Letters From Stan
Wanted: Clients With Courage
Stan Richards 03.21.2013
Dear Judy, Courage. It’s not something you see in excess in marketing these days. There’s a lot of talk about ROI and KPIs and ROAS, and while I completely understand and champion the need for accountability, none of those letters spell “courage.” Nor do they fuel it. We’re fortunate to have clients who exhibit courage Continue Reading...How Do We Stack Up?
Stan Richards 06.26.2012
Dear Kerry, The 4A’s recently released survey results, titled “Ending the Agency Talent Rotisserie,” that were targeted at addressing why people stay at or leave their agencies. As part of that survey, they offered five ways to make your people happy. I thought I’d test our own place against those five suggestions. 1. Less Fortune Continue Reading...The Four Questions
Stan Richards 02.25.2011
You’ve heard me talk about our tenure here at the agency-in terms of both clients and the people who work here. The duration of our client relationships is often more visible to you, because we cite it in case studies or cover letters or simply in answer to a question in an RFP. Continue Reading...This Is How We Measure a Year
Stan Richards 12.30.2009
Dear Ken, I know this is a business of cycles. There are up years. There are down years. And I know the likely classification of 2009 will be the latter. But don’t count us in the group that’s happy to see 2009 come to an end. It’s a year that started with a fresh relationship Continue Reading...Does It Have Legs?
Stan Richards 01.28.2008
Dear Meghan, Does it have legs? It was always an odd question to me. But you could count on it being asked every time you had a major creative presentation with a client or a prospective client. Does it have legs? The only way to answer the question at the time was either to do Continue Reading...One Very Important Unwritten Rule
Stan Richards 05.31.2006
Dear Jane, I enjoy reading Adweek. Seriously. It’s a pretty quick way to get the current headlines, and from time to time there’s a guest columnist whose point of view I truly appreciate. And while I could challenge their opinions of agency performance in their annual report card issue, I won’t. (By the way, it’s Continue Reading...Does a Title Ever Make the Work Better?
Stan Richards 08.08.2005
Dear Hasan, As if remaining independent in an environment of continuing mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and demises weren’t contrarian enough, we’ve found another way to blaze our own trail. Just about a year ago, we got rid of our account executives. Eliminated our account supervisors. Unceremoniously dumped our account directors. And we can honestly say that Continue Reading...The Defense for Not Defending
Stan Richards 06.21.2004
Dear Ann, “The Richards Group will not participate in the review.” “Incumbent Richards Group will not defend.” “The current agency, The Richards Group, declined to participate.” You’ve seen those words in the press, you’ve seen them in a similar form in our RFP responses, you may have heard them directly from me. No matter what Continue Reading...Our Family Tree
Stan Richards 05.29.2003
Dear Joanne, With all the mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs, I suppose it was inevitable that we’d need some sort of a road map to keep them all straight. Advertising Age recently took on the task in their “Agency Family Trees” of detailing who married whom, who begat whom, and all the resulting first and second Continue Reading...The Benefits of Being Fiercely Independent
Stan Richards 06.28.2002
Dear Leslie, Three recent events prompt this letter: (1) the Hyundai agency review, won by The Richards Group; (2) the Mondavi Woodbridge review, also won by The Richards Group; and (3) the speech by John Dooner of Interpublic in which he noted that the four largest ad agency holding companies control 82 percent of U.S. Continue Reading...12
