Skip to content
  • home
  • About me
  • What I do
  • Training
  • blog
  • contact me

Gemma Teed

Helping brands communicate better

Category: Account Planning

I (still) really care about creative briefs

Posted on 17/01/202214/01/2022 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning

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 →

Tagged brief writing, creative briefLeave a comment

The lost art of leaning over and listening in

Posted on 29/11/202129/11/2021 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning

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 →

Tagged learning, remote workLeave a comment

Strategy is not just about book smarts

Posted on 08/09/202107/09/2021 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, strategy

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 →

Tagged book smarts, insightLeave a comment

what I’ve learnt about being prepared

Posted on 30/03/202130/03/2021 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning

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 →

Tagged meeting hacks, organisation, preparednessLeave a comment

Keep it simple, Strategist

Posted on 10/11/202010/11/2020 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, creative briefing, Planning, presenting

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 →

Tagged brevity, keep it simple, trainingLeave a comment

A little advice for junior strategists & planners who are nervous about their job prospects

Posted on 20/07/202015/07/2020 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, advice, Strategist, strategy, training

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 →

Tagged CPD, junior planners, junior strategists2 Comments

We’re all Zoomed out

Posted on 06/07/202004/07/2020 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, facilitation, workshops

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 →

Tagged meetings, video calls, workshops, Zoom2 Comments

Why Planners and Strategists should do their own qual

Posted on 06/01/202007/01/2020 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, facilitation, market research, qualitative, research

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 →

Tagged depths, groups, qualLeave a comment

I really care about Creative Briefs

Posted on 15/08/201912/09/2019 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning, creative briefing, training

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 →

Leave a comment

Why there’s nothing wrong with a RomCom paperback

Posted on 08/07/201908/07/2019 by almostalwaysthinking in Account Planning

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 →

Leave a comment

Posts navigation

Older posts

The views expressed here are obviously my own and do not reflect those of past or current clients or employers

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
  • Follow Following
    • Gemma Teed
    • Join 222 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Gemma Teed
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...