Image courtesy of Kenny & B.
Ohhh look we’ve gone researchtastic.
Hot in the heels of the IPA Strategy Group’s UK strategy community research comes the forth annual Global Planners survey from Heather LeFevre. Of the 798 participants surprise surprise the place planners most want to work is Wieden & Kennedy (apart from ‘where you are’ which came top in the survey).
The default disposition of strategists. Image courtesy of Traci Bunkers
According to new research by the IPA we are overwhelmingly happy with in our jobs and optimistic about the future.
Image courtesy of Liquidrosephotography
Monday this saw the IPA Strategy Group’s fast strategy conference here in London.
All in all a rather splendid occasion.
The high point was the victory of the marvellous Richard Storey in a live head to head fast strategy challenge from the UK Government on Dog Registration. It was a good reminder, if anyone needed it, that Richard is one of the most accomplished creative strategists in adland. The Planning for Good team (Mark Earls, Jon Leech, Ian Tait and Chris Forrest) came second and were outstanding, if not quite as sharp as Richard’s M&C team (here is the wiki they built that morning to help them). CHI was rather out-classed and brought up the rear.
Anyway, the event made me think about my top tips for getting to strategy fast so I thought I’d share them with you. I’ve done 17 since it seems such an unfashionable number. Some stuff will be familiar to regular readers – but when you are creating fast strategy it doesn’t do to reinvent the wheel.
United London’s anti-salt campaign from last year. The four I’s in action.
I have been giving a bit of thought to a planning approach recently. Something that reflects they way I do it at the moment but nothing too heavy and contrived.
Naturally it involves alliteration and specifically the words ‘interesting’, ‘instinct’, ‘insight’ and ‘idea’..
La Danaide by August Rodin. Image courtesy of Jahsonic.
It is one of the least edifying characteristics of planning directors that they spend a lot of time creating a new briefing format for the agency or network. It is what my old boss Jim Kelly would call “displacement activity”.
Never surrender to lacklustre thinking, always know you have a better idea. Image courtesy of asboluv
I like Skunk Strategies.
Or rather I like them in the absence of anything else. And you might find the approach useful especially if you are working in a difficult sector, on a difficult piece of business or at an un-inspiring agency.
Image courtesy of Casual clicks Now that I am safely ensconced in my new advertising home I thought I’d put up some stuff from United…
One of the things that I always bang on about without really thinking about it in depth is the idea that Clients and agencies need to place less emphasis on consistency and more on coherence. So I thought I’d worry this one out a bit.
If anyone is interested I have uploaded my speech from The APG’s Battle of Big Thinking as well as the slides.
For regular readers many of the themes will be very familiar.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.
I recently enjoyed an evening at Leith’s cookery school in well heeled Kensington.
All in all a very good evening matching wine to food even if I stood out like an ad man at a posh cookery school wine tasting night.
Anyway, there was rather a fascinating story about accessibility, commodification and provenance that I thought I would share with you, my brand loving friends.
Image courtesy of Rune T
I have long believed that a planner’s job must continue right up to the playout of an ad – not just working on the client’s business but working on the ad itself.
For me a planner needs to be hold onto the project whilst it is in production and post production right up until the clock number is allocated.
I call this continuity planning for some inelegant reason.
There are a number of things happening this autumn to commerate the life and work of Stephen King the co (and coincidental) founder of the planning discipline (along with Stanley Pollitt).
My efforts have been focused on the inagural Stephen King Strategy Agency of the Year Award in November but the APG is also launching a collection of Stephen’s writings on the 1st of October.
So it is time to get acquinted or re-acquainted with the great man’s work – whether from this post, by buying the book from the APG or rocking up to the book launch. If you want to go to the latter (£50 including a copy of the book – loads of lumanaires are going to speak so get your planning director to cough up) email the APG pronto here .
