CEO Interview: Q&A with Jack Nail

Jack Nail, CEO and founder of NAIL, Inc. offers insights and answers to frequently asked questions about his media agency’s success, vision and innovative approach to successful media campaigns.

Q: What are the keys to NAIL’s success?
A: It all starts by creating value where others cannot. It is the cornerstone of what we do at NAIL. We bring unique senior experience, personal involvement and a complete commitment to client success to the table each and every day. Our senior team delivers decades of experience spanning from Los Angeles to New York offering a clear, focused understanding of the national and local media landscape. But it’s not enough to master the ever-changing media world. Our innovative approach applies a business perspective as well as a media perspective – working directly with our clients on a multitude of marketing and media objectives. Whatever it takes… we know national brands, the challenges that they face and we translate that into measurable advertising success.

We believe our clients stay with us because we do what we say we are going to do every day. It may sound basic, but we live this mantra daily and it serves us well. Our clients trust us to get the job done, to deliver on our promises and to stretch every dollar as if it were our own. At the end of the day, the real key to NAIL’s success is our client’s success. When they succeed, we succeed.

Q: What makes NAIL unique, and why is that better?
A: At NAIL, you’re getting a seasoned media agency staff in a boutique setting. We don’t bring in business and pass it off to junior folks with minimal experience.You will get the intellectual capital of senior media agency professionals. As a Midwesterner, sometimes I wonder how I ended up in New York City, but there is a reason we are located here. Our rates are the lowest on the street, and trust me; we work tirelessly to make sure. As for the big agency clout argument on rate, that is a fallacy when it comes to stealth agencies like NAIL. With our experience, relationships, and grit, we deliver far below industry norms. The real power lies in knowledge, experience, and relationships with the media. And we have all of that. NAIL knows where the bottom is – in all mediums – and we know how to use that knowledge along with stellar media planning to drive brands forward.

Q: What type of clients does NAIL help?
A: We work with brands of all sizes. Companies with established beachheads at retail or with the consumer, plus emerging brands looking to gain distribution and ramp up sales. Our typical client contact is someone who has worked with one of the mega media agencies, and is tired of being a small fish in a very big pond. Essentially, they get our story, and are appreciative that an agency like NAIL exists in NYC.

Q: How are clients maximizing your services?
A: We find that the clients who view us as an extension of their marketing team truly maximize our services – even beyond media planning and buying. In effect, we are a strategic partner and resource who understands their business intimately, working together to achieve results. Clients want to be nimble. And we’re nimble alongside of them.

Q: How has NAIL evolved over the last decade?
A: Our beginnings were based on my extensive experience in all facets of radio. We have a unique advantage in this medium, we seized on it then and still do today. However, from day one, we strategically built a team deep in experience in all mediums to meet our clients’ challenges. At NAIL, we take great pride in our ability to manage our planning and buying internally at the highest levels in the industry. Equally as important, our team has evolved alongside the changes in consumers’ media consumption, hence the fact that nearly 20 percent of our 2008 business was online. One of the beauties of our philosophy is that no two media plans are the same. Nothing is cookie cutter at NAIL. Our media plans are not dictated by creative concerns. They are designed solely on our reaching our target consumer with the right plan, to the right audience, at pricing that cannot be beat! We’re looking forward to the challenges in the next decade as well!

Q: What would your clients say about NAIL?
A: We hear quite a bit from clients about our professionalism, knowledge, and true grit in delivering ROI on all fronts. However, if I had to pick one thing, our clients would say, “NAIL does what they say they are going to do.” We get it done. If NAIL were a person, they’d have corny Midwest ideals and integrity trapped inside a tough New York City mentality. We don’t take our duties lightly for our clients. We earn their respect each day by creating real value in everything we do. We always strive to bring more to the table than just low prices, but trust me, we bring those too!