• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 4, 2014

Is using the word "groovy" actually groovy? As in cool? As in not lame and anachronistic? Well, according to Lauren Rivers -- president of Chapel Hill ad agency Rivers Agency -- the word is perfectly, well, groovy. In fact it's groovy enough to use to describe her agency's new office space, the ground floor of a condo complex in the area. While there may, in fact, be some bit of groovy to that, I think the agency’s previous home -- a 10-bedroom sorority house -- deserves the descriptor "groovy" far more than a condo complex. Whether or not you like the word "groovy," you'll have to admit that the fact that her agency grew 25% in the past year is decidedly, well, groovy.

Is your agency involved in PPC? Are you the master of the practice? Are you a winner at what you do all the time? If you jump up and down and scream, "Hell yes!” you, sir/ma'am are a liar! Why? Because, according to Clix Marketing's Michelle Morehouse, you should fail and you should be proud of it. She writes: "Following the "Always Be Testing" catchphrase, regular tests are a constant in PPC. Ad copy tests, landing page tests, and testing individual keywords are constants for paid search pros. We’re always trying to move the needle by testing something new. But we’re not always going to be able to write more compelling ad copy. Our keyword bid changes aren’t always going to have the positive effects we want. These are minor tests and each time we "fail" it informs us of how to manage the account moving forward.

Ever wonder if your advertising really works? Gerald Stevens, owner of Detroit area bar Nancy Whiskey, is a big believer. You see, a camera crew showed up at his establishment to film a commercial. But the commercial wasn't for the bar. It was for Long John Silver's, a restaurant chain that was promoting its free fish fry on Saturday, August 2. While Long John's may have benefited from its own commercial, it certainly helped Nancy Whisky. Since the airing of the commercial, Nancy Whisky has received calls non-stop asking about the bar's own fish fry which was featured in the commercial. Of the activity, Stevens said: “We’re getting calls from all over the country. They’re calling and saying that they’re coming here for a vacation and don’t want to miss the fish fry.” No report on how many calls Long John Silver's received.

Okay - so this isn't really related to the advertising agency business, but since every one of us in the agency business is obsessed with AMC's Mad Men, I thought you might find this interesting. When Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan Holloway on the show, told her talent agency she was interested in doing the show, Hendricks says, "My agency said, 'It's a period piece, it's never going to go anywhere. We need you to make money and this isn't going to make money.' They ended up dropping me." Hendricks, obviously, has nothing to worry about these days. The same can't be said of her talent agency at the time.

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