The Dendrocast

In today's era of all things digital, the billboard might seem like the dinosaur of the advertising industry.

Billboards - and the entire ecosystem of "out of home media" - are actually booming even in today's hyper-digital advertising landscape. 

In this episode, Ben Billups, who runs one of the nation's biggest out of home media agencies, talks about how he's reinventing out of home media - and the science behind what's driving the industry's explosive growth.

Agency founders play an outsized role in the early success of their business. They have the connections, the vision, and the drive to build an agency that dominates a market and continues to grow.

So why do so many great agencies seem to fade when that founder leaves or hands over the company to new leadership?

We pose that question to agency founder Ward Hubbell, who talks about when he realized his agency wouldn't last after he was gone if he didn't rethink what makes great agencies survive.

The year was 1998. They had no creative team. No media buyers. And they weren't really an advertising agency.

So how did EnviroMedia, a one-year old Austin agency made up of four twenty-somethings, manage to pitch and win the nationally recognized Don't Mess With Texas campaign?

EnviroMedia founder Valerie Salinas-Davis looks back at that pitch to examine how agencies should rethink what clients are really listening for - and how being the underdog with nothing to lose can be a winning strategy for your next pitch. 

Many agencies are wrestling with a question: how effective is the research we're doing in the communications industry?

With the rise of Big Data, more marketers are turning to predictive data based on our patterns of digital behaviors. Why ask consumers what they might do when you can predict what they will do based on search habits or the content they click on?

What does it mean for the future of market research firms and how agencies use them?

Today's show will explore these questions with two research experts who themselves are trying to reconfigure their own business model to keep up with Big Data's capabilities.

Su Embree and Adam Davis of DHM Research are working to figure out how communications agencies can get better information to shape client narratives and influence consumer behaviors.

Advertising is about influence and the creation of perception. From beauty to politics, agencies and their creative teams are culture makers who influence how we see the world - and the people in it.

It's easy to see why the advertising industry is confronting a movement calling attention to its lack of racial and gender diversity. If our most prominent creative agencies are largely white male-dominated ecosystems, they don't reflect the people and experiences of a majority of the consumer population.  

In this episode, industry leader Tiffany Golden of Wieden+Kennedy talks about the ad industry's diversity problem - and why every agency needs to re-examine the way it views the true impacts of authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion on its business.

Marketing and communications agencies have a distinct corporate culture. They are fast-paced and driven by tough deadlines alongside difficult client demands. 

The typical agency is often associated with a high-stress, unpredictable, and profit-drive environment. The words "work-life balance" aren't the first that come to mind when we think about how most agencies operate.

Is it possible to build a lifestyle culture that makes a profit, but does it by fostering a healthy attitude towards growth?

In this episode, digital agency founder Ben McKinley shares his thoughts on how agency culture is connected to things like productivity, impact, and value - and why we are seeing more agencies lead not as growth businesses, but as life-style businesses that happen to grow.