NORTHERN PLANNER

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  • Work is good

    We’re often happiest when we’re working, despite the demands of modern work. I had three months between jobs about five years ago and I was so bored.

    Work_life For many it’s the place we experience ‘flow’ the most – that sense of doing what we do well, when we can lose ourselves in the moment. Many of us work from home at least some of the time now, and we can make that experience more rewarding.We can optimize flow.

    There’s means of creating environments that function well and feel good. Drop the office aesthetic, it reinforces the message that work is ‘duty’. These days. much of what we do is technological in texture, most of us use a computer everyday, so I think it’s important to inject some warmth, some life and sensuality. Make it pleasurable, establish some personal rituals. Come to think of it, do it in the office too!

    Work boils down to right brain creative work and left brain logic. You can’t speed up the right-brain bit. It’s intuitive and hard to schedule. We do it best when it happens in its own time. Left brain depends on efficiency and process – plus very good tools. It’s fast, rational. linear. Each needs its own environement,so create them. Ethographers have shown that we all need our own desk in the office, a sense of our own little space, but that doesn’t mean we have to spend all day there.

  • Thinking outloud on instore promotions

    With apologies for thieving Russell’s ‘Urban Spam’ phrasology, here’s some thoughts I banged out on creating effective instore marketing, that may or may not get published in Marketing Week soonish. They wanted to know what to do when shoppers even ignore instore gorillas.

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    By the most conservative estimate, today’s consumer is bombarded with 500 advertising messages a day. And take any instore category you like, there is an overwhelming choice. We simply make too much, and try to sell too much. Naturally, the consumer has evolved a highly developed filter as a result.
    No wonder since we have less time than ever. We try and squeeze as much into our days as we possibly can, interruptions are an annoyance. When they’re in a rush, or lost in the task of shopping, consumers block out annoying ‘urban spam’ and only engage with what’s interesting or useful. Surprises or shocks are unhelpful or annoying. Surprise is not enough, we also need to delight – add to their experience.
    By taking the time to understand exactly WHO is shopping at your chosen store, and what they’re looking for, we can begin to understand how to earn their attention. Like Sainsbury’s understanding that their core foodie shoppers will change their shopping pattern in return for easy ways to be a more creative cook.
    There are universal pressure points in any shop – from the first 10 feet of a store where you get your bearings, to the unbearable wait to pay. There’s a myriad of personal experiences – from the two women shopping together, lingering in store as they enjoy each other’s company, to the father who likes to feel like a provider for his kids (especially if they’re shopping with him). There’s the sportsman who will buy a ‘face fitness’ moisturiser if it’s in the sports section, or the style conscious businesswomen who wants her ipod to co-ordinate with her clothes. There’s always a moment during the shop, it’s all in the timing.
    In the end, there’s too much clutter already, the more we understand what is motivating the shopper WHILE THEY’RE SHOPPING, the more likely we’ll be able to earn their attention, rather than being an annoying interruption.

  • I shall not be moved

    The alarm usually goes off at 6am. By 6.15 I’m in the car. By 7.15 I’m at my desk, or in the pool, never at work after 8.30. I’ve lots to do, but I also want to miss the traffic.

    Being 50 miles from work means an hour’s drive home too. So why the hell don’t I want to move from Leeds and find somewhere in Manchester closer to work?

    Firstly, after being  a nomad for 10 years or so, I realised that Leeds was home, we fit each other.

    More importantly, we live in the kind of little village that’s hard to find.

    5 minutes walk from this…

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    And this…

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  • Frayed around the edges

    There hasn’t been much posting recently, in case you didn’t notice.

    It’s been rather busy, but good. I’m at that point though, where I start to feel like it’s time for a break. Thankfully the Spring pilgrimage to Mum and Dad’s in Cornwall is only two weeks away….

    St_ives

  • Love you can taste

    The love we put into making a meal becomes a part of it and alters its nature. Through our touch, even unconsciously through our breath, our emotions are transfered to the stuff we’re preparing and then on to the people we’re feeding. I think this explains why food made with love is always a feast and over complex food that has been no fun to prepare can be so very unappealing. I read a book about home cooking from Mumbai and this quote stayed with me, "The most important ingredient’s in our samosas is laughter". All food should fee this way.

    That’s why I love making tea in the pot, and appreciate when it’s done for me. It’s not that much more effort, but it represents makes all the difference in the world.

    It’s also why I love buying food from a local butcher, or a farmer’s market. You can taste the love, care and attention in what they’re selling too.

    Now, not everyone has the time to put loads of effort in, but like most things, A little bit of effort goes a long way. Fresh pasta you’ve cut yourself instead of the dried stuff, roasting a chicken as normal, but coating with a crumbled stock cube to crisp the skin…or tucking garlic under the skin, fresh herbs chopped into a bought soup, fresh vegetables added to a bought sauce. Just little things that show you’ve been thinking about someone while you’ve made this, that’s all it has to be.

