AccountPlanning.net - Planning Craft

Planning Craft

Home	Planning Craft	Create more
Craft Topics	Planning Primer	New Playing Field
Brands Area	Integration Zone	Brand Promise
Brand Audience	Brand Delivery	Kata
Koan	Manifestoes	Scrapbook
Various

Account Planning had its origins within advertising. Even today 90% of planners work on advertising. As a result there is a huge skew in what planning is perceived to be about. All of the repository of planning training and learning is advertising based. Those of us who have worked in areas other than advertising have had to teach ourselves how to apply the fundamentals to other communication areas.

The biggest issue with advertising planning is that because most advertising is about attitudinal change it is assumed that planners need only worry about changing attitudes. Which makes you nigh on useless in a direct marketing, a design or a web agency. Which is why the first axiom of this site is that advertising planning only tells you a third of what you need to know to be an effective planner.

Here are the main sections of the planning craft area:

First a planning primer for people looking to get into account planning or who are wondering what on earth account planners do.

The New Playing Field for Account Planners

This will introduce you to the core concepts of the Brand as Promise, the Brand as Experience, and the Brand as Medium.

Planners working in advertising, PR and broadcast sponsorship will work predominantly with the brand as promise. Planners working in design, sales promotion, retail, internet and event sponsorship will work with the brand as experience. Planners working in channel planning, data planning, CRM and direct marketing will working with the brand as medium. Though if you're any good you will have a working understanding of ALL areas which will make you much better in your chosen turf. And you through the line/integrated/media neutral planners have to master all of it!

From there you have two choices. You can look at the communication strategies used to develop the brand in each area or you can look at a grab bag of tools in each area.

The theoretical underpinning for each corner of the playing field	Ideas and tools for each corner of the playing field
Planning that changes attitudes - drawing on Mike Hall's work	Brand Promise
Planning that changes behaviour	Brand Delivery
Medium Planning	Brand Audience

The Brands Area

6 levels of branding - I believe "new marketing" or whatever you want to call it has added in 3 new levels as the distinction between brands and media has begun to break down.

Brand Pathology - a slightly tongue in cheek piece about brand personality disorders generic to certain market categories and how to treat them.

Two years ago the V&A held an exhibition called Brand.New. Here's my take on that.

I'll be adding more stuff on brands though most of my thinking on the topic is embedded in the new playing field and the areas of Brand Promise, Brand Experience and Brand Medium

Craft Topics

Mobile Marketing - Posted in May 2003 this was a mass of giveaways and links and stimulus to consider the growing role of mobile communications taking into account SMS texting, wireless and the PDA.

War - Posted in April 2003 this was a reflection on the impact of a war on consumer behaviour. Its not all good - but its not all bad.

Category Marketing. Back in 2002 I used the occasion of the Queen Mother's funeral and the Royals to do a piece on Category Marketing - when is it right to support the category rather than the brand? You can market categories as well as brands. The Japanese have changed the world by doing just this. Even the most fervent brand champion would do well to maintain the health of the category.

Integration Area

The Integration Process - drawing once again on the new playing field.

Media neutral planning - Flavour of 2002 - but how neutral can an agency ever be?

And here's the rest: lots to stimulate you.

	Kata Training routines for planners. There are half a dozen there plus anti-kata as if you needed any reminder how NOT to do the job.
	Planning Koan pearls of planning wisdom - fables, saying all sorts
	Internet Research - now 2 years old - I have tried to ensure that the companies here are still in business. Originally set up to try and reduce the chaotic subject of internet research to manageable proportions.

The New Playing Field for Account Planners

The Brands Area

Craft Topics

Integration Area

Kata Training routines for planners. There are half a dozen there plus anti-kata as if you needed any reminder how NOT to do the job.

Planning Koan pearls of planning wisdom - fables, saying all sorts

Internet Research - now 2 years old - I have tried to ensure that the companies here are still in business. Originally set up to try and reduce the chaotic subject of internet research to manageable proportions.