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School Bokeh

Originally uploaded by shinealight (taking a break)

FYI – I already graduated from Miami Ad School’s Account Planning program on March 19th, so the classes I’m writing about in these posts actually took place a few weeks ago.

I’m going to combine Weeks 9 & 10 in this post since I really want to move on to writing about Agency Tours in NYC the week after graduation and some other things.

Anyway, our Planning instructor for Week 9 was Neal Arthur from Wieden + Kennedy NYC. Neal started us off with a great quote,

“Don’t give then what they want. Give them what they never believed was possible.” — Orson Welles

A couple key things that Neal said that resonated with me were:

1) New business pitches are the best, biggest and most grueling opportunities that a Planner can have

2) Work with as many new business pitches as possible

3) When you get a new business call, it’s because something’s broken with the client

Our instructor for Week 10 was Liam from Hall & Partners, which is now primarily a brand and communications research agency. Nice quote:

“Clients often use research the same way a drunkard uses a lamppost – for support instead of illumination.” — David Ogilvy

A few things that stood out this weekend:

• Just because it’s quant doesn’t mean it can’t tell a story
• Focus groups should not be boring – they should be fun!

There are certain challenges when working with clients:

• Inertia – We’ve always done it this way
• The paradox of choice – too many ideas, with no clear way to prioritize
• Lack of resources – not enough money; not enough manpower
• Impatience – lack of willingness to take the long view & invest in the future
• Culture – heirarchy and procedure take precedence over experimentation and entrepreneurialism

Lastly, Liam pointed out that Planners are thought partners with researchers. It’s important to create a culture that truly believes good ideas can come from anywhere and prizes openness.