Author: Sean Duffy

Sean is a founder of The Duffy Agency, a digital marketing agency.  The Duffy Agency specializes in developing proprietary audiences for international brands. The agency has offices in Malmö, Sweden and Boston, Massachusetts with partner agencies in 50 other cities around the world. Sean splits his time between Boston and Malmö.  Sean has over 25 years’ experience working with advertising and brand strategy in Boston, San Francisco, Stockholm and Copenhagen. He began his career in the US as a copywriter with BBDO in Boston and later as creative Director for Knight Advertising in San Francisco. In 1991 Sean moved to Stockholm to work as Creative Director at Sweden’s largest ad agency, Lowe Brindfors. After 10 years with Lowe, Sean started The Duffy Agency in 2001. In addition to his involvement with the agency, Sean is also Lecturer and Practitioner in Residence at the Lund University School of Economics & Management. As a frequent speaker on online marketing and strategic brand development, Sean draws on his experience working with dozens of global brands including IKEA, Saab, Volvo, Absolut, VF Corporation, Pfizer and GSK.  Sean has also served two terms as the European governor of TAAN Worldwide (www.TAAN.org).
Sean is a founder of The Duffy Agency, a digital marketing agency.  The Duffy Agency specializes in developing proprietary audiences for international brands. The agency has offices in Malmö, Sweden and Boston, Massachusetts with partner agencies in 50 other cities around the world. Sean splits his time between Boston and Malmö.  Sean has over 25 years’ experience working with advertising and brand strategy in Boston, San Francisco, Stockholm and Copenhagen. He began his career in the US as a copywriter with BBDO in Boston and later as creative Director for Knight Advertising in San Francisco. In 1991 Sean moved to Stockholm to work as Creative Director at Sweden’s largest ad agency, Lowe Brindfors. After 10 years with Lowe, Sean started The Duffy Agency in 2001. In addition to his involvement with the agency, Sean is also Lecturer and Practitioner in Residence at the Lund University School of Economics & Management. As a frequent speaker on online marketing and strategic brand development, Sean draws on his experience working with dozens of global brands including IKEA, Saab, Volvo, Absolut, VF Corporation, Pfizer and GSK.  Sean has also served two terms as the European governor of TAAN Worldwide (www.TAAN.org).

The Cure for Content: Part 1

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Why better tactics are unlikely to solve online content and engagement woes.

The biggest content marketing challenge for most brands has little to do with content. It’s a matter of mindset. Most brands seem to be bolting content onto their websites because tactically they feel they have to. These under-funded, non-strategic efforts and the lackluster engagement they produce reflect the low level of commitment behind them. What is really called for is a reorientation of the company’s senior management to address their brand’s changing role in an information economy.

Read full blog post here: The Cure for Content

Too much KONY 2012 or not enough?

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Its only been one day since the #KONY2012 movement seemed to reach critical mass online and began spreading like wildfire. And already people are complaining that it’s too much mainly because of the number of Kony posts on their favorite platfroms. Considering the movement aims to stop an army that has abducted over 60,000 children, I think we can all deal with a few Kony 2012 messages on our Facebook wall for a few days. What do you think? Take a look at this post about Kony 2012 and leave your comment:   Joseph Kony 2012: Testing the true power of the social web Continue reading →

Will Direct Response Save Advertising?

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Last week I read a great op-ed piece in The Boston Globe by Alex Poulos called “Mad Men of the Future.”He makes several excellent observations.  But overall, the article paints a pretty dreary picture of life in 2031when technology will have allowed advertising to reach unbearable levels of intrusiveness.  Alex cites a few tongue-in-cheek examples, like shampoo bottles that will “give you an upbeat, musical pitch, reminding you to shampoo twice,” or cars with “scrolling messaging across the back window or bumper for the motorists behind, stuck in traffic.”  No doubt technology will make all these things (and more) possible. But I don’t believe the future will play out this way. …. READ MORE ON TALENT ZOO

WeFeedBack: Sharing Food, Changing Lives

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After several months in the works, we are very pleased to announce that the United Nations has officially launched a new online campaign to raise awareness for its World Food Program. Together, The Duffy Agency and WFP created WeFeedback.org and enlisted the help of the TAAN network to promote the site globally.  At the center of the campaign is the WeFeedback website. What makes WeFeedback.org different from other donation sites is that it asks visitors to do more than donate money. It also asks them to donate their social media networks. . . Read more on Methodical Madness  

The easiest way to get more value from your ad agency is staring you right in the face.

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How can marketers get more value from their ad agencies? This perennial topic took on renewed vigor with the economic downturn and has continued to preoccupy industry pundits throughout the recovery. Too much of the advice being dispensed (e.g. "How to manage your advertising agency for maximum success") centers around ways to keep your agency on a shorter leash, squeeze their timelines and margins even further, or micromanage their every decision. Think about that as a management style. Would it work on your employees? Would it work on you? Why do so many marketing managers think it will work on their ad agency?

But that’s not why I take issue with these articles. The problem I have with all these well-intentioned advice givers is that almost without exception they overlook the simplest, most effective, most foolproof way to boost the value you get from your ad agency. >> Read Full Post on Talent Zoo >>