Helping brands communicate better
Over the last 20 years I’ve worked as a Planner/Strategist at five agencies and freelanced at over a dozen more and they’ve nearly all claimed to have their very own, unique to them, insight ‘process’. This is usually brought to life in a pitch with a powerpoint slide using circles and/or arrows from left to … Continue reading Independent agencies – sorry, but your strategic ‘process’ isn’t unique
Brief writing is front of mind for me at the moment - I'm getting ready to deliver a fourth wave of brief writing training for a very fast-growing agency and also prepping to deliver lectures to Creative Advertising undergraduates. One issue that rears its head again and again when I train account handlers is that … Continue reading I (still) really care about creative briefs
The New York Times recently proclaimed that Remote Work is Failing Young Employees (HT @bruceclarkprof) and I couldn’t agree more. In the early days you learn so much by leaning over people’s shoulders, eavesdropping, asking your seniors questions that would sound stupid if you wrote them down and generally absorbing by osmosis how to get … Continue reading The lost art of leaning over and listening in
In the past few years I’ve come across quite a few aspiring planners (of all ages) and ‘I’m strong strategically’ senior agency people who seem to be under the impression that the only place that strategic thinking can possibly come from is the pages of a book. You know the ones, they have 50+ marketing … Continue reading Strategy is not just about book smarts
Agency growth mentor, digital strategist and all-round decent bloke Mark Kelly recently asked me to join season two of his Agency Thinking Podcast. We go way back to when we were both at Poulters, once one of the hottest and biggest agencies in the North but sadly no longer around. We’ve kept in touch through … Continue reading a freelancer’s view on agency thinking
I was an unenthusiastic Brownie who rarely had the required piece of string, pencil and paper and safety pin in the pocket of my uniform. But by the time I became a Planner I was the agency's go-to girl for a sticking plaster, painkillers or even an actual safety pin. The whole 'plan for the … Continue reading what I’ve learnt about being prepared
I’ve always been a less-is-more type when it comes to putting my thoughts on paper. In my first few years as a Planner in the early 2000's, I was fortunate that back then agency clients were generally happy with half a dozen slides of ‘show your thinking’ with a few cited insight sources. By the … Continue reading Keep it simple, Strategist
A lot of my B2B and FMCG current clients are already back in their offices - presumably because if the factory has to go back to work, so do they. But I only know of one agency that is doing face to face client meetings and even they're not back in the office yet. The … Continue reading Agencies will be WFH for a LONG time
I know that the future is looking wobbly for lots of Planners/Strategists at the moment and I personally know several who have already been made redundant. It must be particularly hard for Junior Planners to work out how to make themselves indispensable/employable as quickly as possible, especially if they’re already on furlough. So I’ve come … Continue reading A little advice for junior strategists & planners who are nervous about their job prospects
Like many people, I’m spending a lot of time on Zoom these days. But I’ve been trying to limit the length and frequency of Zooms wherever possible and the other week I even asked for a planned Zoom to be switched to ‘camera-off’ or turned into a good old conference call. This isn’t because I … Continue reading We’re all Zoomed out