Death of Planning

Came across this quote (actually a response to an adliterate blog: Are brand ideas too big for advertising) by Sir Winston and man is his thinking dead on:


“Planning is, these days at least, an utterly futile activity (and a very dull career). The instructive paradox is this: the brands that planners really admire (Innocent, Apple, Nike, Starbucks) do not and have never needed Planners to tell them what they're about. And the brands that Planners actually get to work on (the Vodafones, HSBCs, and BTs of the world) do not and will never care about any of this high-falutin' brand stuff anyway. So if you want to work on a cool brand, go and create one. Or, as a second best, work for one. But don't 'Plan' on one or hope you that you will have any real affect on the brand you Plan for. It is a (admittedly frequently amusing and entertaining) waste of time.”


That's why hearing Adam Gayner, inventor of Fred water, speak at this year's PSFK Conference in LA was absolutely inspirational. Passionate planners want to make a difference. They see opportunity where others just see research data or focus groups (gosh do I abhor the idea of focus groups - the enviornment is just so fabricated). They believe in the brand and the difference the brand can make in the world. The feel the emotions the brand can bring to consumers (joy, pain, nostaligia, confidence, friendship). Passionate planners go beyond the research or trending aspects of their gigs and desire to make a difference with their brand leading the way.

Sadly, Sir Winston isn't really off. Too many times, marketers don't understand the power and role of their brand and instead diminish it or mute it. And planners either fight for what's right or just become another cog in the machine.

Fallon's Description of Connection Planning

So here's how Fallon describes Connection Planning (at least when it comes to recruiting). I like it. Having lived it - if it's done right the below is very very true and when done like the below is when it's most effective.

The part that's missing is that this a collaborative position. You can't do all of the below (at least not successfully) without collaborating with every department within the agency halls. You'll be ruffling feathers (specifically with account planners and media planners) and you'll need to foster a trusting and amicable working friendship specifically with the aforementioned departments AND creatives. Creatives are Connection Planners best allies. Love them, trust them and bounce ideas back and forth off them.

From Fallon's blog:
http://fallontrendpoint.blogspot.com/2007/04/help-wanted-connections-planners-fallon.html
You might be a Connection Planner and you don’t know it. If you work in politics and your job is to create complex communication strategies to narrowcast to multiple target audiences all towards one big defining win. You think of everything as an opportunity to extend your message: the photo op, the setting, the PR spin, the sound byte, whether or not to tell people the candidate windsurfs . . . You have passion for using communications to convince people to believe in something – a person, a cause, an idea.If you work in the media department of an ad agency but you’re a strategic thinker. You find yourself awash in tchotkes, boondoggles, flow charts, and Excel spreadsheets. When what really interests you is the big idea. And we’re not talking about tactics, we’re talking about the big strategic idea. The thing that makes it all go. You’re more interested in building the Velcro wall for the other guys (some who work in media) to know what should stick.

If you work in music or film and your job is to give albums or films their moment in time. You understand the communications complexity to making a film “open” weekend one, and the necessary actions before and after. You understand how the Web has changed music, and that some of today’s most popular bands were built by pasting small together over and over until it was BIG (see Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, etc.), and by urban street teaming and word of mouth (see hip hop, the mix tape).If you work in planning but your heart is in popular culture not research. If you find you’re less interested in giving birth to the big idea, and more interested in raising it in today’s fascinating new media world.

If you consider yourself more street smart than book smart. If you think you can learn a lot about communication strategy from American Idol, P. Diddy, and match.com. You’ve read the marketing books, but you want to bring them to life, to take action, not just philosophize. You know what's wrong, now you want the opportunity to do something about it.Sound like you?

If so, you’re already doing Connection Planning. Call Fallon to get paid.

Where Do Connection Planners Belong

Where oh where do Connection Planners or Consumer Context Planners really belong? Are they most effective in a media agency where in the past account planner types didn't have a spot of the team roster? Do Connection Planners also have a role at creative agencies where account planners are capable of pulling similar insights? Or do they have a role at neither?

I'm really curious to hear what others have to say about the most effective place to have Connection Planners. My hunch is that Connection Planners should:
- definitely live at media companies like the Starcoms and Mediavests of the world where "account planning types" were non-existent.
- not exist at creative shops that don't have a media department. What's the use there? creatives, account planning and partner media agency should be able to step up to the plate.
- not exist at full service shops that already have account planners and media planners. Both account and media planners need to be able to think beyond the brand loyalist and beyond reach and frequency to make it in this new media world. They need to rise to the occasion and be uberplanners.

