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

I should start by saying I feel fortunate that the situation you describe in this great post is not one I face at cynic but I have experienced it before and know first hand how debilitating it is for the planner, the creative team and ultimately, the client.

Talking about this issue is well overdue. Maybe it has not happened previously because the descent into Mcplanning has been so gradual that people haven’t realised how bad the situation has got, but I’ve heard of situations where planners are allocated a few hours out of a project lasting months to develop a strategy for a client who faces major issues in their business.

There’s still this belief in the industry that an ad can solve it all which is possibly why some agencies see a planners job as simply post rationalising whatever the creatives develop resulting in them being given such a short time to do things. There’ll always be an element of backward compatibility in the planning process because planners should allow creatives to create rather than be dictators but I firmly believe the full value of the planning discipline is seen at the start of the ‘process’ rather than the end and to fully achieve that, time needs to be provided even if you have an immediate idea you believe is the work of a genius.
Who to blame?

Maybe it’s the planners for not fighting their corner more but I think the real offenders are the agency heads because they have a responsibility to train their people to understand the value and importance of everyone elses roles, they set the standard for the process and delivery in the agency and they make the promises to the clients in reference to cost and expectations.
This is a great post and reaffirms why I think Andy and the guys are some of the best and most collaberative guys to work with. Cheers.

We only get you pizza so it clogs up your mouth from saying cliched drivel.

We’re doing your reputation a favor as well as our ears and brain. 🙂

Just skimmed through this post but it’s great and I agree with what Pete (1st comment) and Angus said.

Will read it again later and add my 2 cents then.

Your comment wouldn’t have anything to do with Andy’s imminent return would it Pete? Ha.

Nah … in all seriousness, your comment is great and I think you raise quite a few issues that are ultimately going to make/break advertising, let alone planning.

And L.I.L. it’s great to have you on here and I do hope you come back. It’s sad your experience in London is so disheartening, however it is also important to remember that like most things in life, the ‘theory’ rarely manifests itself into the realities of the experience … and whilst I don’t know what you think planning is/should be, our recent questionnaire [which was not linked just to planners/planning] indicates there’s a hell of a lot of people out there who have such a purity view of life, that they are only ever going to be disappointed because life only works like that if you can dictate what everyone else does/thinks and as much as we may like to think otherwise, adland doesn’t – and never has – had that level of influence.

Does this mean we sometimes do things that we’re not really that keen on?

Yep.

However we subscribe to the George Clooney model for business/advertising/planning in so much that we will take on certain projects that really don’t fulfill us as much because their extremely high fees help pay for us to do the things are much more rewarding and interesting for the company.

We’re not the only ones who do this – just look at WK’s & Mother’s client roster and you will see a similar approach – but sadly too many people [and again, I am not saying you are one of these] want all the glory without any of the risk or responsibility.

I do believe planning should be the ignition for the entire creative process … however I also believe we have to be there all the way through rather than just at the beginning and at the end of the day, work WITH the creatives [and the wider team] to make/sell great things because the blame game just fucks us all over, even though I am whinging in this post that many planners are being set up to fail by the way their companies treat them – both interms of respect and environment to do their job.

Lovely analogy about planning and battery hens.

I’m a bit tired of the times where I co-write the client brief, answer my own question in my brief, and then evaluate with metrics which back up the original. No-one learns anything, no-one is allowed to rock the boat because folk’re too scared of losing their job, or it’s all become a little bit too convenient and easy not to.

‘Global’ work which box ticks and pleases no-one seems to be the major culprit.

waht if you rented out your planners and creatives to an client.

Have them actually be present at the client for couple of days a week every week as long as you are working for them? Like inhouse consiglierie?

This could possibly break down barriers and allow for speedy assesments and a better sale of ideas as you now know the ins and outs and the political process of the client better? Working from client office or your own should not make all that difference.

Not perfect, but could work..

And time that Billy gets a blog of his own. I was gonna say Pete as well, but that above made comment made me think and that hurts..

Isn’t agreeing to do a rushed job the planning equivalent of price discounting? Does anyone have the nerve to say if you want us to do the job, then you have to give us the time to do it right and you have to have the nerve to tell your boss that?

That’s a good dive in the day 2 day planner’s work and as well a brilliant illustration of the John Steel famous paragrah in his book “anatomy of…” related to the difference between “effectiveness” (doing the right thing) and “efficiency” (doing something in the right way).

It has always surprised me to be asked to come up with a proposition for creatives to use before any research has been done, it gets to a point where you’re just plucking shit from thin air. Then later on, while the creatives are working away, having to post rationalize what you just did.

I was quite pleased to come across this line when reading Sherlock Holmes, “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suite facts”

one final thing. it might be good if planners reminded themselves theyre in advertising, not csi.

if campbell can do that after spending fuckloads of time and superfuckloads of our money working closely with a real csi type bastard then the rest of you should be able to manage it.

unlike sherlock holmes view on crime, adland always has more than one possible solution, even if many of them are crap.

I liken this approach to planning as if you just bought a Ferrari Enzo, fitted it with the best tyres money can buy, and then expect it to run on oil that hasn’t been turned into petrol yet.