Nice time of year to be outside. It’s warm enougn to sit down with the paper, but there’s enough warning of winter on the air air to stop you overheating. The shadows are a bit longer too.
It’s time for planning next year’s garden, planting bulbs and tidying up (or to be truthful,reading the paper while her indoors does it).
Kato came out to join us.
This was me aged 12 on a swimming trip to Germany, proudly sporting my City of Leeds team t-shirt. It was my first trip abroad without Mum and Dad, and I was bit nervous, but a bit curious about what it would be like.
It ended up being one of those times when you feel everything is perfect and you really would not change a thing. I stayed with a lovely German family who treated me as their own, I had a purple patch of form and won a few races; and I finally got to kiss Samantha Lightfoot. I can still see the proud look on Mum and Dad’s face when I got off the coach with my medals back in Leeds.
I’m 32 now and there have been a few more moments when everything seems in it’s right place. Getting married was one of course, but there are others that just simply arrived.
One was in Hamburg the night before the Millennium. We picked a quiet bar to save energies for the following day, but we ended meeting some nice people and going to a party full of different nationalities and backgrounds. I can remember standing on this balcony just chatting with these people I’d never see again and just thinking how perfect it was.
Another time was just walking on the beach in Cornwall, where Mum and Dad live now, with the sun on my back.
They don’t come around very often, but when these moments come, they stay with you forever.
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?
I’m enjoying Joe Klein’s new book. In ‘Politics Lost’, the author of ‘Primary Colours’ argues that politicians need to lead with more conviction and humanity. As voters look for sincerity rather than minutia of policy, it’s how you come across, not what you say. This blog and politics don’t mix, but just for once…….I reject the idea this means voters are stupid, maybe it’s more that they are failing to connect – except one?
Here’s a great Observer article on Generation Y and Web 2.0 stuff. It describes the complexity involved in younger people wanting to be defined by what they do, not what they consume. There’s also some thought provoking views on how tough the young have it in the UK- worries about pensions, can’t afford to buy their first house and mountains of student debt. I especially like the thought of brands eschewing ‘messaging’ in place of ‘hosting conversations’.
Two things happened to me this week that were linked in an odd way.
First off, on Tuesday I was starving on a train and went to the food bi t for a bacon sandwich. The cue was about 20 deep, people were impatient and their was just one poor girl serving. She worked at the speed at light; heating stuff up, taking credit cards, counting out change and managing to smile all the way through. I don’t think I could have done that.
Then last night my tire blew on the way home. Being totally impractical, I had to get the AA out to change my tire. I can just about check the oil and that’s it.
Lots of people are good at things the rest of us are not, not just doctors or police. People do amazing things everyday, yet we never really stop to think about them.
It’s true in agencies too. My last place fell apart for two weeks when the guy who looked after the building was off sick. For a few days he was the most important person there.
We seem to celebrate the ideas people all the time, but what about the doers? Who speaks up for the studio that saves our bacon week in week week out? Who woulddo the contact report if the suits didn’t? What about accounts? Everyone’s good at something, maybe we should appreciate that a bit more.
…little things make a big difference. Her indoors was away last night,this was waiting for me when I got home.
I used to work in Canary Wharf in another life and last week I was back for the first time since 1998. There wasn’t much about then and getting there was a victory,largely thanks to the unreliable Docklands Light Railway. A lot has changed.
Just to wind me up, they finished the Jubilee Line about 6 months after I moved back up North. This week I was amazed how quick it made the journey and how clean and, well, nice it was.
Canary Wharf has turned into one big shopping centre with anything you could possibly want to shop for.
But what really struck me was exactly the same as the first time I was here – the sheer scale and style of the architecture. I soon got used to it and never noticed it anymore, I even used to sit in the staff canteen near the top and not notice that I could see all of London around me.
I left London because the crowds, the tube and the sheer impersonal nature of the place was too much for me. But whenever I go back I get a bit whistful about the life you can have down there.
Is there ever a time when you appreciate what you have instead of what you don’t? Maybe we should stop to smell the flowers while we can.
When I got back home to Leeds, being away made me love home that little bit more for a while. The quiet roads, smiling people, cheep beer, having a garden…. and no London bogies. But by next week I’ll be moaning about speedbumps or something again.
It just tastes better, I’m not sure why, but it just does. I love the bubbles you get on the surface of a freshly poured cup. You never get that from tea made in a mug.
I’m experimenting with my own blends at the moment. Earl Grey only seems to work on it’s own, peppermint seems make it more refreshing. At the moment, 2 parts English Breakfast to one part Ceylon and one part Darjeeling works a treat.
NORTHERN PLANNER 
