Planning Needs Some Planning

Planning Needs Some Planning. Gareth Kay Head of Planning, Modernista! Conferência de Planejamento do GP 2008

My contention: Advertising, primarily due to the failure of planning, is complacently coasting into irrelevance. We need to fix it. Quickly.

Controlled friction. Creative Account person Planner

Controlled friction. Make the advertising good Make the advertising happen Make the advertising work

More often than not, it isn’t.

“ In most categories a brand’s market share is stationary”

4 out of 5 categories seen as increasingly homogeneous

Less than 1 in 10 ads seen as different

4% response rate successful in DM; 0.5% average click-thru rate for banners

3x $ spent on price cutting as on ‘brand building’ in packaged goods

Sources: Andrew Ehrenberg; Copernicus Consulting; McKinsey

“ I’m just surprised no-one’s thought of a better idea yet.” Stephen King on Planning at Planning’s 30 th Birthday, 1998

It’s time to be radical.

3 big problems.

1. We’re operating in the wrong business.

Consumer. Brand. Business.

Culture.

The most interesting people and things are multi-faceted, full of depth and nuance.

2. Lost in translation.

A brand is a business’ social manifestation.

We live in two worlds, one of ‘social exchanges’ and one of ‘market exchanges’

Historically, we’ve focused on translating commercial grammar into social grammar (rather awkward, like offering your friend’s mum $10 for cooking you dinner)

We need to translate the other way and bring social grammar into the commercial world.

3. The pursuit of the wrong objectives.

The usual objectives are wrong.

Awareness doesn’t really matter in a world of overchoice

Attributes and attitudes, adjusted for brand size, don’t change

Image doesn’t shift until after behavior

Source: Andrew Ehrenberg

It’s energy that matters. The active or moving force of a brand A leading indicator of usage and preference Justifies a higher price Adds an incremental 64% to brand value than sales growth alone Source: Y&R Brand Asset Valuator

Source: “The Brand Bubble”, John Gerzema

Energy drives conversations. A fourfold increase in conversation drives double the revenue. Source: London School of Economics 2007.

This means planning for a different outcome.

Have a point of view on the world, not a position in the category.

Have a social mission, not just a commercial proposition.

“ Like any company we require a profit to stay in business. But it is not the reason we are in business. The thing that has not changed from day one is the desire to make people think about the world we live in. This is, and always will be, why we are in business.”

Photo: Andrew Hovells (aka Northern Planner)

It’s not about social media. It’s about social ideas and unsocial ideas.

Understand what people are interested in and work back from there.

“ Nobody reads advertising. People read what they want to read and sometimes it's an ad .” Howard Gossage “ Often our biggest mistake as managers is believing that, in general, customers care a lot about your brand. They do not.” Patrick Barwise

Be additive not interruptive.

Interaction, not integration, is what matters.

Stop making a thing, start creating a puzzle

Do stuff.

Do stuff. Lots of it.

Coherency not consistency. Provide an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives Source: John Grant, ‘The Brand Innovation Manifesto’ language, eg ‘skinny’ specials eg frappucino habits formation range and options ordering system starbucks company barista culture ‘ my sister’ book africa 05 social responsibility used grounds for gardeners fair trade coffee cause publicity in store sofas and ambience hearmusic Xm burn your own cd music cd in store performance and art book reading starbucks salon akelah and the bee

It’s about understanding distributed identity. Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google Search Google 411 Google Docs Google labs Google Shopping Google Scholar Google Books Google Maps Google sketch Google.Org Fossil fuel Challenge Youtube Chrome Browser Blogspot

“ Any idea is dangerous if it’s a person’s only idea”*