Cows once woke Bill Kennedy in the morning. "I grew up on a dairy farm near Waunakee," said Kennedy, who started Kennedy Communications in 1983. "That taught me that somebody has got to do the work. Every day."
Now, he said, clients stir him from bed every day. "When you take on a client, you take on an obligation that you will give your all to them every day. That and a fear of failure."
Kennedy's business started with traditional media planning and buying, then moved quickly to the upstart Internet, winning the first Addy in Madison from the American Advertising Federation for Web design in 1995 for client A to Z RentAll and Sales.
But it wasn't until 2006 that Kennedy built from scratch a Web marketing business and named it Kennedy Convergence, knowing that clients needed the Web but only if it was integrated into the fabric of traditional media. Today, KennedyC's online presence includes nearly 200 websites under management and a full suite of search engine marketing, including AdWords campaigns, email marketing, search engine optimization initiatives and constant data mining.
QUESTION: After starting your company in the basement of your home, you've now been in business more than 30 years. Tell me how you started.
ANSWER: My business started out of the ashes of another. That agency failure taught me that you need to be a true partner with your client and not a vendor. In my first day in business, I was lucky enough to get the commitment from two businesses — Sergenian's Floor Coverings and Culligan Water. I am proud and humbled to still have those accounts today.
Q. I suspect you started out with one focus — marketing or advertising, issue management. How did you expand to the long list of services you offer now?
A. My previous agency had substantial traditional media-buying expertise. And I had learned to write through my journalism training. So I started by trying to match the message to the medium. Finding the unique voice or story of a business is important. So is finding the right media mix to tell it. That is why we are media agnostic.
Q. You've worked for politicians, but do you think of yourself as partisan?
A. I try to stay informed on all sides of an issue and read three newspapers with different political slants each day and numerous blogs — but my college-educated, Republican mom was a major influence and created the prism through which I view life.
Q. Working at a PR firm is like working at a newspaper — irregular hours, a lot of adrenalin, and great anecdotes. What are one or two of your favorite stories about ad campaigns you've done. Include a failure or two, if you can.
A. If irregular hours means firing off emails at 3 a.m., sure. And with clients all over the country, I do travel. But I can count on one hand the number of my children's sporting events that I missed.
Failures. I had a politician stiff me for ads that I ran on his behalf. He even told me, "he would pay me out of his next milk check." The specificity of that promise was compelling, but his honesty wasn't.
I lost a client in Canada. I had worked for years to get them to run TV. After we lost the account, they started running TV ads. Sure enough, the TV ads worked. That is bittersweet — way more bitter than sweet.
Successes. I am happy to say there are many clients who have prospered with our help. We have an average client relationship of 16 years. That is unheard of in today's "what have you done for me lately" business cycle. Our best success flows from a steady hand on the tiller. Too often businesses want to chase after strategies that do not fit their culture.
Q. Did what you studied in school have any bearing on what you ended up doing?
A. I have a degree in agricultural journalism and helped edit research journal articles. So while the subject matter changed, crafting a message with the recipient's needs in mind is paramount. Research helps you identify the target's needs.
Q. Do you find divisions between generations? Do your younger employees have trouble understanding where you're coming from?
A. The only divide I have observed is this: either you have a strong sense of obligation to something or someone other than yourself or you don't. That is not age based. Some of the most remarkable people in business today are young. They are just so bold. So fearless.
Q. What's the first thing on your list of what to do after you stop working full time?
A. I don't have a great line of sight on when that will happen, but I hope I am useful to a charitable group. My Catholic upbringing says you need to give back. I don't have hobbies. Golf is OK. I putter around the yard for relaxation. I am able to travel more now and am enjoying that even while I continue to work in the business.
Q. What's the smartest thing you ever did, business-wise?
A. In services, it is seeing the benefits of what the Internet could mean to our clients and building our Web department. In people, we have a terrific team that makes it tough to single anyone out, but I would be remiss not talking about my children, Chris and Katie. They have brought new energy and skills to the agency. Chris has a great creative mind. He is excellent at developing the videos that drive our content. Katie is a terrific strategist. She is always keeping us on message.
Q. The Internet arrived more than 20 years ago. Does having all that information at your fingertips make you smarter?
A. Data is a remarkable thing. The Internet provides data. It holds truth, but you need to discover it. You need to provide the insight.
Source: Executive Q&A: Whatever the platform, Bill Kennedy teams with clients to disseminate information
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