The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

So you finally get me to comment on your blog, are you happy now?
I can’t let your generalization pass without standing up for my fellow digital planners. Of all people you know there’s plenty of “traditional” planners in employment who don’t know a thing about human psychology so to imply it’s just guys employed in digital is bull. We are well trained and well versed in people’s attitudes and habits and jump to creative output as little or as much as you and your “old school” planners do. There isn’t as much difference as you seem to think except we’re the new generation and you’re the old.
Did that bother you Rob? Not nice is it? It has nothing to do with what medium you specialize in (and you can save your “we should not be tied to a medium” speech, heard it all before) it’s about your training, attitude and ability which is why underneath all your frothy mouth ranting I sympathize with some of your comments (especially the untapped potential) and encourage you to slag them off like you slag any planner who is talking rubbish.
You have to remember you are a bit different from most planners and I’ll leave you to work out if that’s me being complimentary or taking the piss. Besides this is all George’s theory isn’t it?

I’m guessing you’re back Andy!

Hello David – I can now die in the knowledge my ultimate goal has been achieved, ha!

You are quite right, there are a huge amount of ‘old school’ planners [thanks for that, ha] who are equally as ignorant about the needs/wants/fears/emotions in people’s lives – however I was just muttering out loud that a planner who has only worked in one medium [which could just as much be DM for example as it is Digital] could be more myopic in their views of how to engage an audience [than say a media/idea neutral planner] because they focus on how people use their specific medium rather than appreciate how other issues affect people’s attitude, choice and habits – which could ultimately lead to more effective and powerful communication ideas.

Maybe.

Oh this is coming out all wrong which means I could be talking shite … so yeah, this is all George’s thoughts so lets blame him!

PS: I know EXACTLY what you mean when you say “I’m a bit different from most planners” and so you can expect a clip round the head when I see you 🙂

i’m not a planner, but surely a huge part of being a planner is being interested in all the ways that people communicate. which means that the digi-bombs need to get off their arse and talk to someone face-to-face and the old schoolers need to put the de bono book down and start exploring the interweb a little more.

I think Lauren summed up my thoughts perfectly…

I think in time both “sides” will naturally come closer together and merge into one anyways. If not entirely then they’ll def “understand” each other better.

That being said though, I’m constantly arguing that planners need to know about digital just as much as the other stuff, because digital isn’t a new “idea” it’s merely another channel to host executions. Different rules, different ways of going about things, but it should still all ladder back up to this central core IDEA that the brand planner (traditional or digital it won’t matter) should be acting as the custodian of.

I’m not saying Planners shouldn’t understand digital – they should, they should understand all things people surround and involve themselves in – I’m just saying that if you only have knowledge in how people interact with one particular medium, then your ability to truly appreciate what is going on in people’s lives is going to be limited which can undermine your ability to make your messages more effective.

Hell, if people were static beings, we wouldn’t need planners or creatives at all.

However Marcus disagrees with me so I wait for his response which like David’s, will probably put me in my place 🙂

I’m with Marcus and Lauren here.
As a good planner you need to be smart, interested and interesting yourself (otherwise creatives give a shit about what you tell them – I bet Andy will turn this into something against Rob, will you Andy?).
So the planners you think are shite in digital would be shite in traditional media as well. Because ideas give a shit about channels. They are good or bad. In TV, the worldwide web thingy or a tetrapak.
But I get what you mean, Rob. Though I think it’s more about relevance than emotion and to make strategic ideas emotional is Andy’s and my job. Unfortunately I haven’t seen a web thingy that was really emotional. They are clever, witty, interesting, funny or damn cool but I hardly can remember something emotional. But that’s the creatives fault. We haven’t found a way to do something emotional with the web apart from embedding movies. So stay with the stuff we did for years instead of finding our ways online.

Are you saying planners can’t develop ideas based emotions Seb?

Please tell me you don’t really think that … it would break my heart because you’ve worked at an agency where the greatest emotional strategy of all time was developed – NIKE.

Christ, if planners only develop ideas based on rational considerations then they should all be shot because they’re a waste of fucking space. Sure sometimes a rational idea can work [Ronseal for example] however as much as many creatives may like to think all the brilliance comes from them, quite often the spark is driven from an emotional idea created by a planner.

