Jerry Digby, co-founder of Baby Lion and Agency Source founder Ross MacRae talk business development, ever-increasing client expectations, shifting production landscapes… and Zombies!

​Skylar Davis> Jerry, what are the main differences in Baby Lion’s approach to new-business outreach today compared to five years ago? What’s changed the most in terms of how you’re building relationships and generating opportunities?

Digby> The traditional agency–client–production company hierarchy has been upended. The ground is moving underneath you as you try to build a house — agency mergers, constant personnel turnover, everything in flux. I’ve been in this business over 20 years and I’ve never seen it this crazy.

The old model of only relying on reps to hit up agencies directly has changed. Accounts of record are now spread across more agencies, so it’s harder to find out who holds a specific account like Volkswagen or Verizon. As a result, we’ve started going out to brands directly and being much more proactive with agencies too.

We can’t wait for boards to come in. We need to give our reps leads and ideas — we all jam together to figure out who to approach. People aren’t at agencies for long periods of time anymore, so you have to track them. Agency Source is one of the best tools for that. In a nutshell: we’re our own private investigators now.

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