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The Home for Planners & Strategists

Articles

This the part of the site where we upload, and encourage you to send and share lots of interesting stuff about planning and strategy.

Planners Unmasked | Alexi Gunner

Sep 30, 2016
2 min

Planners Unmasked | Alexi Gunner

WHAT 3 SKILLS SHOULD EVERY GOOD PLANNER POSSESS? 1. Be agile. Before I became a strategist I had this perception of planning as a long, thoughtful journey, where weeks would be spent conducting focus groups, dissecting ethnographic research and writing up briefs. However, starting out in the fast-paced digital agency world, time is often a precious commodity, which means the ability to be agile in the ways you work has become increasingly important. 2. Be in a constant stat

Planners Unmasked | Stefan Schoombee

Sep 23, 2016
1 min

Planners Unmasked | Stefan Schoombee

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR JOB TO A 7-YEAR-OLD CHILD? My job is to make sure you see an advertisement you like! Whether when you're watching your favourite TV show, or before a movie, or even before a YouTube video. Whatever media channel you like to use, I'm keen to know. WHAT 3 SKILLS SHOULD EVERY GOOD PLANNER POSSESS? Be curious, be empathetic, be brief WHO OR WHAT IS THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR CAREER AND WHY? Reading Jon Steel's Truth, Lies and Advertis

Sep 20, 2016
5 min

Why did we stop listening? Brand lessons from Brexit

For our first Noisy Thinking of the Autumn we stepped outside the immediate confines of our world for a theme and for our speakers. A little bit of me was concerned that we’d talked ourselves out on this one but we thought it was important to address the implications as a community and think about what part we might play in the post Brexit world – not least in shaping the strategy on our clients’ brands. So we invited speakers from politics and policy, cultural insight and p

Planners Unmasked | Rosanagh & Shaun

Sep 16, 2016
2 min

Planners Unmasked | Rosanagh & Shaun

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR JOB TO A 7-YEAR-OLD CHILD? (S) On planning? Yikes, still working on the exact definition for when speaking to adults on that one… If I were to describe working in advertising, I’d say: “Big adult playground, where you try and come up with a new and better game than the other guy, every day. Meaning no more early bedtimes…” (R) A privilege. WHAT IS THE SKILL PEOPLE COMING INTO THE INDUSTRY MOST NEED (AND OFTEN DON’T HAVE)? (S) There’s

Planners Unmasked | Chris Regan

Sep 9, 2016
2 min

Planners Unmasked | Chris Regan

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERFECT AGENCY (IF YOU COULD CREATE IT FROM SCRATCH)? A place that brings out the best in you. A place that gives you the confidence to fail. WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES THAT PLANNERS AND STRATEGISTS SHOULD BE GRAPPLING WITH? The age of personalisation of goods and services is just beginning, which is going to present significant challenges, as well as opportunities. At the moment it seems as though brands are engaging

Making plans for Julie

Sep 6, 2016
3 min

Making plans for Julie

Earlier this week, I saw a Power Point chart that seemed to encapsulate my entire career in one sentence and a picture. I’ve changed the lady’s name to preserve confidentiality, although nothing else about the chart betrays the client, brand or project so I can share this text with you in full. The title of the chart, which may be a Marketing Haiku of sorts, was this: “Julie briefly considered purchasing a different variety but ended up buying her usual product” It was accom

Planners Unmasked | Stephanie Simon

Sep 2, 2016
2 min

Planners Unmasked | Stephanie Simon

WHAT 3 SKILLS SHOULD EVERY GOOD PLANNER POSSESS? - Simplicity of thought: Sometimes people get caught in the trap of over-complicating things from the off - simple ideas are much more likely to become big ideas. - Tenacity: Being instinctive when you think something is interesting and running with it. It also helps to be tenacious when you're trying to get your foot in the door, no is never a resounding no, it's often just a not right now. - A thirst for knowledge: Constant