Filament Inc. is happy to announce our 12th anniversary. Where does the time go!
What started as a general communications skills training firm in 1997, serving all industries, rapidly turned into an a leader in the advertising industry helping agencies both win new business and better run their organizations.
Filament has grown to over 40 agency client ranging from small to medium size shops to some of the biggest names in advertising. re
Filament Inc. launches their facebook fan page. Become a fan!
AAAA Hires Filament Inc. for New Business Seminar
Philadelphia, PA – Mark Schnurman, founder and partner of Filament Inc, gave an information-packed seminar on Winning New Business to over 20 advertising agency executives in Philadelphia.
Agencies in attendance ranged from the very small to industry behemoths. New business executives from up and down the east coast came to learn tools and techniques from Mark. According to the AAAAs, Mark’s speaker evaluations are the highest that they have ever seen!
GradyBritton’s blog ( http://gradybritton.blogspot.com/ ) reviewed the speakers at the AAAA Leadership conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Nigel, CA last week. The following is what they had to say about Mark’s presentation.
Forty-five minutes wasn’t nearly enough for the smarts this guy imparted; my notes are pathetic because I was too busy nodding.
Everyone at Filament appreciates the kind words and is happy that the audience was so enthusiastic.
AAAA Hires Filament Inc. to speak at AAAA Leadership conference in California
Laguna Nigel, CA – Mark Schnurman, founder and partner of Filament Inc, was part of a distinguished group of speakers at AAAA’s Leadership Conference.
Hundreds of agency executives from all over the country attended this yearly conference which has become a “must attend” for small to mid-size agency execs.
Mark shared the stage with a number of great speakers including:
Brian Brooker — Chief Idea Officer www.barkleyus.com
Catherine Bension — CEO www.selectresources.com
Lee Chow — Chairman www.tbwa.com
Stephen Harty — Chairman www.bbh.com
Carla Hendra — CEO Ogilvy NA www.ogilvy.com
Eric Schmidt — CEO www.google.com
Linda Sawyer — CEO www.deutschinc.com
New business is always and exciting topic at this type of conference. Q and A had to be cut short after 20 minutes, but attendees looked for Mark at both the cocktail hour and dinner making for what may have been the longest Q and A session at the conference.
AAAA Hires Filament Inc. for New Business Seminar
Chicago, IL – Mark Schnurman, founder and partner of Filament Inc, gave an information-packed seminar on Winning New Business to over 60 advertising agency executives at DDB’s offices in Chicago.
Perfecting the pitch process is an obsession for Mark who shared his expertise with the group. Of particular interest was his notion of how agencies tend to betterentiate rather than differentiate themselves. Betterentiation occurs when agencies have a difficult time articulating a point of difference between their agency and the competition.
Instead of agencies pitching how they are different, they simply say that they are better than the competition. “Our creative is better.” “Our people are better” goes the typical mantra of agencies around the country. At best, these non-differentiating comments are shrugged off by the prospect as sales puffery.
During the seminar, Mr. Schnurman provided numerous tools to help agencies differentiate themselves more effectively navigate through the pitch process and most importantly …improve their win rate.
Leah Hammond, who works in business development at Element 79, summed up the seminar when she said:
Mark Schnurman captures business development issues and challenges in a concise, meaningful and resourceful way. These insights are immediately impactful!
Filament Inc. is a communication skills and new business consulting firm that works exclusively within the advertising and communications industry. As founder, Mark Schnurman has spent the last twelve years working worldwide with agencies of all sizes helping them to improve their win rate.
