Category: The day job
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I've always worked on challenger brands, with one exception. Challengers are much better than number ones – more fun, more interesting, less complacency. So naturally, I've joined Eatbigfish's Challenger Project community. You should too. And if you haven't read Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan yet, you should do that too, it's one of two…
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Good interview with Will Collins from Naked, pay special attention to the bit about Boots.
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One of the difference between new work and old work is that I won't be lead agency planner all the time, which was mostly the case before. Sometimes I will, sometimes I'll be part of an inter agency team, doing mostly the digital bit. That means two things, which, come to think of it, stand…
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I'm not the only one whothinks agencies, and most specifically planners, need to engage with Behavioural Economics. Basing ideas on how people behave is supposed to be what we're good at. But… ..let's not fall into Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome. Most of it is really common sense. Like most credible stuff, it makes sense because…
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Oke Doke, as promised it's time to finish communications planning. For previous posts, go here, here and then here. When we left it, we were at the point when we'd worked out the task for communications – what actions do you want your audience to take – the thing communications can influence people to do…
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After months and months languishing on Sky + I finally watced Marcel Theroux's 'In Search of Wabi Sabi'. http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-6916115281561390843&hl=en&fs=true In case you can't be bothered to watch or follow the links, Wabi Sabi is a japanese theory to aesthetics and transience as the touchstone of beauty. Now I think the basics of that are worth…
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Andrea's published her dissertation. It's on ghd, so naturally I'm interested. You should read it too. Andrea did work experience with me last year. She blew us away with her project on reducing teen smoking. She's graduating this year and you should be thinking about taking her on. Ideas pour out of her and she'll…
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I like the Adidas Originals stuff – it gets that a great brand needs a setting, a sense of place. It also gets the need for story. 'The street where originality lives' ticks both boxes for me.
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If you want to be more creative, you could wear black and the occasional ironic t-shirt, maybe say 'no' a lot and even make logos invisible to the naked eye. However, there are some psychological tricks you can employ instead. 1. Introduce some greenery. Red agitates us, blue relaxes us, but green both calms and invigorates. Get…
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I'm not the first to notice the importance of simplicity of course, but anyway… Just in case you thought talking or writing in big words and complex language makes you look clever, think again. Talk like a human, take the time to write less.
NORTHERN PLANNER 