  • Some thoughts on fashion and beauty

    I mentioned awhile back that I’m working on a fashion/beauty brand now. I also alluded to a certain amount of irony that I’m hairless, the complete polar opposite the beautiful and know nothing about fashion. That wasn’t entirely true.

    Catwalk

    I’m a bald, odd looking fellow it’s true, but a terrible false modesty habit makes the bit about knowing nothing about fashion and women’s relationship with how they look a bit of a lie. Some of that is down to growing up with two older sisters, but much of it is being interested in everything.

    If you’re the kind of person who absorbs interesting stuff, if you have a genuine interest in culture – and let’s face it, if you’re a planner you bloody well should be – you’ll have working knowledge of lots of stuff whether you like it or not. One thing that struck me before, and does even more now is the disconnect between fashion culture in the media – and what really goes on in the lives of real people.

    Consider this quote – "Everyone who is smart says they hate fashion, that it’s a waste of time. I have asked many super-serious people, "Then why is fashion so popular". No one can answer that question."

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    Miuccai Prada

    It seems that the fashion media consists of either super serious commentary on the importance of a £1,300 handbag as this season’s must have and how bootcut jeans MUST NOT BE WORN ON PAIN OF INCARCERATION FROM THE FASHION POLICE…….or fashion people who turn it all into some kind of mystical puzzle that mere mortals are not supposed to ever understand – impenetrable rules for poor buggers who actually work for a living and contend with every day reality of baby sick. public transport and mortgages.

    Then there’s the accepted wisdom of the ‘quality press’, that would have you believe that the fashion press brainwashed women into believing they HAVE to buy stuff they don’t really want or need – dullards who needs protecting from nasty Vogue.

    But there’s far more to the female species (and male!) than that. A sharp brain and a pair of shoes to die for are not mutually exclusive.

    Fashion can, and should be about making people feel good about themselves. When you look great, you feel great – confident, attractive, individual. That’s the real truth about fashion and beauty – but the bulk of editorial, and virtually ALL of marketing around it is about beauty for beauty’s sake.

    It’s sad that the whole fashion industry has come to be seen as opposite of something that give you self confidence. A few preening designers and writers have managed to turn what is generally a good thing into something seen as evil and manipulative. They need to expand their physical ideal in general, but that’s only the half of it – much of it is celebrating what fashion does for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with having an ideal – a top tier of unreachable stuff most of us dream of…that’s the point, but the power of it is little to do with how look, rather it’s what that does for you.

    And anyway,really silly, inappropriate clothes are most of the point. This is supposed to be fun. Sometimes the clothes flatter, sometimes they look ridiculous – and it matters that the uninitiated tut and go ‘That doesn’t look comfy, I’d never been seen dead in that’. It’s no different to me feeling great, confident and YOUNG when the older generation slags of the music I like – they just don’t get it which makes me love it more.

    So I’m wishing the whole fashion and beauty industry would stop patronising us, and doing everything it can to make us feel small. In the end, it should empower you, fill with joy and confidence that’s the point.

    You can have the impossibly beautiful women sashaying into the bar, everyone looking at her…but the girl who feels a bit more confident walking into the boardroom, or the Mum who’s new coat brightens up her day – and makes the baby sick smell a little less rank matter too………….maybe more? 

  • You can take tea love too far…

    …as this shows.

    Scott found it and thought of me.

  • Want to work at TBWA Manchester?

    Vader

    Work is looking for new planning talent. Whoever you might be, whatever you might be doing right now, if you want to work on some great brands, like the idea of living in Manchester, a proper planing department with people like you to spark off ….and don’t mind the thought of working in the same agency as me….. I’d highly recommend it.

    If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll pass it onto the boss – she’s great by the way, you’ll like her. Not to mention the wider team.

    I can confirm they make very good tea….

  • Want to work at TBWA Manchester?

    Vader

    Work is looking for new planning talent. Whoever you might be, whatever you might be doing right now right now, if you want to work on some great brands, like the idea of living in Manchester, a proper planing department with people like you to spark off ….and don’t mind the thought of working in the same agency as me….. I’d highly recommend it.

    If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll pass it onto the boss – she’s great by the way, you’ll like her. Not to mention the wider team.

    I can confirm they make very good tea….

  • The ultimate mug

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    The wise and generous Rob Campbell has given a new tea mug, replete with its own biscuit holder. No doubt this will prove an invaluable comfort during the beverage wars.

    Rob, I hereby announce my thanks, I will treasure it despite the note………..

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