NORTHERN PLANNER

There’s an interesting post on Russell’s blog with lots of advice on moving from account handling to planning. There’s plenty there on how you can make it happen, but less about the things you might want to consider first. I made the move myself and found that I had to get used to some new things. There were differences in the way people behaved around me – and the way I needed to be around them.

Here’s what I learned; take it with a pinch of salt since I was never going to be the best suit in the world (Jonny Hornby I’m not). It may reveal more about my shortcomings than anything useful but I hope it’s helpful in some way.

1. Surrendering control and winning influence– The buck tends to stop with the account handler so you’ll be used to making decisions as a divine right. Creatives will to be involved, and of course, in the end, the client decides, but planners don’t officially get to decide that much. They do get to suggest and influence a lot, if what they contribute is useful and delivered in non – threatening way. You can no longer tell, only suggest – so make your suggestions very, very good.

2. No one needs you in the room – As a suit, you’ll be used to attending most of the important meetings as a matter of course. Suddenly, you have to earn your right to be there. Creatives, suits and clients can get along fine without planners complicating things, you need them to want you there. Some of this will come from the quality of what you contribute, the rest is how you behave. There are lots of egos in these rooms, with creatives, suits and clients all jockeying for positioning. As soon as you make anyone feel like you’re stealing their thunder, you won’t be asked back. You’ll remember as suit wanting to deepen your relationship with the client, but there’s creatives desperately holding on to their idea too. How can you be the person that can help these people with these objectives?

3. Creatives will be wary – rare is the suit that hasn’t  borne the brunt of being the bringer of bad news; making the logo bigger, altering a line, the work’s bombed in research etc. Personally, I think the conflict is good – both fill each other’s gaps – but now you have to convince these people do something rather than telling them. Hopefully, they’ll trust you anyway, after lots of projects where you’ve shown you care about their work and argued their case in front of the client. But they’ll be a bit cynical of you now – "Used to be suit, so don’t expect much". You’ll have to be twice as interesting as the next planner, but there is something else that will help. You can be a non – threatening ally. How will you convince them you can get there work through, how can you get them coming to you for things that will make the work better? There’s a good start here and here, and here if you need to use the dark side….. You can actually use your former life a suit as a big positive. Most of a creative’s work ends up in the bin -and a fair bit of this is culled before it goes to client. The creative director is a barrier of course, but so are the account handlers. You know how suits think, and some of their dark arts. Sharing this will help the creatives trust you, and they’ll owe you one.

4. So will suits – You used to be one of them, now you’re not. Not only will they be doubly wary of you stealing their thunder as a former suit, they’ll be very cynical about your planning powers since you’re "No better than they are". You’ll have to work hard to prove yourself of course, but there are some dark arts to employ too. You know how they think, you know what matters to them. You’ll be loving not doing the admin they do, you’ll be ecstatic that you’re not piggy in the middle anymore. This means you’re in a better position to help and appreciate what they do for you. You know what it’s like for them so you know how to help. Here’s some more pointers.

I hope the above is a useful start. Anyone got anything to add? I found the transition a challenge, but it was well worth it. It’s a privilege to have a job that seems more like a hobby. By the way, I’m of the opinion that more and more planners will end up on the client side. Anyone gone through the experience? What was it like?