You’d expect marketing agencies on Madison Avenue and Michigan Avenue to be producing world-class work for big companies. But how about marketing agencies in Cleveland, Ohio?

Major marketers can choose agencies anywhere in the world, yet more and more are selecting marketing teams in Northeast Ohio.

Top executives from three regional agencies and a large Midwestern bank explained why global brands and other market leaders are “Choosing Cleveland” at a NOCA (Northeast Ohio Communications Advocates) Forum at the Cleveland Plain Dealer on April 27.

Here’s how these local firms are landing prestigious accounts and helping national and local clients create smart marketing strategies.

Every advertising and marketing agency is in a constant search for new business. But as a marketing agency president, I’ve learned the hard way that not all prospects should become clients.

Even if you’re a marketing agency looking to grow, sometimes it’s smarter to walk away from prospective new business than enter into a bad relationship. How do you know when to stay or go?Here are 7 warning signs that a new prospect could become a bad client for your marketing agency.

Can Cleveland, Ohio – the city that rocks, but has struggled in recent years with population decline and the economic downturn – capitalize on its extraordinary assets and regain its marketing mojo?

The answer is an emphatic yes, according to executives representing the region’s health and medical community, film industry, convention and visitors bureau, and professional and amateur sports.

These leaders shared insights on how to tell Cleveland’s story at a presentation on “Marketing Cleveland” on March 15 at Executive Caterers of Landerhaven. Here are highlights from their comments and my views as a Cleveland-based marketing consultant.

A fresh creative concept is crucial for effective advertising and a smart marketing strategy.

But too many advertising and marketing campaigns recycle the same, tired creative themes and copy phrases over and over and over.

This is more than annoying. It’s a guaranteed audience turn-off and a misuse of the marketer’s resources.

Here’s the 2011 edition of my annual list of the most overused creative themes in marketing. How many do you recognize?

Are you getting a good return on your investment in marketing? Could it be better?

One way to find out is to conduct a top-to-bottom review of your entire marketing plan to determine what’s working and what isn’t.

This process is sometimes called a marketing audit. I’m often asked to guide audits as an independent marketing consultant and I recently shared advice on how to do an audit effectively.

What specific factors should you assess in a marketing audit? Here are 40 questions I recommend for evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing and developing a smarter marketing strategy.

Super Bowl XLV is history and so is the advertising that generated so much buzz and discussion before, during, and now, after the game.

Best and worst ad lists are everywhere after a Super Bowl, and there generally is agreement among marketing experts about the winners and losers.

But when you look more closely at Super Bowl ads, a smart marketer has to wonder about their strategic marketing value. According to the Wall Street Journal, marketers spent $2.8 million to $3 million for a 30-second spot during this year’s matchup. Did the massive investment these marketers made in Super Bowl ads pay off? And even if the ads were clever, were they a smart marketing strategy?

Here are 10 criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising from my experience as a strategic marketing consultant, and my take on how ads from last night’s Super Bowl measured up

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” I heard a marketing consultant say in a recent meeting.

I knew he was quoting the scene from The Wizard of Oz when Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is just an ordinary man. But judging by the puzzled looks on their faces, the twenty-somethings in the meeting had no idea what he was talking about.

Situations like this don’t just make you feel your age. They painfully illustrate the fact that cultural points of reference are constantly shifting and big gaps can exist between generations.

If you’re marketing to a specific generation and using cultural references in your marketing campaign, your message will miss the mark if you don’t get it exactly right.

Here’s advice for how to use cultural references effectively in your smart marketing strategy.

When an advertising campaign is so bad it makes you groan out loud, there’s usually a simple reason: It’s not believable.

The worst offenders are campaigns that attempt to portray real-life situations. The dialogue often is so forced or the setup so phony that your only reaction is to roll your eyes and think, “Yeah, right.”

But lack of believability in advertising is more than annoying. It’s a waste of the marketer’s money.

Here are two ways to achieve believability in your advertising and two examples of smart marketers, including one in Northeast Ohio, who are doing it right.

What’s the best way to maximize the return on your marketing investment? Take a step back from your day-to-day marketing projects and conduct a marketing audit.

A marketing audit is a top-to-bottom assessment of your entire marketing program, from branding to tactics. The beginning of a new year or the start of a new budget period is an ideal time to do it.

How do you conduct a marketing audit? And how can an audit help you develop a smart marketing strategy? Here are some answers.

The new TV ad for Logitech starring Kevin Bacon as a fan obsessed with Kevin Bacon is brilliantly creative advertising. It’s also a big hit on YouTube with more than 750,000 views. But is it good marketing? And is building an elaborate creative concept around a star – and giving your product less than 15 seconds of airtime in a 60-second spot – a smart marketing strategy?
For all its creative cleverness, this new ad campaign succeeds in one way but fails in another. Here’s why the Kevin Bacon spot works, yet doesn’t work – and what a smart marketer can learn from it.