Bart Cleveland - Creative Director

08/06/10
One Final Thought on the Small Agency Conference
We Missed you there

07/20/10
Why the Ad Industry Needs Alex Bogusky
He Respected the Consumer and Loved the Work

07/02/10
Management Tips from 'Kelly's Heroes'
Navigating Through a World of Extremes

06/14/10
The UnConference and the UnAdvertising Direction We're Headed
What Would Happen if You Brought the Same Peer-to-Peer Approach to Improving Your Agency?

06/04/10
Train Yourself, Train Your People and Train Your Clients
Continued Education Is the Only Way to Stay Relevant

05/12/10
Millennials Have Gotten a Bad Wrap in Our Industry
Hardworking Young People Are an Asset to Your Agency

04/22/10
Irrelevance Isn't Very Fascinating
Have Marketers Become Bored With Ad Agencies?

04/07/10
Interviews With Small Agency Leaders: Part Three
'There's Nothing More Uninteresting Than a Big Agency in a Little Agency Body'

03/26/10
Interviews With Small Agency Leaders: Part 2
Ad Execs Discuss Their Size Advantages

03/19/10
Interviews With Small Agency Leaders: Part 1
Ad Execs on the Future and the Challenges They Face

03/02/10
What's the Big Idea? It's Your Job to Discover It
Advertising Agencies Are Paid to Deliver More Than Tactics

02/08/10
Super Bowl Commercials Going the Way of the Dodo
Good Ad Ideas Increasingly Rare in Game

01/25/10
Collaboration Increasingly Crucial to Way We Do Business
Like It Or Not, the Way We Work Has Changed

01/04/10
Put Some Resolve in Your Resolutions
Courage and Determination Will See Your Agency Through Tough Times

12/16/09
How to Roll Strong Into 2010
January Isn't Going to Just Bring You Better Business

11/24/09
We Still Have Plenty For Which to Be Thankful
If Nothing Else, This Year Leaves Us With Perspective

11/13/09
Make ‘Can’t Never Could’ Your Agency’s Motto
Don’t Talk Yourself Out of Success

10/28/09
The Little (14-Person) Agency That Could
Ad Documentary “Art & Copy” Reminds Us We All Start Small

10/15/09
Small Agencies Make Pretty Good Dates
We Might Even Get Your Ready for the Prom Queen You Seek

10/09/09
The End of the World as We Know It? I Hope So
The One Constant in This Business Is Change

09/29/09
Don’t Assume Your Employees Know What You’re Thinking
Brand Communication Starts in the Office

09/09/09
You Can’t Be All Things to All Clients
The Key to Differentiation Is Relevance

08/20/09
How Love for the Work Overcame a Minuscule Budget
A Production Company Reminds Me How Much Fun This Can Be

08/13/09
Small Agencies Should Nurture the Artists Within
We Are in the Perfect Position to Break Advertising Rules

08/04/09
Don’t Take the Monkey From Your Employee’s Back
Solving Everyone’s Problems Is No Way to Run an Agency

07/17/09
The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love
We’ve Got It Pretty Good in This Business

07/07/09
Brilliance Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune
Pringles Proves a Massive Production Budget Isn’t Necessary for Success

06/22/09
It’s a Crazy Time, so Let’s Get Crazy
Taking Inspiration From Jay Chiat

06/11/09
Recession Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Don’t Just Sit There—Do Something

05/26/09
Award Shows Important Even in Tough Times
They Push You Toward Better Work

05/07/09
How to Manage Client Relationships in Perilous Times
Hard Going Makes Us Distrustful and Impatient

04/24/09
Can Your Agency Be a One-Stop Shop?
You Might Not Have a Choice If You Want to Survive

04/09/09
Tinkering With Quality Can Jeopardize Success
Don’t Cut Corners on Creativity Just to Trim Costs

03/26/09
Bad Times Give Me Hope for Industry's Future
I Don’t Long for Crisis, but I'm Happy With Our Response

03/11/09
When Marketing Yourself, Social Skills Trump Social Media
On the Job Market? It Doesn’t Hurt to Be Old-Fashioned

02/25/09
Your Ad Agency Should Be More Like an Ant
An Old Parable—and Clear Communication—Go a Long Way

02/04/09
The Secret to the Perfect TV Commercial
Hey, Weak Creative Can’t Possibly Be Our Fault; Blame the Medium

01/30/09
Good News: The Super Bowl Phenomenon is Scalable
Small Marketers Should Copy Successful Bowl Tactics

01/27/09
You Can’t Stand Tall Hiding in a Foxhole
Don’t Strive for the ‘Play It Safe Award’

01/14/09
Too Much Sensitivity Stands in Way of Creativity
Guarding Everything We Say Makes It Hard to Communicate

11/26/08
Now’s a Good Time for Self-Examination
Check Out Your Last Year's Efforts; Are You Moving Forward?

