What are the things that get you really riled about working with agencies? I need a favour if you can spare the time, can you spare five minutes to let me know five things you would change? I would greatly be in your debt. Anything from the client side doubly do.
Might make interesting reading anyway.
As a bribe, first one to comment gets a free copy of Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson, or either Paul Arden book.
The last post (or next if you read it the other way) shows not only that you should leave press relations to the experts, but that PR should be at the heart of the process. Yet in most cases, the two disciplines never get together. They’re very different, but they could complement each other beautifully.
"Ad agencies and PR agencies still work for the most part in diconnected silos, with little understanding of each other’s business or how to harness combined value", writes Claire Beale in the Independent. As someone who’s bit cynical about the breathtaking self importance of Campaign Magazine, it’s refreshing to see it’s editor admitting that advertising is not the world.
Our ChildLine film got some coverage in the Yorkshire Post, and me into hot water. I gave them a quick interview, but the words seem to have come out all wrong and I forgot to mention the creatives. It was Stu’s idea, but the project is described as ‘the brainchild of Andrew Hovells and Jaquie Cross’ (she’s the client). I’m now facing weeks of grief, "What do you want to do Andrew, it’s your brainchild", "Write the copy, it’s your brainchold". I know what John Precott feels like now.
Glyn at Ideas department has some practical advice on the skill of keeping it simple and taking time to write less. He wins extra points for quoting the wisdom of Mrs Northern Planner .
These bits stood out:
"You believe your own hype when people say ‘that’s clever’. (They either mean ‘that’s really good and simple’ or ‘that’s too complicated and I don’t understand it’.)"
"Trying to be too clever is bad because:
So the incomparable Roger Federer has won another Grand Slam. Like most sports geniuses, he seems to be able to bend the laws of physics, just like the way Ali seemed to float across the ring or Michael Jordan seemed to hang in the air. But sometimes, having such mutant like gifts can make things harder.
He always had the skill, but he lost matches thanks to being too much of a natural. Because he could play so many shots instinctively, he had too much time to think. It wasn’t until later that he learned to handle the confusing choice his skills presented to him.
I’m sure there’s a parallel in there for what it’s like being a young planner sifting through all the brilliant free advice out there on blogs and stuff.
Second Northern Planning Summit this in Leeds. Last time was fun but we enjoyed a bit more Leffe than we should – one of use ended sleeping in tent apparently (name withheld to protect the guilty).
"Your twenties are torture,really, because you don’t know what you’re going to be or whether it’s all going to work out, and you are supposedly an adult but you haven’t really learnt anything…I think your thirties are a wonderful time."
Helen Mirrren
The nights may be drawing in, but you also get to see more sunrises like this on the way to work.
Next time you lose reception on your TV take the time to appreciate what your seeing. Part of those crackly bits on the screen are caused by radiation from the Big Bang. Your watching the start of the universe, the few seconds when it suddenly went from infinitely small to infinitely big.
It’s not often you see something made out of nothing.
Pipex is pleased with the former Knight Rider. Brand recognition is up 50% according to this article. But hold on – up 50%? Who had heard of Pipex before? Anyway, they’re hiring Pamela Anderson next. No need to artificially inflate any figures here…
By the way, there’s some stuff around for an insurance company called Hiscox. Nothing can save this brand until they figure out what most will make of their name.
NORTHERN PLANNER 