Hello. Nice to meet you.
51group Agency Consultancy works with in-house and independent advertising, public relations and marketing firms.
Sit with the insights. Assess where you are.
Then ask yourself, could she, and those in her circle, elevate the way you work, accelerate your process, or make your
work/life more effortless?
The answer is “yes” if:
You need an RFP response STAT.
You struggle to find differentiated positions.
Your briefs suck. Or so say your creative people.
You need a “red team” because everyone’s afraid to speak.
You need concept/copy/content that doesn’t sound like Claude.
Your planners or CDs have chosen work/life balance and you are screwed.
On Services
ON BRIEFS
Briefs should be brief. Attention deficit disorder is real among creative people and CEOs. As is the creative mind's preference to work on the one thing.
The irony: the brief writer must wade through a landfill of information — and the ability to separate signal from noise requires mastery of prospect motivation, neuromarketing, cultural influence, and the instinct to know what can be expressed creatively and what cannot.
Briefs are not made for engineers, organizational politics, or the covering of one's ass.
Briefs are not published online, printed in magazines, or made into press releases.
Briefs are made to direct and inspire conceptual thinking.
Briefs remind writers, art directors, videographers, media strategists, content specialists — and anyone whose job it is to aid and abet communications — that their job is actually persuasion.
When done well, briefs aren't just about insights. Nor are they a listing of features and benefits.
They are magic spells.
They conjure greatness. They are alchemy that can alter the very notion of truth in the collective. They require time and presentation, due diligence and divination.
If you think a brief is just a piece of paper with facts — move along. Nothing to see here.
ON CONCEPT / COPY
If there is no concept — or your copy is what the AI suggested — your work is mediocre.
Mediocrity, in fact, is the very definition of AI. Claude and its kin are a genuine improvement for agencies who occupy the left side of the bell curve.
But is mediocre an improvement for your organization?
Here's how to live on the right side of the bell:
A masterful organizing concept adapts effortlessly across multiple channels. The organizing concept is the single element of the communications business that delivers efficiency, effectiveness, and — when implemented as designed — an extraordinary case study.
Getting your client to implement it as designed requires a strategic brief so bulletproof that clients cannot Frankenstein ideas into dilution.
Then, add copy that's been French kissed.
You win.
ON NEW BUSINESS / RFPs
RFP responses get you in the game. The game is to win the business.
Winning the business is everything. You cannot do great work without first winning the business.
Repeat: Winning. Business.
RFPs, ironically, are not good places to talk about your agency. Your charge is to make it to the next round. Talking about their business gets you there.
RFPs are typically graded per section. Answer the question briefly. Then — break all the rules.
No spec work. Strategic spec thinking is how you win.
Your RFP response is your opportunity to demonstrate that you already know their business. You know the difference between the dry cat food sector and the wet cat food sector. You think like a futurist. And you covertly surface at least one thing they don't know that they should.
Quietly, respectfully — you give the reader enthusiasm for a better future.
Pitches are a different story.
C-SUITE CONSIGLIARI SERVICES
Denise Kohnke is in the Wisconsin Advertising Hall of Fame. Read the profile and watch the video: wisconsinadvertisinghalloffame.com/adworkers/denise-kohnke
As managing partner of one of Wisconsin's hottest agencies for over a decade, EVP of Strategy and New Business at the agency that acquired it, and entrepreneur — she has seen it all. Experienced it all.
She moves through your problems like shadow through a room — leaving clarity where confusion lived.
She is a helpful ear. And for clients who have a relationship with Denise, this service is free. And freeing.
This section could say “Hired gun” or, “She’s the Outlaw Josey Wales.”
Firearms? No. She’s a ninja, so a lyrical vibe would be better:
She weaves words as a shinobi weaves through darkness — every syllable placed with purpose, every silence a trap. Her scroll is her katana.
Some keep her on retainer. They sleep better.
What’s with the rabbit?
She likes them.
Why is this site not optimized for search?
Because she is picky. Consider this site to be “invitation only.” You are special. And now, you are very special because you’ve read to the end of the home page. It’s likely we could be friends.