11/18/08
Good Advertising Requires Constant Creative Conditioning
Don’t Let Your Artistic Skills—or Your Passion—Atrophy

11/03/08
How to Keep Creativity Flowing
Letting the Faucet Drip Will Prevent Freeze-up

10/24/08
Hiring the Right People Is a No-Brainer
Finding Them Is Like Brain Surgery

10/01/08
These Are Perilous Times. What Else Is New?
Establish Habits That Will Get You Through Good Times and Bad

09/25/08
Have You Checked Your Tires Lately?
Take Care of Your Shop the Way You Would Your Car

09/08/08
Never Count Out Those With Gray Hair
Being Out of Touch Has Nothing to Do With Age

08/22/08
Adrenaline Is a Key Ingredient to Success
Small Agency Diary: How to Get Everyone to Work in Unison

08/11/08
Buckle Up; It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride
What You Can Do During a Recession

07/30/08
Success Rarely Happens in a Comfort Zone
Push Your Clients, Your Employees and Yourself

07/11/08
Do You Know the People Behind Your Client’s Brand?
Pleasing the Internal Audience Is Crucial

06/17/08
How Do You Answer for Yourself?
Some Questions From an Aspiring Young Ad Man

06/03/08
What Good Is a Golden Pencil?
Seemingly Trivial Industry Awards Provide Untold Benefits—Even for the Losers

05/22/08
When Big Agencies Think Small
A Visit From JWT’s Ty Montague Brings a Refreshing Perspective

05/13/08
Who Are You?
A Better Way to Project Your Agency Brand

04/18/08
Bad Times Can Be Good
Small Agencies Are Built for Recessions

04/07/08
Get Up and Move
Uprooting Yourself Isn’t Easy, but It Can Help You Grow

03/10/08
Don’t Get Chewed Up and Spit Out by Agency World
Some Simple Steps for Staying Relevant

02/25/08
If Only Retaining Clients Were as Easy as Retaining Water
Building Trust Is Key, but It Isn’t Easy

01/29/08
Conflict Resolution 101

01/11/08
Help Your Client Live Its Brand…
Have One to Live Yourself

01/03/08
Make Meaningful Resolutions for Your Small Agency
If You Won’t Follow Through, Don’t Bother

12/20/07
Top Ten Excuses Small Agencies Don’t Need

12/17/07
You’re an Expert—Don’t Be Afraid to Act Like One
Your Client Pays You to Be a Pro, not a Yes-Man

11/30/07
What’s More Important, the Story or the Book?
Delivery Mechanisms Should Never Overshadow the Brand

11/16/07
If It’s Good Enough for Plumbers, It’s Good Enough for Us
A Few Reasons Small Agencies Should Join Trade Groups

11/09/07
What Is the Best Working Environment?
You Need to Care About Mental Space as Much as Physical Environment

10/29/07
Memory Almost Full&helip; of Junk
All That Web Surfing Could Hurt Your Work

10/22/07
Good Enough Is Not Good Enough
We Should Strive to Surpass Chiat’s Axiom

10/11/07
‘Mad Men’ Could Use More Mad Max
I Guess I’m the Only One Who Doesn’t Like the Show

10/01/07
How to Build the Perfect Team
Cohesion Is Key at Small Agencies

09/18/07
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Don’t Be Afraid to Tell It Like It Is

09/07/07
Creative Solutions Takes Time and Experience
The Fastest Answer Usually Isn’t the Best

08/24/07
Don’t Let Your Routine Become a Rut
Sometimes We Take Longtime Clients for Granted

08/10/07
Give Your Agency This Simple Competence Test
Four Simple Questions to Evaluate Where You Are

07/30/07
I’ll Have a Partial Lobotomy With a Twist
Consumer-Generated Ideas Are Great, but Nothing to Lose Your Mind Over

07/16/07
Why Do You Want to Work at a Small Agency
Five Reasons Why I Keep Fighting

06/29/07
A Mistake Is not Necessarily a Failure
Rather, It’s a Chance to Grow

06/22/07
Small Agencies Need a Five-Year Plan
Like It or Not, You Have to Grow

06/15/07
Don’t Be Afraid of Letting Your Hires Rise
Small Agencies Should Be Proud To Be Launching Pads

06/01/07
Keeping In Touch Keeps Us Inspired

05/25/07
A Time to Remember
An Ode to Those Who Brought Me Success

05/11/07
Test Your Mettle, Not Your Ads
Forget the Studies—Consumers Will Yield True Results

05/07/07
Why Are We So Alike?
Identity Crisis Keeps Agencies From Connecting With Clients