...next entry to make us aware that account planners are spread to thin. we're often on too many accounts which unfortunately doesn't allow us to effectively be uberplanners.

Planning for Good

Actions like this make me proud to be an account planner. Planners of the world, join this new social movement, Planning for Good, to do some good with our skill set. To talk the talk and walk the walk. Some very smart and innovative thinkers out there (yes you - Gareth, Piers, Aki, Mark, Jason and others) will be briefing planners via facebook on cause-oriented projects. So take an hour or so out of your day and stop working on whatever you're cleverly trying to sell to your consumer base and join the movement! See Gareth's site for more info or click here to go directly to facebook.

p.s. I guess the APG is good for something!

NOT Connection Planning

Wikipedia has a very bad definition of connection planning. "Connection Planning is the combination of account planning, media and creative thinking - the traditional silos of advertising. A connection planner combines all or some of these disciplines to approach the client’s communications challenges from an idea-neutral point of view. They don't just focus on people and media. They seek the best way to create meaningful relationships with people and utilizes any medium to do so."

This is not what Connection Planning is. Connection Planning originally was created as a disruption mechanism. Now, if you have uber-planners working on an account (uber-planners are account planners 2.0 - they look beyond the brand loyalist and brand and also embrace prospects, business bottom line responsibilities, and experience) it's main role is in new business and on a consultant basis. See my previous post on Connection Planning for more of my rambles on this topic.

Connection Planning

In a former life I was a Connection Planner. Here's a quick viewpoint about what I think about Connection Planning. It's a disruption mechanism. It came about to get agencies to think about the consumer again (instead of primarily focusing on the brand and solely brand loyalist), it brought business results back to the forefront of the conversation (The first question every Connection Planner should ask is "How does my company make $$$?". Connection Planning brought focus to looking at the best prospects...looking at those who aren't contributing to your bottom line, but could and should....instead of just focusing on the traditional Account Planning brand loyalist.), it brought to the forefront identifying the consumer shopping experience (pre-trigger, trigger, during, purchase, post-purchase) and determined information channels that are effective across the moving walkway of the consumer experience to create one, holistic brand experience (not just the same look + feel, but an on-going brand dialogue with the consumer --> and not a brand dialogue that is solely around features and benefits....it's about the brand values and brand personality and f+b) AND lastly Connection Planning attributed ROI to marketing campaigns -- making ROI a conversation you have in advance of even writing a creative brief -- setting the groundrules up in advance and then evolving them with the campaign working along side what I lovingly like to call the troika (Account Planning, Connection Planning and Interactive Strategy) to make sure that we have all of the variables that we need tracked tracked so we can prove our value to our clients . Connection Planning made each of us in the industry set up to the plate -- pushed us to think about things from a different perspective and helped us all achieve better results for our clients.
. It's a chicken and egg scenerio - which came first??? Connection Planning or the need for Connection Planning? I say the need was the cause and the effect was the disruptive nature of Connection Planning. And, it worked because it got you all thinking a bit differently....a bit more holisicially (versus executionally)...a bit more collaboratively (versus siloed)....it worked.

Now, the question is: What is the role for Connection Planning now and into the future?

Blip.TV

Blip.TV is so cool. It found a consumer need and is trying to fill it - need from individual content creators for a place to distribute their recurring original series.

Simply, Blip.TV is the vice versa of Joost. Where Joost distributes already produced content and puts TV shows on the web; Blip.TV levels the playing field a bit more for independent content creators and shares original shows online in hopes of making it onto the TV screen.

Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.TV, breaks down video sharing experiences into 3 buckets:
1) Viral Video
2) Friends and Family Sharing
3) Recurring Original Series

Viral Videos are the YouTube's of the world. These videos are primarily one-offs. Think Who Let the Dogs Out. Friends and family sharing, like Afiniti, where 12+ people are sharing wedding and vacation videos. And, Recurring Original Series is the sandbox that blip.tv is playing in. The companies goal is to support shows from independent content creators and to give them the tools that they need to succeed. For example, Blip.tv (which is still in Beta), acts as the sales & marketing department making a 50/50 profit split with the content creator. Wonder how many will bite for the 50/50 split and if the split is negotiable based on quality of content.

Death of Marketing

It ain't dead. We've just got to have a clear and consistent spiel about what it is that we do. That will help us in the boardroom prove our value. How come all other departments have clear definitions and deliverables (aka: product offerings and consumer benefits)?

There's a good conversation on PSFK's idea of dropping the word "marketing" from the name of their LA conference. Jump in on the fun. What do you have to say?

Grant & Piers - thanks for initiating.