Planners are the keymasters

If you follow my blog thinking alaud you know I have two blogging passions; Dave Trott and Seth Godin. They are both brilliant, at least to me, because they both offer a unique point of view that I happen to share. But mostly because they manage to say interesting things post after post after post.
Now, sometimes, just a few times, I find myself in a different place on the discussion spectrum.

In this case is regarding planners and creatives and this time is mostly with Dave Trott.

In a recent post at the Brand Republic blog Dave Trott describes planners this way:

Planning basically wants to protect the brand. Their job is strategy, to have a plan of where everything’s going. And consumer feedback, making sure what’s being done works with the people who’ll be parting with the cash.

and he goes on to describe creatives this way:

Creative basically wants to win awards. They want to do ads that get as much publicity as possible. Because 90% of advertising doesn’t get noticed and, if no one notices the ads, they can’t possibly work.

His main point is that creatives and planners are on the same side but with different priorities. And I disagree with him.

It just so happens that today Leon, a planner at Jung Von Matt in Stockholm had a post on his blog titled: Advice for the next generation Planner
Leon posts the advice of three brilliant planners that could be summarize in this points:

• Be curious and learn as much as you can
• Think about how you help and solve the brand problems. Beyond the TV ad and the billboard headline.
• Learn to get organizations to do stuff.
• Pay attention to what works and what doesn't.

Read the blog because it is really much more than those bullet points and the planners are icons of the industry.

The thing is, as good advise as this can be for a young planner. And as good as Dave's point of view could be based on his many years of experience. I think that planners play the most important role inside an agency. And this is why their role has become more and more relevant and important in the modern marketing world.

In my opinion planners are in charge of finding the magic. What makes this product unique? what can be said about it that could engage the target? what ammunition could the creatives use to deliver stand out creative?

I'm not saying is easy, because it isn't. But being curious and knowing how to make an organization tickle is not enough. Not today, not with the complexity of today's consumer and not with so many similar choices in the market.

Planners insights are the master key that opens the mystery door to every brief. Without them, the creative team is left to try every key on every door. Sometimes we get lucky. Most times we spend a lot of time opening doors to a brick wall.

• Planners need to see beyond the matrix. Planners have to see the code that is the matrix and make sense of it.
• Planners need to deliver hypothesis.
• Planners need to play creative chess and think three plays ahead.
• Planners need to speak consumer and translate it into opportunities.
• Planners need to stand out against confusion. Creative have played the bad guys for too long.
• Planners need to remind us of the purpose.
• Planners need to be independent. But lean on the side of ideas.
  

And I guess that this is the point of disagreement with Dave. The priority of the planners and the creatives should be the same; the idea. Nothing more and nothing less.
If planners then want to learn and be curious and tickle me to follow them, I'm cool with that. But first give me the master keys.

One year from now?

The advertising world is changing. In fact, this business is always changing. But today the changes seem to be happening faster and with deeper and more significant repercussions.

• The media outlets are redefined as new ones become more relevant to connect with a more dynamic and complex consumer.
• Therefore the consumer is playing now a more important role in the marketing equation.
• Turning marketing plans into experience driven initiatives.
  
• Changing the way creative departments are built and organized.
  
• Digital is the new innovative branch of advertising.
• Social media is the new golden child of marketing.
• New agencies are being established as the true leaders of innovation in advertising.
  
• Lessons that looked rock solid about the internet 2.0 just one year ago, are being challenged today by new discoveries and new players (twitter).
• New brands are on top of the charts of consumer's trust, as classic brands struggle to sync with customers.
  

With so many exciting changes and adjustments happening in the marketing world, some terms are becoming part of our vocabulary that perhaps are leading to misinterpretation.

Participation vs Collaboration.
The single most important factor that enables the changes and wonders happening today in the internet is collaboration.
Collaboration is the element that has allowed human kind to get to where we are today. It's the basis of our evolutionary dominance and the reason for our success as species.
In marketing, brands are looking for the collaboration of consumers to engage with their brands initiatives. (Nike +) But its turning more difficult than expected to make a significant transfer from participation with a brand into collaboration to build a brand.
And I think that this is because brands are still thinking about all this in the wrong terms. Thinking too much about themselves and too little about us, the consumer.


Social People vs Social Media.
We are a social species. We have been social for thousands of years. And the media has always been a social medium.
Now, the brands are coming to where consumers are, beyond the obvious and not always welcome intimacy of our home.
Brands today are becoming more human, talking more plain, and behaving more like a good neighbor.
The media is not social, the consumer is social. And that should be the starting point of branding efforts and marketing programs.