04/27/07
A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Ad World

04/20/07
Accomplish More by Doing Less
You Can’t Do Everything Yourself

03/30/07
An Advertising Correspondence Course from 1939
The More Things Change…

03/23/07
The Individual Is the Next Small Agency

03/16/07
What You Want vs. What You Need

03/02/07
Getting Away With Success
Use Andy Warhol as an Example

02/23/07
George Washington: Creative Director

02/08/07
The Day the Funny Ad Died
Planning for the Super Bowl of the Future

02/06/07
Results of the AdBowl

02/02/07
Judging the Super Bowl

01/25/07
Creativity Is Child's Play

01/24/07
No Is Negative
Erase It From Your Agency's Vocabulary

01/12/07
Big Awards Are Critical to Small Agency Success

12/31/06
Understanding the 1% Who Influence the Rest of Us
Why Small Agencies Need to Embrace Social Media

12/13/06
Leaping Into the Non-Paid Advertising Ring
Why Small Agencies Must Embrace Non-Traditional Media

12/01/06
Maintaining the Perfect Size for a Small Agency
And How This Quest Can Cripple Your Business

11/19/06
How to Improve Small Agency Employee Performance

11/10/06
Improve Your Agency With Key Freelancers

11/05/06
What If Ad Agencies Offered Frequent Shopper Cards?

10/25/06
What Have You Done for Your Agency's Success Lately?

10/13/06
In Defense of Agency Pro-Bono Work—Send Me Some

10/02/06
Why Starbucks is a Model for Small Ad Agencies

09/20/06
The Infectious Power of a Common Agency Language

09/12/06
Strangling Great Creative with Bad Research

09/08/06
Live to Work or Work to Live at Your Agency?

09/05/06
Why Advertising Needs More Candy-Feeding Beard Ideas

08/30/06
Dysfunctionality and the Winning Ad Agency Team

08/18/06
What Agency Managers Can Learn from ‘Young Frankenstein’

08/11/06
More Answers to “What Sticks” Author

08/03/06
The Ad Agency Red Paperclip Syndrome

07/27/06
Producing Quality TV Spots on a Shoestring

07/21/06
Why Small Agencies Must Get Bigger

07/16/06
Why Can’t Clients Leave Great Creative Alone?

07/02/06
John Lennon and Relevant Advertising

06/16/06
Choosing the Wrong Clients

06/11/06
The Challenge of Recruiting Employees for an Out-of-the-Way Agency

06/09/06
The Evils of Ad Agency E-mail

06/02/06
What Ad Agencies Owe to Society

05/26/06
Oneness as the Feng Shui of Great Ad Making

05/18/06
Back to the Future Agency

05/11/06
What Selling Hamburgers Taught Me About Advertising

05/07/06
When Agency Staffers Don’t “Get It”

04/28/06
Saying No to Cheap Clients

04/21/06
When Agency Partners Collide

03/23/06
Forget the Piano Player, Shoot the Creative Director.

03/16/06
Big Agency Dreams; Small Agency Realities

03/10/06
Big Agencies That Come in Small Packages.

03/03/06
New Biz Should be Business as Usual

02/24/06
Meeting Abuse

02/21/06
How to Make Good Creative Better

02/15/06
Clients That Make Small Agencies Great

02/10/06
Big Clients Are Kissing Big Agencies Goodbye

02/08/06
Super Bowl Ads

02/01/06
Moving Day Means Moving On

01/27/06
Think Small

01/24/06
Exactly What is Small?

01/18/06
R&D Should Stand for Risk & Development

01/16/06
Technique vs. Great Ideas

01/13/06
When IT Hits the Fan

01/10/06
Weight Pulling

01/05/06
Love thy Enemy

01/02/06
Seriously, The World Wants To Know What You Think

12/26/05
I’d Like to Bid On a Virtual Idea

12/19/05
Who Cares About Award Shows?

12/16/05
Yes Mantra

12/14/05
Getting Good at Doing Bad Ads

12/12/05
If you want great work reduce the budget.

12/07/05
Siberia is Located Right Between the Ears

12/05/05
Small vs. Big is No Contest

12/02/05
Banana Seat Bango

11/28/05
The Flashlight Path to Great Creative Ideas

11/23/05
Hating What You Do at Big Agencies

11/21/05
Is it Right to Make Agency Employees Work for Free?

11/18/05
Silver Bullets

11/16/05
The Thin Red Line

11/15/05
Brand Therapy

11/14/05
Making Water

11/11/05
Mr. Bartender

11/10/05
Shoot Some PIG

11/09/05
Self-delusion is the Name of Game

11/07/05
Quote of the Day

11/02/05
Learning from Experience

11/02/05
Call Me Jack

11/01/05
Communication Nervous Breakdown

10/31/05
Swimming Buddies

10/27/05
Recruiting is a Many Splendored Thing

10/26/05
Doing it Right

10/26/05
It is Better to Have Loved

10/25/05
The Customer is Always Right & Maybe

10/20/05
Why this Blog?