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Meet the competition - Management Consultants; a review by consultant turned planner - Clare Wright, Ogilvy Having recently changed jobs from management consultant to planner I was the obvious choice for reviewing the APG talk 'Meet the competition - Management Consultants'. There were two speakers to throw light onto life as a consultant, coming from two different perspectives - adman turned consultant (William Eccleshare), and consultant turned planner, Karen Wernicke. Both seemed, unsurprisingly, of the opinion that they were now in a far better place than before. At the start of the talk I wondered if the planning directors in the room were hoping that those listening wouldn't rush off and prepare their CVs as a result of the talk! I don't think that they had much to worry about. In my opinion, neither speaker made consultancy sound particularly attractive, though Will tried very hard. Will obviously loves McKinsey and extolled the virtue of being a consultant there, but a few things he said there made me cringe, and I felt that most people in the room probably felt sorry for anyone who had ever spent time working as a consultant. For instance, he actually came out with "People who work at McKinsey know that they are right". To me this explains why some consultants have a reputation for being arrogant, and for making some clients feel that they are inadequate. Will felt that one of the differences between consultancy and advertising was the impact on the client and the level within the client organisation at which one operated. It is true that as a consultant you are more likely to meet the CEO and shape the whole business strategy, because consulting generally has a much broader remit than advertising. I agree with his opinion that consultancies are committed to building their knowledge, and are better at transferring that knowledge from person to person. Karen had worked at a strategy consultancy called Monitor, and painted a picture of what life at that sort of consultancy is like - long hours spent producing reports on subjects such as 'An oil lubricant strategy for Europe'. However she did also rightly point out that consulting is never boring and that you never do the same thing twice, because working on a project basis means that you are constantly working for different clients across different industries. Having enjoyed six years at a small consultancy I can tell you that subject matter does get a lot better than oil lubricant strategies! And whilst the larger strategic consultancies are well known for expecting you to work evenings and weekends, many smaller consultancies attract people with the promise of a more balanced lifestyle - so consultancy doesn't always mean a 70 hour week. It is both a challenging and fun thing to do, and I had a great time. However, planning is a much more creative and intuitive and I am glad I made the move. It is undoubtedly true that consultancies know a lot more about brands and marketing than they used to, but they won't ever take the place of planning. And, at the end of the day, if making ads is what gives you a kick, then there is no two ways about it - advertising is the place for you. (c) Account Planning Group 1995-2002
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