Innovation vs Creativity.
Creativity is the creation of ideas that stand out, that are different.
It is true that we have gotten careless using this term. And today, creative is a term used by any agency, any CEO as a banner displayed to lure clients.
The truth is being creative is no longer enough.
The new person in charge of generating concepts and ideas won't be a person, but a group of people with different knowledge and skills. All of them, Planners, creatives, brand executives, content developers or Media directors will be part of an innovation process, that is bigger than them, but built by them.
Innovation will take over as the driving force of an agency, small or big, to create experiences and build brands with a complex multi-channel net that delivers customized experiences to groups where people with similar interest gather.
Prima dona creatives with the ability to create one amazing idea for the TV or print will give way to humble innovators with the ability to collaborate with brilliant people from different fields.

That's how it looks from here.

what do you think?

The great Creative Director.

“What are the qualities of a great creative director?” That’s the question that Felix at the Denver egoist asks (himself and us)

I thought that this was a very relevant topic. I agree with Felix on the crucial role that Creative directors play. So here it's the list:

The creative director is the last line of defense.
When no one else in the creative department knows where to take a job, or how to crack a brief, the CD can do it. They have the experience, the savvy and the ability to produce the work when no one else can.
The creative director doesn’t play politics with creatives.
Creative directors should shield the creative department from all of the unnecessary crap and make sure that the teams focus on the work.
The creative director gives specific feedback.
A good creative director gives specific feedback, not vague platitudes. Their direction will be considered, constructive, smart and intelligible.
The creative director is well-versed in all crafts.
although they are experts in one discipline, they understand all the crafts. Great CDs are chameleons who understand the balance between concepts & strategy, and copy & design.
The creative director is a selfless creative.
a good CD will let you flex your creative muscles and allow your own work to shine.
The creative director is not your best buddy.
The creative director knows the latest trends.
if your CD has no idea what Facebook is, or looks puzzled when you talk about Twitter or social networking, they aren’t doing their duty, as an advertiser, to understand the modern consumer.
The creative director will hire great creatives.
“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”
The creative director is well-read.
The creative director produces work.
a good CD will still want to do some of the work, usually about 25% of it. Good creative directors never lose that passion, that drive and that hunger for doing great work. It’s in the blood.
The creative director knows every creative brief intimately.
When the creative director guides the account team to get the brief ready, expect good things.
The creative director is an idea catalyst.
The creative director, with one or two pearls of wisdom, can make sure the creative team strikes gold every time.
The creative director has a broad range of experience.
With a well-rounded CD on your side, you’re in much better hands than a CD whose only experience of direct mail is tearing it up over the garbage can.
The creative director steers the whole ship in the right direction.
Everyone in the agency, including in-house agencies, is looking to the CD as the captain of the creative ship.
The creative director understands strategy and planning.
The creative director is a shepherd.
the CD should set the standard for how the creatives are treated within the agency. If he or she lets account directors walk all over creative teams, changing copy and art direction at will, then the morale in the department will hit rock bottom. The CD who is a good shepherd will keep the creatives in line, but also keep the wolves from bringing them and their work down.
The creative director can sell or present anything, and do it well.
The creative director has balls.
A creative director should have the authority and confidence to make some big decisions, and should also take some firm stands against feedback that will either ruin the creative or demoralize the department.
The creative director knows how to motivate.
The creative director wants honest opinions, not nodding dogs.
The creative director doesn’t play the second-guessing game.
The creative director doesn’t care about being popular.
You just cannot be a great CD and be friends with everyone in the agency, and every client, and every production house, and, well, you get the point.
The creative director doesn’t micromanage.
A confident CD will realize that they only need to see the bigger picture.
Finally, the creative director improves the work.
A good CD will improve the work. Period.

Its a good list of qualifications. Hopefully you'll work with someone who matches most of the attributes on this list.

It's what makes the difference between loving being a creative and being a creative.

The right question.

At the beginning of the movie I, Robot, there is scene with the following dialogue:

Dr. Alfred Lanning: Good to see you again, son.
Detective Del Spooner: Hello, doctor.
Dr. Alfred Lanning: Everything that follows is a result of what you see here.
Detective Del Spooner: Is there something you want tell me?
Dr. Alfred Lanning: I'm sorry. My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.
Detective Del Spooner: Why did you call me?
Dr. Alfred Lanning: I trust your judgement.
Detective Del Spooner: Normally, these circumstances wouldn't require a homicide detective.
Dr. Alfred Lanning: But then our interactions have never been entirely normal. Wouldn't you agree?
Detective Del Spooner: You got that right... Is there something you want say to me?
Dr. Alfred Lanning: [the camera rotates around Lanning, revealing him to be a hologram] I'm sorry. My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.
Detective Del Spooner: Why would you kill yourself?
Dr. Alfred Lanning: That, detective, is the right question. Program terminated.

The idea of asking the right question and getting the right answer has always fascinated me. So, as a creative set to find the right agency to work for, what’s the right question to ask?

It's not about the accounts, that much I know. You could have the most creative account but if leadership or talent are missing inside the agency, you won’t do much.