I’m totally upset and shocked at that comment Seb and I can guarantee you as much as you may think Andy hates all planners, he doesn’t, he hates the ones that you obviously have only been exposed to.

completely off topic, but i just wanted to boast that i’ve just been shortlisted for a major public art commission in melbourne. i rock. so there.

Well done lovely – that is absolutely toptastic news – so when do you find out and how can we ‘influence’ the final decision?

And you rock because you’re talented … you are inspired by emotions and are open to all things in life not just the habits on those who use/focus on the digital media.

[I know that last paragraph is completely rubbish, I’m still in shock over Seb’s comment 🙂 ]

Oh, I forgot to read you comment on my comment. And obviously you got me wrong. Planners can develop emotional strategies but without those people who bring these thoughts to life they are just thoughts. Every core strategy of ads we call emotional is emotional because of the work that has been done following this strategy. I started in advertising because of Levi’s “Odyssey”. The thought behind it was “Freedom to move”. But without two peeps running through wall to Händel it would have just been another sentence.

In short: I believe that only the good work of a few people can sum up to great work. Good planning and bad creative work is shit. Bad planning and good creative work is shit either.

Oh god, this has become another debate on principles, has it?

Didn’t want to cause heavy breathing. That’s a job I gladly leave to Jill and Jill alone.

Running down the stairs to catch the pussy?
It’s a little odd to describe it that way but definitely interesting. Did you learn that at the gentlemen school of charme?

I just repeated what you said, you dirty old man.

There is a lot of stuff that disconnects a lot of ad people from their audience…

… booze, for example.

This is almost like old times isn’t it?

And Marcus, because I’m a bit thick today [as witnessed by this post] can you tell me what you mean when you say ‘booze’ – I’ve completely lost the thread. As I said, just like old times 🙂

Britney Spears looked fit again at the VMA’s. when in doubt throw some boobs in the strategy. digital or otherwise.

I think overly relying on data is madness, and it’s the root of my frustration with media agencies.

Being too group/qual lead isn’t always the best either, but it doesn’t lead to statements like this one (witnessed on Friday):

‘Ah, the dwell time was 5 minutes – the campaign MUST have been successful!’. AAAAAAAARRRGH!! 🙁

While I still have moments wondering if the digital reality isn’t that pretty much everyone has got annoyed with some clcik-through in the past and now avoids all of them like the plague – with the exception of teenagers/students and any one else who is either time rich and cash poor – I know that will ultimately change and it will become effective. Cue loads of bile and “data” from the digital industry.

But what I think the communications dinosaur is trying to say is that the problem is with clients as much as with agencies. Why would you hire a solely digital agency and not insist that its planners work with the other planners to ensure that all the output across all media is reflecting the same insight?

Or is that too simplistic? Do we really change into different people when we go online (with the exception of this blog of course)?

Funny how many clients treat digital as this totally different media channel … where the people on it can work independently from everything else going on around them. Mind you, these are people that still call the net NEW MEDIA so we shouldn’t be too surprised.

Argh. New media… horrible horrible phrase.

Like viral, or second life.

Apparently though many clients wont work with digital agencies who arent seperate; hence the wave of semi-integration.

i… or e… = Microsoft certified
A negative badge of honour!

I would say they’re stupid to adopt that stance and then I remember how many agencies ‘digital capabilities’ are basically just a computer – done to create the illusion [and thus maximise income] rather than really take this channel seriously.

“digital” isn’t a channel, it’s a context.

life was so much easier when digital was a shit watch.

jesus billy, you ARE old!

shit, i should have paid more attention. i think all i got was sweets. and chores in 2 houses.

But at least the old days produced games with real names like Merlin and Simon. Who the fuck would come up with a game and call it Simon? Oh yeah, some prick called Simon.

That explains everything Billy … 🙂

Hey Marcus, what do you mean about digital being ‘contextual’ – I think I get what you mean, but would like to know more. Oh and it is nice seeing you create food for thought with your comments rather than your usual mayhem – must be because Andy is still away. [Yes I know I thought he was back but apprentely he was in ‘transit’ – so his wife must of shown him how to use the airport computer, ha!]

actually, no, you will have to employ me if you want a build on that idea.

they’re worth every bloody cent Bazza, so stop fucking moaning.

worth his weight in gold.

ps. that just a little bit of inter-shed banter 😉