their competitors) to call their clients and ask what it’s like to work with them.