A more difficult one is whether to go for the name of the agency. While I believe that the classic agencies like Ogilvy, Leo Burnett or Sattchi & Sattchi are good schools of advertising thought, big agencies are handicapped by mindless bureaucracy and good ideas gets lost amongst too much politics.

So what makes an agency ideal to grow and nurture our creativity?
I believe that it’s the agency ecosystem.
That ecosystem is a balanced environment where all the units are integrated and interact so a flow of energy leads to rewarding expressions of creativity.
A habitat where leadership creates an environment where everybody is able to reach creative potential.

• Where leadership feels responsible for the growth of the entire community.
• Where people feel safe to be wrong and supported to try again.
• Where leaders embrace diversity in thinking that fosters independent growth.
• This will create an environment that promotes creativity by the community, who shares and discusses ideas and projects to create the results they truly desire.
• Where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, collective aspiration is set free, and people are continually learning how to learn. (see here)

This ecosystem of creativity will sustain its own growth, because is managed by the community with smart supervision.

This creative driven culture is not new and you can find it at play in some agencies today; Razorfish, Big Spaceship, Zemoga, Poke, TBWA, The Barbarian Group or Goodby and in some corporations like Google, Pixar, Apple, GE or Amazon and Nokia.

Since we are talking about nature, I'll ask you to think of atoms. An atom in a specific environment will become just a rock, but the same atom interacting in the right environment turns into a diamond.

It's all about what surrounds us. It's the difference between being a rock and a diamond.

I think the right question for every creative to ask today is; what sustains the ecosystem in the agency?

That, detective, is the right question. Program terminated.

Ingredients of a creative brainstorming.

"i think I've got it - Mandela, the After-shave"


I believe that the brainstorm session is the most important event in the life of a creative.
Most of what I know about the process of ideation I’ve learned at brainstorms. I really respect that moment when a thought is transformed from the intangible into an idea.

I like the humbling nature of a brainstorm too. There is nowhere to hide, in a creative brainstorm things are fairly simple; the best ideas raise to the top (This depends on the type of brainstorm and the people in it, but its generally true.) Ideas at this stage don’t know politics, which is another reason why I enjoy this stage of the process.

So after a creative life spent brainstorming, I figured that I could share with you what I have learned, from the inside.

• Get the right people; Creative, knowledgeable, smart and willing.
• Gather different people. Variety works wonders.
• Who is leading? Someone needs to bring us back.
• Why are we gathered here?
• NEVER criticize (I don’t like…) NEVER judge (I don’t think it’s good…) I know you’ve heard this before but this is the single worst mistake people make. Criticism during the brainstorm session shuts down the soul of a creative.
• Explore every idea, see where it leads, look for connections.
• Pay attention to the flow of thinking.
• Don’t be in a bubble.
• Write down ideas on the wall.
• Anything goes but please make it relevant. Don’t ask the group to do your homework. (there are exceptions to this, but not many)
• Trust the group, don’t get stuck on one idea, move on.
• Dip in. Get dirty. Help cleaning.
• Learn from the guys who use little to create big.

For some reason there is more time spent in meetings than in brainstorms these days. We should reverse the equation and spend more time creating, even if it is for an aftershave.

Hard work is the best inspiration.

Annie Leibovitz is a great photographer who has taken many of the most iconic pictures of the last 20 years. On her book "At work" she talks about her career, and offers a valuable insight about the thoughts behind some of her favorite photographs.

I really appreciate that artists, agencies and business alike are opening the doors of their creative process. Allowing us to learn about their work and their thinking but more importantly, I think, teaching us that being creative takes much more "homework" than one would have imagined.

As a creative I have learned to rely a lot on my instincts (the ones you develop after years of practicing the craft) but what I see again and again from books by Stephen King, Annie Leibovitz, Elbuli and Twila Tharp is that all of them spend a long time preparing, studying and getting to know the subject.

Instincts are great and they all use them, but not as a tool but as a safety net.

This can surprise some who think that being creative is mostly about waiting for the inspiration to happen. That some lucky few are granted the gift of creativity and that they can turn the switch on and off at will.

The thing is, none of these creative minds mentioned a word about that.

They rely on creating a process that enables ideas. They rely on teams, dialogue, hard work and surrounding themselves with talent and passion.
They believe that a lot of it is luck and some of it is God given talent.
They all agree that coming up with ideas is pure chance, and that you need to be paying attention to identify and take advantage of those few brilliant moments of inspiration.
They all agree that you need to spend a long time rehearsing, and be ready when the time comes, with the finger in the click button, the fingers on the keyboard or the pan on the stove.

There are no shortcuts to learning.

Breathe.

We humans need to breathe. That's what we are designed to do. If we stop breathing, we die.

Creative people need to generate ideas, unusual thoughts and possibilities that may be useful.
If creative people stop practicing this talent, we die.

Don't hold your breath.