The document discusses whether advertising agencies should engage in blogging, emphasizing the need to define the blog's purpose and target audience. It highlights various successful agency blogs and their objectives, noting that blogging can enhance brand visibility and foster community. The document concludes that an agency's approach to blogging should align with its culture and goals, urging a strategic rather than a superficial engagement.

1. Advertising Agency Question :: Should we be blogging? July 2007

2. What is the purpose of our blog? This is the first (and most important) question to ask. In other words: 1. Who are the relevant audiences and does it provide a platform to connect with them? Is this internally or externally focused? Externally to new clients or current clients or both? 2. What are the objectives? Get our company-brand out there? Reposition ourselves? Thought leadership to what end? Prospect new business? To learn?!?

3. Let’s take a look at other agencies have done— or not done—with their blogs.

4. The Outward Facing Culture Blog :: W+K London Becomes a tool for recruiting and retention

5. The Agency Site Becomes A Blog :: HHCC Proves its commitment to new media

6. The Branded Dept. Within An Agency Blog :: BSSP New business tool for Influx and agency including bundling posts as “thought packs”

7. The Solid Dept. Within An Agency Blog :: Fallon Maintains planning reputation for recruiting and conversation catalyst

8. It has gained interest/buzz rivaling the agency’s site. And all without any PR hustle

9. The We’re A Unique Collection Blog :: Naked Aggregates individual employee feeds and creates its own agency community

10. The One Man Bigger Than One Agency Blog :: Modernista!, Digitas, and Leo Burnett Toronto Planning Director Gareth Kay’s blog has much higher traffic than Modernista’s m!ndless

11. The Blogs That Were :: BBDO and TBWA Portugal BBDO used its blog as an education tool and TBWA as a place to showcase work. May they rest in peace.

12. And what corporations blog? Companies with which we work and would like to work (almost 10% of the Fortune 500) and including: Food, Beverage, QSR: Whole Foods, McDonald’s Airlines: JetBlue and Southwest Healthcare: Johnson & Johnson Technology: Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Dell, hp, and Sprint Internet: Amazon, Google, eBay, and Yahoo + Our clients: X and X Their competitors: X, X, and X

13. So what does all this mean?

14. An agency blog can be useful, but needs a purpose. The conversation is happening. Attitude towards blogging is reflective of agency culture with more experimental, cutting-edge agencies blogging. Don’t talk about it, be about it. The types of companies we admire blog. So, the question is not do we want to be a part of it but how do we want to be part of it? Gives us a platform to take a stand, for us to be the next big thing. WATCHOUT: It is not a place for our corporate manifesto. We must start with a goal.

15. Appendix

16. Thought-Starters (depending on goal) Promote Collaboration. People from different departments weigh in on the same topic Connect with our other office. Engage in coast vs. coast agency benefit debate Become a community that people want to be a part of. Giveaways from our clients, featured ad spot for other companies that participate, chance to get a job, etc. Create buzz around our true culture. People cover what X is really like from the X floor

17. Resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/003804.html and http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001607.html Benefits of corporate blogging: http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/article.php/3547411 http://www.blogopreneur.com/2007/03/30/the-benefits-of-corporate-blogging/ Execs are slow to see value: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3604931 http://www.thecorporatebloggingshow.com/2006/12/19/six-aparts-anil-dash-with-tips-tricks-for-more-effective-corporate-blogging/ http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi