Most people believe that John Wooden goes down in history as being the greatest basketball coach to ever live and with a winning percentage of .804 and over 10 NCAA championships… well, let’s just say that here at Glint we certainly can’t disagree with this belief. What’s interesting is the greatest basketball coach of all time won 80% of the games he played, which is a mind-boggling percentage but during his 29 years as a college coach, he lost approximately 162 games.
That is a lot of lost games.
In fact, if you were to stack these losses on top of one another, it would equate to 5.5 basketball seasons (years) of straight losses. The point we are trying to make here is that building a championship basketball program is not unlike building a championship brand–– it takes time, it takes patience, it takes resilience, it takes devotion, and it takes the ability to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. And just like a college basketball program must stick together through the highs and lows of their journey towards greatness, companies and agencies must do the same in their journey towards building a championship brand. Both brands and agencies should prepare and expect to encounter rough waters, and when they do, they need to remember they are on the same team.
Here at Glint, we would never take on John Wooden when it comes to coaching basketball, but we know a thing or two about coaching and building great brands–– in fact, since 2000, we have been doing everything in our power to help brands make the best decisions and create the highest ROI. We believe there are a number of skills great advertising agencies must have to successfully build a great brand, but today we are going to concentrate on three core competencies–– Branding, Copywriting and the ability to blend old practices with new ones.
Understanding the Art & Science of Branding
Branding is much more than just a logo or a symbol; it is the art and
science of aligning what you want people to think of your company with what they actually think of your company. It is a promise of what consumers can expect when they purchase your product or service.
At Glint, we are experts at branding, and everything we do begins and ends with the brand in mind. Our attention to detail in regards to branding has allowed us to help build world-class brands and movements like DSG Arms, Think Before You Sleep and Kaner Medical Group. You can read more on the art and science of brand building here.
Writing Dang Good Copy
Bruce Bendinger, one of the world’s greatest copywriters to ever live, said it best when defining copy—
“Copywriting is a job. A skilled craft. Verbal carpentry. Words on paper. Scripts to time. And one more thing. Salesmanship.”
Now, this definition is perhaps a bit romantic/dramatic, but we are an advertising agency, we live and die in the pursuit of creating the perfect ad. Writing copy lays the foundation of the brand and is one of the essential steps of branding, which we discussed in our earlier point. Here at Glint, we strive to write copy that ignites something in the customer, that moves them into action, that evokes emotion and that ultimately get them to bite. You can read more about the process we take when writing copy here.
Merging the Old with the New
While both branding and copywriting are concepts that have been around for ages, advertising and marketing practices are constantly changing. A great ad agency must have the ability to blend the old with the new––merging the old foundational elements of advertising, like branding with the new more innovative practices like integrated marketing, social media marketing and of course Search Engine Optimization.
While new technology allows us easier access to a wide range of audiences and customers, these mediums are useless if we aren’t practicing the foundational elements of advertising and marketing.
Understand What Makes a Great Agency & Together Have the
Patience, Resilience, and Devotion to Build a Great Brand
The goal of this article is to help you understand the skills and expertise it takes to build a great brand so that you can choose the right agency to partner with. If your advertising agency is currently doing the things we mentioned above, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You just need to trust in the process and remember to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. While John Wooden’s losses were far from pleasant, they ultimately were what allowed him to win 10 NCAA championships.
At Glint, we are more concerned with winning our brands the championship, and that takes both time and patience. Our goal is to be proactive and work through challenges that inevitably come when competitors try to take the lead in the ballgame.
While we may lose the occasional game, we always take the series and ultimately win the championship. If you’re ready to win, reach out to Glint at www.glintadv.com or give us a call at 817-616-0320.
