Advertising Stories

Jon MacDonald Of the CRO Consultancy The Good On How To Sell More Stuff By Using Science, Data, And Some Common Sense. The Good are masters at conversion rate optimization. Need a definition of conversion rate optimization? Here you go: conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that convert into customers. Jon talks about the problems fac...

Is There Life After Advertising? Yes. Many. Here are some thought starters to get those next stage juices flowing. Head over here to read how Tim Ferris and Noah Kagan think that you can start a million-dollar business. LOL, yes this weekend. Want to run a "passive income" business? Well, Pat Flynn is the master who can get you started and rocking. Go to his Smart Passive Income blog for...

Michaela Alexis Millennial LinkedIn Trainer and Coach + Espresso Fuelled LinkedIn Learning Instructor + Helping Businesses and Audiences Shine on LinkedIn + Solopreneur = A Super Star LinkedIn coach and guide, even Guru. Oh, and those K-Swiss sneakers named after her. Plus some delightful conversation. Michael Alexis on LinkedIn Watch the video of Michaela introducing the K-Swiss Startup sneaker A...

Priscilla McKinney is the CEO of Little Bird Marketing and the host of the popular Ponderings From The Perch podcast. Priscilla is a podcasting veteran who gets it. Hear how Pricilla built a podcast program based on having clear business objectives and knowing what her audience wants and needs. No guesswork here. Pricilla's podcast recording and marketing advice includes how to pace yourself,...

Test Your Website Page Speed. Fast Is Good. Here are three tools. There will be more tools and tips coming in Advertising Stories' new section 'advertising and marketing school.' Google PageSpeed Insights.   Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. If you are like me, over 20% of your website visitors are looking at you on a mobile device then you better make sure that they are digging how fa...

Cathy Taylor Discusses How Chevy's Tahoe Totally Screwed Up A Very Early Consumer-Generated Program. Hear how Cathy, of Adweek, discusses this mighty digital fail. Yes, we are going all the way back to a podcast interview I did in 2006 when Chevy made its mess. Here is a New York Times article about the debacle: Chevy Tries a Write-Your-Own-Ad Approach, and The Potshots Fly. Cathy has been a...

Cathy Taylor Predicted The Future Of Google Advertising In This 2006 Podcast Interview. She was right. Cathy talks about the digital ad world as it was in 2006. Do you think that you know where Google came from? Think again. Cathy has been a writer on the ad world for, get this: ADWEEK, Advertising Age, Media Post, The Conference Board, and The Mobile Marketing Association and now... WARC. This is...

A company or brand name, especially for an advertising agency name, can make or break you at your launch or over time. This podcast explains how to name a brand. Company and brand naming is both science and art.  The right brand name adds value and drives sales. Here is a blueprint based on naming conventions to get there. Consider whether your advertising name is a: Neologism Current usage word H...

Russ Stoddard is president of Oliver Russell a branding agency that elevates the impact of companies striving to do good for people and our planet. Hear him talk about how his agency went global by doing very good stuff. A perfect podcast for today's world. If you are one of the first five to email me at peter@peterlevitan.com I will send you a free copy of his book Rise Up: How To Build A So...

Linda Gonzales is the CEO of Viva Partnership, America's leading multicultural marketing and advertising agency. Listen to how Linda defines multicultural marketing and how to get it done. As you will see, some Fortune 500 companies get it so wrong that I cannot even say how bad it is without having my mother scold me. We also discuss the poor state of inclusivity in today's corporate wo...

Robert Peterson / Bob-san Grew Toyota, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Now A Skin Care Brand Plus (!) His Peeps Just Won A Big CES Award. Not your average expat life in Tokyo, Japan. I think that that about says it all until you listen to this episode. If you did listen, arigatōgozaimashita. Bob-san on LinkedIn Bob's Book - Make It Happen On Amazon. Toute Nuit - Please Look Your Best. Oh, and wrin...

Would You Like Your Advertising Agency And TV Commercial On The Front Page Of The New York Times? Not This Executive Creative Director. Not This Time. Let's just start with 1988's The New York Times headline: Cigarette Maker Cuts Off Agency That Made Smoking-Ban TV Ads Patrick Peduto was the ECD and I was the Management Supervisor on Saatchi's Northwest Airlines account. We were jus...

