Planning is like rolling a joint..

..there are may ways to do it, sais Leon :)

The following presentation is a must read for all juniors or those aspiring to be planners and not only.. (Personally, it helped me remember in these shitty difficult times what my job should be all about ).

Enjoy:

Shouldn’t all strategists be digital?

Jared Gruner has a really good point (as well as Amber Finlay who came up with the better title) on the controversial job title of “Digital Strategist”. I strongly recommend his post and also Heather’s findings on this matter, in her 2009 Planner survey:

About 100 people who took the survey describe themselves as digital planners. To the vast majority of them, they are simply taking similar skills and applying them to new media. The difference o’en is in who drives the overall brand strategy. That generally is the responsibility of the above the line agency. This also means less strategic research that the digital folks get to steer.
“As a digital planner, I like to think what I do in the digital space isn’t any different, at least in approach. I consider a planners job to understand the intersection of culture, business and creativity – and I strive for that across the board…
On a down note, not being AOR means not having full control over your client brands,
which has been a bit of a mental shi’ (and struggle) for me.”
Digital planners are also teaching their clients a lot about technology. But money is swinging their way as TV and print budgets are shi’ed to digital. This question prompted several people to identify themselves as integrated planners, confident that they are working across the spectrum.
“I’m not one, but I consider digital in every strategy I work on. I no longer see the point of uniquely ‘digital’ planners.”

Planner Survey Results 2009

Finally Heather succeeded in putting together the results of this year’s survey among planners from all over the world.

Interesting findings:

• Very few people identify themselves as connection planners or context planners.
• BBH, CPB and WK seem to have the best planning departments worldwide
• Female planners and senior planners aren’t having kids as soon as
  their male colleagues ;)
• And last, but not least: only 3% of planners are out of work, half in the US and half overseas. (Hurray for that!)

Unfortunately, the 14 Romanian planners who completed the survey were not interesting enough to also generate a salary analysis, like those from some other countries.. Maybe next year?

the Planner Collective

“The planner collective” is a one-page RSS aggregator of resources for account planning/brand strategy, currently in beta but with great potential.

Check-it out here

Via BrandTao

David Lynch despre idei si pescuit

“Ideas are like fish.

Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.”

-David Lynch, “Catching The Big Fish”

via Meme Huffer