Goodbye New York, hello London

back to sharp stick

I have to admit that the thought of coming back to London after seven years working as an Account Planner in Asia and America has been an illuminating experience. Having lived in cities that I had only dreamed of visiting, I imagined that London would be just as I had left it, "it's not going anywhere" I can hear myself saying. But the contrasts in approach have surprised me in the short time that I have been back.

America was built on the promise of a better future, and most people know that they can have whatever they want (within reason) if they are prepared to work for it. That leads to two things, a positive forward thinking outlook, and a businesslike approach. I always felt that you had to side with the suits to be taken seriously even at my last agency Cliff Freeman. You had to prove continually that you were clever to be seen to be adding value, and having an English accent of course helped. There's no middle ground between suits and creatives, no neat and cosy little box to put planners in, you're either with us or against us. Usually that meant doing the suits dirty work, telling the creatives why the client doesn't like their work, with little or no reference to the people you were trying to influence (think Coke and Hersheys). You see it's hard to focus on an individual or type of person when there's 260 million of them, far too much legwork required to understand the nuances. And media plans? I never saw one! Far too much detail, and where do you begin when you have 300 TV channels?

There is no doubt that it's easier to be a planner in London. Right from the word go you feel that everyone is talking the same language, and you are encouraged to gain insight in whatever way you see fit - the more absurd the better actually. Adam Morgan when he was Head of Planning for TBWA Chiat Day in America offered his planners an extra 10% bonus if they stayed out of the office one day a week, and bizarrely few if any people took him up on it. You have to be seen to be chipping away at the coal face all the time. You are required to perform on demand like a dancing dog wheeled in to do tricks, whenever the client needs to be impressed. Lee Clow of TBWA Chiat Day was famed for saying that "planners are the best new business tool around", quite what he thought their contribution was after you have won the business is less clear.

So what's happened while I've been away? Well, there seems to have been a quiet revolution going on in London. Cool Britannia may have gone off the boil, but I can sense a new found confidence and self-belief that was conspicuously absent when I left. And the people making waves are from all sectors of society - success and celebrity has never been so accessible to so many. Would Will pop idol have managed to go in at no.1 and break all records in the process 7 years ago? Maybe, but probably not, and next day announce that he's gay and we're OK with it? Not a chance.

What does all this mean for Account Planning? It strikes me that it's almost a completely different job now. The planners who are attracting all the attention can be confused for creatives and probably don't even own a calculator. Rather than using big words and phrases to redefine brands, they are decoders of culture who deliver their prognosis in a way that even my mum would understand. This represents a revolution the scale of which can be likened to Jamie Oliver usurping Marco Pierre-White for ownership of the nations hearts and stomachs. There's a growing recognition that there is no model for a planner, no best practice way of approaching a problem. You only have to look at the more successful agencies like Mother, St. Lukes and Fallon to see that the rule book has been thrown out of the window. And if there's one thread that runs through the work of these agencies, it's TRUTH. Skoda celebrating the fact that people misguidedly think their cars are crap, or Batchelors decision to get rid of mum and show students Kung Fu fighting with Supernoodles shows bravery and intelligence on the part of these clients in equal measure. Either way, the future looks bright.

(c) Account Planning Group 1995-2002