Helping brands communicate better
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
In order to protect a family member’s health, I won’t be able to work outside home for a long time. Although a lot of the Planning/Strategy work that I do for agencies can still be done remotely, the face to face workshops, focus groups and training are a write-off for now. So I’m pivoting! I’ve … Continue reading time to pivot
A story turned up in my LinkedIn feed today about a workshop facilitator (working for or on behalf of PriceWaterhouseCoopers) who chose to kick off a two-hour workshop focused on ‘creating more resilient communities’ for Walsall Council’s councillors with a Lego-based warmup exercise. The reaction seems to be split into two camps, with the Councillors … Continue reading Sometimes, Lego just isn’t the answer
Before Christmas I ended up doing a lot of depth research interviews and it reminded me why I believe that Planners should, whenever possible, do their own qual research. The primary reason is, of course, that Insight can come from anywhere. If your involvement in the qual you’ve commissioned has been limited to what was … Continue reading Why Planners and Strategists should do their own qual
I wrote 18 months ago about how agency account management was increasingly becoming agency project management and that the art of account handling or client service was being lost. It’s safe to say that the tide has still not turned. I’ve recently worked with an agency to deliver training not only to improve their account … Continue reading why delivering ‘What the client wants’ is a slippery slope
I’ve been thinking a lot about creative briefs recently – I deliver Creative Brief Writing training for agency account handlers and/or junior planners and I’m also currently prepping a brief writing workshop that I’ll be delivering to some undergraduate students soon. It turns out that I have pretty strong feelings about briefs and briefing: 1. … Continue reading I really care about Creative Briefs
Back in the Noughties/2000’s, almost every big brand boardroom had a Marketing Director. That’s much less the case now, with marketing essentially becoming a ‘soft’ discipline. In 2015, only 35 of the US Fortune 1,000 companies had a marketing director on the executive board. In the FTSE100, the number was only slightly better. I could … Continue reading marketing is losing its seat at the boardroom table
I read a lot and yes, as a Planner / Strategist / Whatever-we’re-calling-it-this-week of course I’ve read all the big titles in my field like How Brands Grow, Nudge, Truth Lies & Advertising and Paid Attention. But that’s only a tiny percentage of what I actually read. I read Sunday newspapers and regional newspapers and … Continue reading Why there’s nothing wrong with a RomCom paperback
Work/life balance is very important to me – I'm a part-timer for various reasons, but I also definitely do better strategic work when I’m more rested, less stressed and generally feeling in control of my life. Almost anyone who has worked in a decent sized agency will have experienced emails on Sundays, late nights at … Continue reading We have to get better at work/life balance – and pitches aren’t helping