Bob Hoffman Delivers The Ad Contrarian View On How To Pitch For New Advertising Agency Accounts. In this podcast interview, we share the A.I. version of Bob Hoffman's interview with me about the advertising agency pitch process. Bob tells it like it is. The interview is from my extremely best selling book, "The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches." Bob Hoffman is the Chie...

Satish is a Head Of Strategy at Mumbai's Sideways Consulting . He and his teams have grown some of India's and USA's leading brands... and he's helped solve major life and death cultural issues. Not too shabby. With his leading New York (including the fan-favorite Naked) and Mumbai agency background, Syracuse University advertising MBA, and brutally strategic approach, Satish c...

How Do You Win Webby Awards? Super Strategic Basic 'Agency' And CEO Matt Faulk Are Not Remotely Basic. Here is some insightful inspiration for you and your agency all the way from California. Hear how Basic, a winner, wins notoriety, the trust of leading clients, and the industry...  should help you grow your own agency - and career. Meet Matt Faulk, the CEO of Basic , a multi-office bra...

Kent Lewis - Portland's Digital Agency Anvil Beats The Big Agencies. Listen to how an agency owner drives business, delivers strong digital marketing opinions, and discusses how important community work is. Kent Lewis is the founder and President of Portland's Anvil Media, a small digital advertising agency. "Small" is in many ways a bad definer since Anvil drives large client...

Part Two: Rob Walch of Libsyn and Podcast411 - The Lowdown On The Birth & Growth Of Podcasting In This 2006 Interview. You know this, right? The word Podcast comes from the combination of iPod and broadcast. You know that Apple made podcasting what it is today? You also know that the beauty of podcasting is the instant delivery to your device via an RSS feed.? But, do you really know all of th...

Fear Can Be A Great Motivator In The World Of Advertising. Or, It Can Be Debilitating. Pick One. The feeling of "fear" can be a part of everyday life at many advertising agencies. Fear of losing a valuable client; fear of not winning a new business pitch; fear of slow growth; fear of not being able to sell in that great idea; fear for your job or slow career growth... I'll stop ther...

Michael Donahue Has Many Letters to His Name. DFS, S&S, L'eggs, 4A's, and ANA. Michael Donahue is going to tell us about how a brand can be born, grow to greatness, and die. Nothing is forever in brand land. Michael, an original Mad Men man, has been an Executive Vice President and Board member at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising; EVP at The Association Of American Advertisers and S...

How To Go From Advertising Copywriter To Fiction Author Kathy has written advertising copy for mega-brands like Nike, Dr. Martens, Harrah's, and Subway. Her wordsmithing has won numerous awards. But more importantly, it has led her to a life of writing fiction. Kathy, well actually Kathleen Valenti, is the author of Protocol, 39 Winks and As Directed all part of the Maggie O'Malley Myste...

Rob Walch of Libsyn and Podcast411 Predicted The Future Of Podcasting In This 2006 Interview. He was right. Rob has been a leader in the world of podcasting since 2004. No one knew more about where podcasting was and IS now going than Rob. Rob's podCast411 is where it all started and is worth a visit. If you are a broadcaster, publisher, or listener, Rob's history and insights will help...

Nancy Berger Discusses The History Of Fashion Marketing. Has any category been as disrupted as fashion marketing? Not many. Nancy knows. She ran sales and marketing at Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Valentino, and Dolce & Gabbana. Plus she consulted for Conde Nast. Wow. Today, Nancy runs Grace Group , a leading global fashion marketing consultancy. I talked with Nancy about the past, present, and...

Adidas - The Worst New Business Presentation Ever This is one of the worst advertising stories I've ever participated in. In the early 1990s, I was the European Bussiness Development Director in Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide's London office. One day Maurice Saatchi asked me to run a pitch for the global Adidas account. We had everything working for us. Maurice and Charles S...

Peter Levitan’s Advertising Stories delivers unvarnished stories from glib advertising agency creative directors, account managers, CEOs, media geniuses, and even agency big brand clients.  We’ll talk about creating ads, trying to sell them, not selling them, making the logo bigger, my dad likes this idea better, how I lost that account, plus ad agency hijinks across six continents.  Peter’s frien...