It’s no secret that the new business landscape in adland is growing increasingly hard to navigate. 

While mergers and acquisitions are changing the shape of the industry, creatives are grappling with AI innovations and clients' needs are becoming more complex. All agencies, no matter their shape or size, are trying to embrace new ways to stand out in a crowded market.

To explore how agencies can continue to drive sustainable growth at a time of sustained change, the Gerety Awards gathered industry leaders for a cocktail event and panel discussion at Not Just Any.

Moderated by Nicola Kemp, Editorial Director at Creativebrief the panel of Prudence Beecroft, Managing Director at Not Just Any, Robin Bonn, CEO at Co:Definery, Pippa Bhatt, Founder at Coterie Consulting, Siân Blackman, New Business Lead at Mother and Darren Smith, CCO at House of Oddities, shared their varying approaches to new business.

Doing things differently 

While we might all remember our favourite advertising campaigns, Kemp started the discussion with a reminder that we rarely remember the agency attached. Agencies must strive to become as memorable as the campaigns they create and find new ways to stand out in the crowd. 

Siân Blackman, New Business Lead at Mother, shared that having a strong proposition has helped to build Mother’s distinctive brand, which centres around creative excellence. The agency lived by the ethos of making mothers proud until it recently flipped the script to focus on making children proud and leaving a positive legacy. An approach that is not just visible in the work but in the agency's approach to new business and pitching, which champions ‘humanity’, seeking to ‘inspire and delight’.

The power of doing things differently can help an agency to stand out from the crowd. For House of Oddities, doing things differently was ingrained, as CCO, Darren Smith, shared that coming from an editorial background, unaware of how agencies usually operate, actually freed the agency from falling into old habits. “We don't try to keep up with the herd, we try to be people who help clients,” says Smith. He continued: “Journalism is about speaking truth to power. Part of the job is to guide and help clients through the world to where they want to go.”

Pippa Bhatt, Founder at Coterie Consulting, added that precision in storytelling is a good point of difference. Owning what you do while being a good partner to clients by asking better questions is a surefire way to be memorable to clients. 

Standing out in a crowded market

In a crowded agency landscape, the panel agreed that differentiation is the key to success. Yet, Robin Bonn, CEO at Co:Definery shared that currently, agencies are playing a game of marginal gains but ‘trying to optimize for the wrong game’. He urged agencies to consider that the market is not oversupplied, but lacks differentiation. By finding what makes your agency not good but great, you are able to become the expert in demand. “It is a mindset shift from scarcity to abundance,” he says. 

Bonn also called into question the importance of agency brands. While it's important to know your point of difference, he warned the industry against being too self-involved. The sunsetting of legacy agency brands might be big news for but he added that: "The reality is clients aren't thinking about us as much as we are thinking about them. We need to eat some humble pie and be a bit more realistic.” For Bonn, solving clients' problems should take priority. 

“You don't want to be known to everyone to do everything,” added Prudence Beecroft, Managing Director at Not Just Any. For Beecroft, it is about careful messaging delivered to the right people at the right time. She pointed to the example of SEO and shared that if your clients aren’t using Google to search ‘best agency’, spending money to show up there is wasted. Instead, understand where your clients are and show up there, whether that’s in press, at events or even in email signatures. 

People and connection 

For an industry in which talent is the most precious resource, new business brings to life the importance of looking after talent, finding connections and building relationships. 

While Beecroft shared that new business has evolved from the days of being expected to wine and dine clients, then being at the desk by 9 am the next morning, Blackman added that there is still work to be done to make sure agencies fully understand the role of new business. She said that where the role combines strategy, creative and client services, they are also involved in every pitch and have invaluable knowledge, no matter the client. “We know how to help the business get to where it needs to be,” says Blackman.

Understanding the importance of saying no and being unafraid to ‘sell’ is also crucial to success. As Bonn explained: “We’ve got to exercise discernment in what we do.” He urged agencies to show up with a point of view, have more self-respect and be more choosy. “If you start the wrong relationships, you end up in miserable places,” he warned.

Similarly, while new business can be tough, strong internal relationships are crucial. Smith shared that his creative partner is key in helping him have courage in his convictions and having someone to share the load. Beecroft shared that turning to tech to automate communications can help to manage emotions in the role. 

Concluding with the importance of trust, relationships and consistency, Bhatt shared that new business takes time. Acting with integrity, knowing yourself, your agency and your clients is what helps you find the best opportunities.