NORTHERN PLANNER

I like working in a smaller place ‘Up North’. While it’s true that you sometimes lose out on clients that like the comfort of huge international networks, and ‘London’, theres a lot to be said for working with a smaller bunch of nice people.

1. You get to be media neutral. There’s not enough people to specialise , so you get used to having an idea first, instead of fitting into a pre-selected media.

2. You get the chance to make more mistakes. With less hierarchy, you get to try more things quicker, which means you learn fast, even though it’s scary sometimes.

3. You make each other better. Working with the same group of people more makes you closer, espescially when people where I live tend to be more honest and open.You share more things and trust them enough to say the unsayable- so you can help each other to avoid doing something really dumb, or stumble accross something really great.

4. Clients trust you more. They can see that the team’s close and sparks off each other- they begin to like joining in. Next thing you know, you can tell them their brief doesn’t make sense, and they can show you how little you really know about their business.

5. Less corporate culture, and the need to be what other people think you should be, means you can work in your own way. It also means learning to respect that other people want to do this too. Perversly less people around means more variation – you learn more from fewer people that are allowed to be different to each other.