Presentation given by Phil Adams, Blonde Planning Director, at Google Firestarters 16 on June 10th 2015. The event was entitled The Magnificent Seven. Seven CSO's and Planning Directors were each given 10 minutes to talk about "The most useful thing you have learned in your career to date."

1. This
is
a
10
minute
talk
given
to
an
audience
of
London
strategists
and
planners
at
Google’s
London
HQ
on
June
10th
2015.
It
was
a
Google
Firestarters
event
curated
by
Neil
Perkin
and
enHtled
The
Magnificent
Seven.
Six
of
London’s
finest
planners
(and
me)
were
invited
to
share
“The
most
useful
thing
you
have
learned
in
your
career
to
date”
in
the
form
of
a
provocaHon.
I
was
third
on
out
of
seven.
Hence
the
Htle:
ProvocaHon
3.

2. I
felt
a
liSle
like
Pete
Best.
“Who?”
you
say.
Exactly.
Pete
Best
was
the
Beatles’
drummer
before
Ringo
Starr.
SomeHmes
referred
to
as
the
FiYh
Beatle.
He
is
a
relaHve
unknown
and
that
is
how
I
felt
sharing
a
plaZorm
with
the
great
and
the
good
of
the
London
planning
scene.

3. Here
is
my
meandering
career
path
to
date,
by
way
of
some
form
of
credenHals.
I
studied
Chemical
Engineering
at
university,
but
never
pracHsed
as
an
engineer.
However
I
carried
an
engineer’s
appreciaHon
of
precision
and
elegant
soluHons
with
me
into
adverHsing,
along
with
an
engineer’s
fascinaHon
for
how
things
work
at
a
fundamental,
under-­‐the-­‐bonnet
level.
I
spent
6
years
at
BBH
as
account
director,
12
years
at
The
Leith
Agency
(the
last
6
as
managing
director),
and
9
years
and
counHng
at
Blonde
(a
digital
agency)
as
planning
director.
So
I
have
head
a
variety
of
roles
in
a
variety
of
agencies.
And
I’ve
tended
to
stay
in
each
place
for
a
reasonable
amount
of
Hme.
I’m
either
careful,
lucky
or
docile.

4. Neil
asked
us
to
share
the
most
useful
thing
we’ve
learned
in
our
career
to
date.
Which
I
guess
falls
under
the
heading
of
“wisdom”.
And
he
asked
us
to
share
that
wisdom
in
a
provocaHve
manner.
So
just
what
does
provocaHve
wisdom
look
like?
Well
maybe
a
liSle
like
this.
Marsellus
Wallace
talking
to
Butch
(Bruce
Willis)
in
the
film
Pulp
FicHon.

5. So
this
was
my
provocaHon
to
a
room
full
of
people
for
whom
strategy
is
the
job.
I
realise
that
I
was
at
least
flirHng
with
arrogance
by
saying
this.
But
it
wasn’t
my
intenHon
to
to
put
myself
on
some
kind
of
superstar
strategy
pedestal.
My
point
was
that,
for
an
industry
that
talks
a
good
planning
and
strategy
game,
there
are
a
lot
of
pracHHoners
who
don’t
have
as
firm
a
grip
on
what
strategy
is,
or
what
strategy
done
well
looks
like
as
they
should.
I
have
seen
this
Hme
and
again
from
senior,
well-­‐known
people
who
should
know
beSer
in
the
presentaHons
they’ve
given,
and
briefs
they
have
issued.
A
common
mistake
for
instance
is
the
failure
to
disHnguish
between
objecHves
and
strategy.
You
see
this
a
lot.
So,
for
the
purposes
of
this
talk,
the
most
useful
thing
I
have
learned
is
to
have
a
clear,
well-­‐honed
point
of
view
on
what
good
strategy
looks
like,
and
to
have
some
simple
models
to
ensure
that
your
strategy
is
proper
strategy
and
that
it
is
both
clear
and
robust.
The
rest
of
my
slides
are
an
example
of
such
a
framework.
This
one
has
served
me
well
and
seemed
to
resonate
with
a
decent
proporHon
of
the
audience
on
the
evening.

6. I
think
that
one
of
the
reasons
for
strategy
done
badly
is
that
it
is
the
end
product
for
the
planning
discipline.
So
there
is
a
tendency
to
view
it
as
an
end
in
its
own
right.
Which
brings
with
it
the
temptaHon
to
try
too
hard
to
make
strategy
intellectually
saHsfying
or
to
make
strategy
overtly
“creaHve”
in
its
arHculaHon.
We
would
do
beSer
to
remember
that
strategy
is
but
a
means
to
various
commercial
ends.
This
framework
helps
to
keep
the
planner’s
feet
on
the
ground.
The
four
P’s.
Good
strategy
is
Purposeful
and
Precise,
Prosaic
and
Profound.
Let’s
look
at
each
alliteraHve
couplet
in
turn.

