New Year, New Gear I think we can all agree that 2020 was a mixed bag. One filled with some great things…and a lot of not-so-great things. For those of us w...
Worst December Ever Each December, I think back to the worst December ever… so I figured I would tell you the story. I started my agency in March 2008. Back ...
The three things that drive ROI and revenue I’ve had countless conversations with many of the largest companies in the world and there are three things I’ve observed that lead to RO...
Storytelling is Selling Part of selling is storytelling. I was speaking to my VP today about an example I saw from another company that essentially commoditized w...
Advertising Best Practices "Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears, and desires that already exist in the hearts of mill...
Advertising's Basic Purpose "The only purpose of advertising is to make sales... ...It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people." Sci...
Enthusiasm killer Nothing kills enthusiasm like indecision. How many times has the thrill of a night out dwindled into a monotonous parade of restaurant su...
Why you're not closing sales Just to get right to it, it’s really two things: You don’t ask. (No, you don’t) You make the buying too hard Ok, let's break those down f...
How to find your next customer When I was in college, I worked for a car dealership in Dallas. One of the brands we sold was Saab. I was talking with my manager one day...
People don't buy video Through the years we’ve produced over 7000 videos, but I’ve never sold “video” and would never suggest that that’s what we do. I often sa...
The Third Dimension What is the third dimension? First, a brief and totally factual history lesson: “But suppose we extend the square beyond the two dimensi...
The Blank Storyboard Nothing in my job as an animator is more intimidating than a blank storyboard. I make my own - a plain sheet of 8.5x11 split into nine re...
Who are you talking to? Communication is a powerful entity. It can inspire deep emotions, persuade immediate action and invoke uproarious laughter. It can also b...
Why I Love Being a Richter Animator When people ask what I do, I always start out by explaining that I have the best job in the world. It’s a glib line, and it’s meant to be...
Get Caught Speeding I think it goes without saying that when it comes to business, speed is king. You can provide the most amazing products or services in th...
Two rules to killing it at Richter When I first started as a scriptwriter with Richter in 2012, I was told that there were two main rules to do my job well...
Message Over Design There is an ongoing debate on whether the message is superior to the design, or vice versa. Art departments were common in all ad agencie...
The dying art of customer service Close your eyes and think about the last 3 great customer service companies you interacted with...
How to solve problems Somewhere along the line, I realized this one powerful lesson: Problems are only problems in present time. In other words, when you’re de...
There are buyers, you’re just not calling them There are buyers in the market ready to buy but no one reaches out.
Burn the ships There’s a lot of noise and commotion around the government PPP program for small and medium businesses.
How to Polish a Rock Patience and skill are all it takes to polish the common stone. But the more advanced, jagged-edged stones require something more. In sal...