Agencies today operate in a radically different environment than even a few years ago. Work moves faster. Clients expect real-time visibility. Teams are hybrid or fully distributed. And while opportunity ...

For agency leaders navigating the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the question isn't if to integrate AI, but how. Recently, we hosted a Second Wind JAM Session called AI ...

You can feel it before you can name it.

The work is fine, the team is capable, but something’s… off. Projects take longer, meetings feel heavier, and energy is ...

In the latest joint study by the 4A’s and Forrester, The State of Generative AI Inside U.S. Agencies (2025), we find that the game has changed again. Generative ...

We’re living in a world where marketing moves at the speed of AI, clients are scattered across the country, and agencies are under more pressure than ever to deliver ...

Let’s face it—hiring in a small advertising agency is tough. You’re juggling client deadlines, pitches, and production calendars, all while trying to find that one unicorn who ...

No matter how much technology changes the way agencies prospect, one truth remains: nothing beats a strong referral. The latest Second Wind survey shows that referrals continue to be the ...

Over our long career in this business, we have learned several things that have become a credo for agency success.

Agency principals remove themselves from daily account service. They become ...

In terms of employee productivity, today’s rapidly evolving technologies are a two-edged sword. Faster, multi-functional mobile phones, tablets and pcs, continual software upgrades for everything from digital art to ...

Unhappy employees either quit and leave, or they quit and stay. Disengaged employees who stay may be more damaging for your business than lost employees, and certainly more expensive over ...

Using monetary incentives to motivate employee productivity or increase performance is a tried and true practice. The question is, how effective are monetary rewards?

Incentives in Ad Agencies

Agency principals ...

Over thirty years ago, our founder Tony Mikes started Second Wind with the goal of helping small ad agency owners gain valuable skills to help them succeed and grow their ...

The traditional notion of an account executive was that of someone ordered around by the client and disdained by the agency creative. Or, they were the ones living large on ...

Smart time management skills are essential for ad agency employees in our era of needing everyone to work at maximum levels of productivity and efficiency. But for many agencies, hiring ...

With the third quarter already a month gone, we hope we’re in time to share a few reminders about closing out your year with a strong new business push ...