Enjoy the reading and please don’t hesitate to comment ;)

PS: What a coincidence that they’re out just while I’m packing for Amsterdam, huh?

Heather LeFevre is the head of planning for StrawberryFrog Amsterdam and also the one and only initiator of a global research about planners and planning. Please contribute if you find yourself in the recommendations below:

Who should take the survey this year?

• Anyone working as an account/brand/strategic planner in any company or role
• Freelancers
• Unemployed
• Planning interns (New!)
• Students studying to become planners (New!)

New this year:

• There’s a progress bar.
• Students and Interns are welcome to take part in the survey.
• There are four open-ended questions (for most of you) all on one page. This part will take the longest, but your thoughtful answers are appreciated.

As always, the survey is anonymous. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to participate. Heather gets emails all year long from all over the world asking for more details on countries with low participation. She can only share when enough people take the survey to be able to protect your secrets with the power of averaging.

Here’s the link to the survey: http://sgiz.mobi/s3/The-Planner-Survey-2011

Thank you!

Have a bite of the last year’s results and then enjoy the new survey here.

Don’t forget to subscribe for the results also.

1. Greater knowledge of the digital space.

Nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns.  Further, when it comes to an agency’s area of expertise, 79% of respondents rated “interactive/digital” functions as ‘important/very important.’

2. More use of “pull interactions.”

When trying to engage consumers with their brand, 90 percent of respondents agree that it is becoming increasingly important that their agency uses ‘pull interactions’ such as social media and online communities rather than traditional ‘push’ campaigns.

3. Leverage virtual communities.

An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.

4. Agency executives using the technology they are recommending.

Ninety-two percent of respondents said it was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important that agency employees use the technologies that they are recommending.  For example, it is important that agency executives regularly use Facebook, Flickr, wikis, blogs, etc. in their personal social media mix.

5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing.

Forty-three percent of marketers surveyed said that agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.

6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy.

Sixty three percent of marketers surveyed said that an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are ‘important/very important’ when it comes to agency selection.

7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior.

Seventy-six percent of respondents deemed this as an ‘important/very important’ aspect of their agency’s online digital marketing and interactive advertising area of expertise.

8. Demonstrate strategic thinking.

Seventy-seven percent of marketers surveyed ranked strategy/brain trust capabilities at the top of their agency wish list.

9. Branding and creative capabilities.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents ranked branding at the top of their agency wish list while seventy-six percent ranked creative capabilities as ‘important/very important.’

10. Ability to measure success.

It’s no surprise that marketers want an agency that can report on where campaigns succeeded, fell short and where they should be fine-tuned. Sixty-five percent ranked analytics at the top of their agency wish list.

“Marketers want agencies that can deliver on these demands today – not by 2009 and beyond,” said Gaston Legorburu, chief creative officer, Sapient.  “As the interactive channel becomes increasingly important, only those agencies that can create, manage and measure multi-channel campaigns will stay relevant and thrive in an uncertain economy.  Marketers keep turning to agencies like Sapient to deliver more sophisticated, integrated digital marketing initiatives that truly deliver optimum levels of customer acquisition and retention.”

Via Sapient.com

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?