Category: The day job
-
I grew up at the fag end of the golden age of tennis. Just old enough to witness Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Becker and the very young Agassi and Sampras. I always admired Lendl the most because he had the least talent and probably did the most with it. Lendl wasn't a natural and certainly…
-
I wouldn't be the first to propose the notion those most market research about what people say they want or will do is pretty useless. It doesn't matter if that's NPD, creative development research or whatever. Research based on watching customers, observing them in their own environment, living with them can expose all sorts of…
-
I once met Amanda Holden. Let's be precise, I fainted 5 yards away from her for reasons I won't go through here. And no, I wasn't star-struck. In fact,I didn't like her. Based on what I'd read and what I'd seen on TV. Which means I didn't like HER I didn't like her image or…
-
I got an email from a creative group head today, asking me to give him a call. Naturally ignored him and went straight over to chat. Planners should never be too busy to talk to anyone. Why? Any excuse to chat to a senior creative should be embraced. And because any chance to break out…
-
So Happy New Year and stuff. You're probably bleary eyed and already facing a massive inbox and intray. That's the thing about New Years, by and large, they are not too different from old years. It's just part of the slow crawl of things gradually getting better. Of course, another feature of this point in…
-
The thing about planning is that every agency and some invidusals have their own process or schtick that's the answer to all the world's ills. That's great for creds and selling to clients but pretty useless to anyone trying to learn on the job because, to be honest, their is far more than one way…
-
Every year I make the same promise to myself and every year fail ingloriously. (picture courtesy of Andy Smith) That promise it to procrastinate less and be on time more. It has become an unquestioned cliche that agencies tend to work late. Usually justified by the claim that it's a creative process, you need to…
-
I liked this article from The Observer to how entertainment culture in the US is responding to difficult times- basically, escapism or wallow in the situation with grim reality. Not only can this found in the UK, on many levels, including brand ones: thrift culture/back to basics v escapism and nostalgia, actually all dramatised to…
-
WARC are calling for essays to tell us what the future of planning might be. Picture thieved from Russell Davies I'm in two minds about this prize, since I get impatient with planning intellectually talking to itself, rather than reaching out beyond it's faux academic walled gardens and engaging with the real world out there.…
NORTHERN PLANNER 