It's All About Connecting

Metro Detroit agency changes its name, but not its mission.

Ryan Fishman

Special to the Jewish News

T

he name of his company is chang-
ing, but Alan Sussman says the core
of his business model never will.
"After 30 years in this business, we
continue to do great work despite a tough
landscape. There's a huge misnomer in this
country, with people thinking online market-
ing and media is any different than media
— period. The only thing different is the
integration between your television and the
Internet" says Sussman.
The 67-year-old is the founder and
president of the Sussman Agency, formerly
Sussman/Sikes & Associates. The change
comes after a vote of his staff and the ami-
cable departure of his former partner, Diana
Sikes, now senior vice president of marketing
at Art Van Furniture.
Chances are, if you were born in
Metropolitan Detroit in the last 25 years, you
grew up watching Sussmaris commercials.
"A disproportionate share of all the com-
mercials in this town in the last 40 years
— they've been mine Sussman says. "We've
dominated local television, and all of the
icons you can remember, from Richard
Golden to Florine Mark and Geoffrey Fieger,
the people who have built this town in the
retail sphere, they're all my clients."
He describes his agency as one of the top
retail advertising firms in the country.
Sussman attributes his success to his abil-
ity to build interpersonal relationships with
the people who hire him, and explains it's all
about listening, growing and learning from
his clients.
"Ifs a give and take. They hire us because
we're very good at what we do, but ifs also a
chance for us to learn. Florine is one of the
great women in business in this country.
Art Van is one of the great geniuses of retail.
Geoffrey Fieger is Geoffrey Fieger."
But Sussman is quick to explain that his
many clients have been brilliant marketers
in their own regard, and through a partner-
ship of his talent, his agency's talents and his
clients' talents, they are consistently able to
successfully take a product to market.
"These are bright, unbelievably talented
people he says. "You grew up watching
Richard Golden dancing, whether you hated
it or loved it, and ifs this kind of partnership
we build. That's my job description"
When asked if he's changing the way he
writes or delivers an ad to reflect changes in
how the public consumes media, the adver-
tising professional, who prefers to describe
himself as a salesman, chuckles.
"When you see kids watching television
on their computer, it's still television; it still

requires programming.
When people talk about
building programming for
the Internet, it's laughable.
The Internet is a media
source, no less and no
more than television. You
have to turn your com-
puter on. It has a screen.
You're watching program-
ming, and the same thing
you would see across 50
inches, now ifs integrated
into your computer"
Sussman says his busi-
Alan Sussman
ness is about "being cre-
ative, framing a message
and looking for an audience. More than any-
thing, it's about looking to connect" he says.
"Nothing has changed, and the young kids
running online media agencies, it's still just
marketing and it's the same sort of dynamic
that people encountered when we moved
from radio to television or newspaper to
radio, or stone tablet to print"

Sussman believes
the media industry
is overthinking
how to approach
the Internet. "We're
looking to connect,
and all of this geo-
targeting, looking
for a niche audience
— it's just a form of
connecting. You've
got people who
want to purchase
something, and
we're in the retail
marketing business.
"Maybe today I'm
advertising for Zappos, but it's no different
than a campaign for DSW. It's still people
looking for a product, something that inter-
ests them.
"In the old days, if people liked skiing, we'd
go to a skiing magazine. That was geotarget-
ing. Today we might set up a blog or go on
Facebook and find the people who want to

go on ski trips or have skiing-related inter-
ests, and it's still just looking for an audience.
"In the 1700s, there was a guy with a bell
in the town square who would try to capture
your attention and talk to you; it's the same
theory" Sussman says.
"Everybody wants things to be 'different:
but if you relate it to dating, dating in the
1700s is the same as dating today; you have
to connect with somebody, and then you go
dancing. We're just looking to connect"
Sussman acknowledges that, at times, the
Internet has made his job easier, but the core
principle is that connection.
"To be heard, to be seen, to be listened
to, to be emailed, to be tweeted —it's all the
same; it's all an effort to make a connection,
and that's what I'm looking to do. Yes, it's
now easier to find a niche market, and you
don't have to fish with such a huge net to
find people with a common interest, but the
bottom line is still the connection"

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May 23 • 2013

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