NORTHERN PLANNER

Rob Campbell moonlighting in Harry Potter film shock..

On the subject of chatting about random stuff, it’s the late night planning non-coffee morning in Manchester this Thursday. Looking forward to seeing the people I know and meeting those I don’t.

Simon’s heroically organised us and we’ll be in Trof, on Thomas Street, just down the road from Blu from around 7.30pm. Be nice to see you if you’re around.

I think that a big part of being a decent planner (and person) is being someone who others like throwing ideas around with – and not caring who thought of it. Stu said something really interesting today about passing things on. Loosely about not just buying something for the way it looks, or even how it works, but also being mindful about who you might want to give it to when you’re done with it, or who might want to buy it. Or even how your own tastes might change.

Lots of connections began to form. There’s the obvious stuff like what you might want to sell on Ebay, but also a few cultural bits kicking around. JamesB’s got me interested in repair culture and keeping stuff for longer – sustainable capitalism might mean we need to live with what we buy for longer – or make sure it’s useful for someone, or something else. There’s the economic conundrum of how we get bored with shiny new stuff quickly, but don’t have enough time with loved ones, some fuzzy stuff about customisation, personalisation and also the way I still treasure my Dad’s wooden Dunlop Maxply tennis raquet, but would never use it. It’s all a mess of thought spaghetti right now, but you never know.

The M62 is just a motorway, one that’s usually rammed with traffic too. When you’re crawling along imaptiently, it’s easy to forget that it’s one of the crowning achievements of British construction. The height, and the weather made it quite a challenge – the terrain certainly looked like hard work yesterday. It’s not very Northern of me, but there’s a positive in most stuff if you look hard enough.

On my first TV shoot, as a young account exec (with hair!)I was told that my job was to keep the client the client away from the director at all costs. Any queries absolutely had to go through the producer. It said a fair bit about highly strung directors as far as I was concerned, but there you go. So a casting session yesterday, where you could you talk to him direct AND make suggestions was a bit of a surprise. I think it’s important to have some influence if you can though, if you’re the kind of planner that thinks tone, manner and all that is important.

I was bothered at the Sun failing to cover the IPCC report. Then the other night I asked some car buyers, within the Sun’s demographic, about driving issues. No surprise that congestion was number one, but emmisions came second. But not a single one gave a fig about global warming – what mattered was ‘unfair taxes’. No wonder.

Reminds me about the dangers of assuming everyone thinks like you, and how difficult our environmental problems really are.

I worked on a pitch late last year where we did absolutely nothing wrong apart from asking a fair price for our work (Yorkhsire prices) and not being in London.

I’ve just seen the work they’re going with. With no trace of sour grapes, not a jot of bias, it’s dreadful, 100% wrong for the audience, the market and what the people we met stood for. My blood’s boiling when I think of what might have been. Not just the doing ‘great effective work to be proud of’ bit – more that I really liked them and wanted to see them do well. What a shame.

Lots to do next week. Stu’s letting me go to some casting session in Manchester (officially to have input on consistent tone, in reality, it’s half naked women in beds), back in Manchester for the Northern Planning Strong Coffee Evening next Thursday night.. and then London on Friday. With any luck, I’ll make a Russell Coffee Morning, meet Marcus (or Sacrum?) and  anyone else who’s around (Carol)?

1990 (ish). My Dad has been wearing the same sweatshirt for pretty much every holiday for the last ten years. It mysteriously disappears. He suspects my Mum, spends months finding a replacement.

2003. My favourite hooded top is on it’s last legs. It’s seen me though most of university, London, Newcastle, and the return to Leeds. I am ‘persuaded’ to throw it away. Break ups with girls have been harder.

I can’t find it on the website, but there was a great article in the ‘Work’ section of Saturday’s Guardian about the stability of a great job. In short, we’re all told to have a life outside the office, but when you’re life’s in turmoil, you’re job can be a refuge from the chaos. Depends on the job of course, but if it’s the kind of job that allows you to lose yourself in what you do, it can help.