7. I
menHoned
that
one
of
the
basic
mistakes
that
people
make
with
strategy
is
to
confuse
strategy
with
objecHves.
I
use
a
decepHvely
simple
framework
called
“How
can
we…?
So
that…?”
to
ensure
that
my
team
and
I
differenHate
appropriately
between
the
two.
When
you
arHculate
strategy
using
this
construcHon
it
forces
you
to
make
the
disHncHon
between
mean
and
ends.
It
also
helps
with
your
evaluaHon
framework
because
it
makes
obvious
which
units
and
metrics
pertain
to
communicaHon
means
and
which
pertain
to
(more
valuable)
commercial
ends.
This
is
a
simple
model
ensures
that
your
strategy
is
rooted
in
a
valuable
purpose
and
that
it
arHculates
a
precise
plan
to
achieve
it.

8. Here
is
an
example
of
that
framework
in
acHon
for
one
of
my
clients.
Our
purpose,
our
commercially
valuable
end,
was
brand
health.
That’s
the
same
purpose
as
TV
adverHsing,
measured
in
the
same
way
through
the
brand
tracking
study.
Our
means,
our
digital
strategy,
was
to
deliver
adverHsing-­‐scale
audience
reach
through
social
channels.
This
is
where
precision
is
important.
There
are
a
myriad
of
apparent
success
measures
available
to
digital
comms.
This
statement
of
strategy
makes
it
clear
that
we
are
only
concerned
with
audience
reach.
And
delivering
reach
cost-­‐
efficiently
means
content
that
gets
shared.
Shares
and
reach
were
the
ONLY
things
we
focused
on
for
this
client,
to
the
exclusion
of
all
else.
And
it
worked.
This
is
not
a
case
study
presentaHon
and
I
didn’t
have
Hme
to
go
into
detail
with
results.
The
point
is
that
such
precision
and
single-­‐mindedness
have
profound
implicaHons
for
the
execuHon
of
strategy,
and
that
is
as
it
should
be.
In
this
case
a
dedicaHon
to
shares
had
profound
implicaHons
for
content
quality
control.
This
apparently
simple
model
can
be
profoundly
powerful.

9. The
“How
can
we…?
So
that…?”
model
is
designed
to
ensure
that
strategy
is
Purposeful
and
Precise.
But
the
whole
thing
breaks
down
if
you
slip
into
imprecise
thinking
such
as
is
implied
by
the
use
of
the
word
“engagement”
or
any
variaHon
on
that
theme.
Engagement,
engaging,
engage
is
the
language
of
the
lazy.
Engagement
is
the
anHthesis
of
precision.
It
can
mean
almost
anything.
And
therefore
it
effecHvely
means
nothing.
Engagement
is
a
pox
on
strategic
rigour.
I
have
banned
my
team
from
using
it
and
strategic
thinking
is
ALWAYS
beSer
for
it.
Next,
what
do
I
mean
by
Prosaic
and
Profound…?

10. I
am
of
the
opinion
that
some
of
the
best
examples
of
strategy
done
well
can
be
found
in
the
annual
reports
of
publicly
listed
companies.
The
primary
audience
for
these
statements
of
strategy
is
investment
analysts.
The
CEO’s
and
CFO’s
responsible
for
corporate
strategy
know
that
this
audience
is
exacHng
and
unforgiving.
Strategy
needs
to
make
sense.
Strategy
needs
to
be
credible.
And
the
analysts
need
to
believe
that
the
strategy
will
deliver
results
–
namely
sustainable
long
term
growth
in
profits
and
dividends.
This
balance
of
credibility
and
potency
is
oYen
delivered
in
statements
of
strategy
that
are
Prosaic
in
arHculaHon
but
Profound
in
implicaHon.
The
example
above
is
a
statement
of
strategy
from
a
well
known
brand.
It
is
Prosaic
almost
to
a
fault.

11. And
here
is
the
Profound
implicaHon
of
that
strategy.
The
Apple
Store.
The
“Theatre
Of
Screens”.
Good
strategy
forces
you
to
do
things
that
sound
simple,
but
which
are
not
easy.
That
is
perhaps
a
yardsHck
of
good
strategy.
It
takes
you
into
the
arena
of
the
simple
but
not
easy.
I
read
a
KMPG
paper
recently,
which
suggested
that
strategy
done
well
generates
“beneficial
confrontaHons”
wherein
the
strategist
has
to
choose
one
path
over
another
-­‐
simple
choices
that
are
not
easy
to
make.

12. Here
is
another
example
from
Marks
&
Spencer.
Like
all
listed
companies
its
objecHves
are
a
variaHon
on
the
theme
of
long
term
profit
growth.
One
pillar
of
the
M&S
strategy
to
achieve
this
is
to
improve
gross
margins.
That
is
preSy
Prosaic
–
“Our
strategy
is
to
improve
gross
margin”.
But
it
has
very
Profound
implicaHons.
For
instance
the
company
plans
to
bring
60%
of
clothing
design
in
house
by
2016/17,
up
from
20%
at
the
end
of
2014.
That
sounds
simple,
but
you
can
bet
that
it
won’t
be
easy.

13. So
that
was
my
“provocaHve
wisdom”.
Save
the
high
faluHn’,
overtly
creaHve,
self-­‐consciously
inspiraHonal
stuff
for
mission
statements
if
you
like.
But
keep
your
strategy
Purposeful,
Precise,
Prosaic
and
Profound.