Page 96 - Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - PDFDrive.com

build their own hot agency.
Remember that George, Ed, Mary, and Nancy comprise the entire team—the

account person, media planner, writer, and art director—who created those
fabulous commercials that made the hot agency hot. They are the people that
Coca-Cola trusted with $60 million.

Does this tale end with our four heroes living happily ever after? Sadly, no.
Their new agency gets a nice assignment here and there, but for years, they
struggle with tight budgets, fewer clippings, and a growing sense that something
is missing.

What has happened? George, Ed, Mary, and Nancy still have the talent and
experience—but they no longer have the brand.

All they have lost is their brand. But the loss is enormous.
The four struggle on, thinking that prospective clients will see through the
sheer folly of this brand thing and recognize that GEM&N are really their old
brand agency under a new roof—and with much lower overhead to boot.
And then one Friday, George locks GEM&N’s doors behind him for the last
time.
GEM&N were not beaten by bad planning, the sudden disappearance of their
muses, or a U-turn in the economy. They were beaten by a brand—the one they
lost and never regained.
Never underestimate the value of your brand or the difficulty in creating a
new one.

The Four-Hundred-Grand Brand

Here’s a true story, with the names changed to protect the innocent and the
fortunate.

Two men, Phil and Don, spent seven years building a contracting company
into a solid business. They aren’t famous, but they do well enough to order filet
mignons without thinking twice. In 1995, another man approached them and
offered $400,000 for their business.

Phil and Don’s contracting company had no inventory, no proprietary
products or services, no patents or copyrights, and only one employee other than
Phil and Don. The company rented a storefront and owned no real estate, no
capital assets, and no accounts receivable. A thorough accounting, in fact, would
have revealed that the $400,000 company’s only assets were its name and client
list.