NORTHERN PLANNER

One of the best parts of being a planner is that every job really is different. I think this is a problem for organisations that stick to rigid processes and models- if you do everything a certain way, it all ends up a little similar. Each project has specific problem, with specific group of people involved, shouldn’t the process be tailored around what’s appropriate right now?

I think this stretches to what you read too. Most books about marketing, planning and stuff are full of fantastic case studies and wonderful rules for approaching projects. It can get a bit confusing though and you often find that when you apply it to your world, it doesn’t quite work in the same way.  Instead of asking,"How can we make this project fit this process?", maybe we should ask, "What bits of what I know will be relevant for this?".

By the way, I’ve nearly finished ‘Everything bad is good for you’ by Steven Johnson. I’ll post are review in a bit if anyone is interested, but does anyone want to borrow it? Give me your address and I’ll post it through. First come first served.

I love coffee, espescially that wonderful smell when you open a fresh packet, but it’s not the same as tea.

It has no ritual for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like Starbucks, I like the way it’s given good coffee to everyone, but it feels rushed and homogenised. Coffee signifies business, being quick, a caffeine jump start to get you going for the pace of life. All this is good, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with being cosmopolitan, but it’s not tea.

Tea is British, and whatever version of British you want. It’s a mug of tea in a greasy spoon, it’s something to dunk a biscuit in (Hob Nobs work best), it’s afternoon tea on the lawn and the lost empire. It’s a ritual, it’s tradition, it’s the famous British reserve; the age old argument about if the milk should go in first, warming the pot (it’s not tea to me if it’s made in the mug), the water must be boiling – all those things.

Tea is Kate Bush and Alan Rickman v Coffee’s Britney Spears and Will Smith. Tea is grown up and warmly eccentric, with tea you want to sit, you want to take time, you want accompaniments done just right. In a world that seems to continually speed up, tea is slow and thoughtful. That’s a good thing to cling on to for a while.

British thinktank Demos is paid to come up with new ideas, some slightly ridiculous, some brilliant. That’s the nature of ideas, you need to have lots for some to be amazing. Here are three I like.

1. Libraries in airports
2. Hairdressers as advisors to local councils (who talks to more people about live issues?).
3. Politicians should write poetry – sounds crazy at first, but not only would it relieve the colossal pressure, it might make them stop and reflect more.

I’ve always thought that agencies either fall into the Good or Evil camp. They’re either inspiring places that care about their people as well as money, or faceless dungeons where people are expendable.

This post from The Scamp is a tale from The Dark Side.A familiar story of an account director fired on the whim of a client, it shows how bad some agencies treat their people, despite how hard they work and the lack of job security.

If you’re in a Good agency, remember to be thankful. But the rulers of the The Dark Side would be wise to appreciate that they’d be nothing  without their people, before it’s too late.

As for the poor fella: It’s an awful time and I hope he can make ends meet, but losing your job can be the best thing that’s ever happened to you (take it from one who knows). If the place wasn’t right, now he can find one that it is, with better clients too. He can also make sure they’re pitching against his old employer’s (hopefully for their  lifeblood accounts) and help thrash them to bits……..

..there’s nothing finer than blowing bubbles.

I was at yet another wedding this weekind and missed a chance to go walking with the The Fools on the Hill. I’ll make sure I go next time, and not just to get a free ‘I pity the fool’ mug.

Disturbing picture of a giant baby, courtesy of the Guardian.

.. is that you lose your vanity. Last Thursday I forgot to pack a t-shirt for the gymn and ended up training in the one I was wearing. I ended up a cross between an extra from  Chariots of Fire and a reject from a 1970’s  PE class.

Just found out that we lost that pitch because we were small. Apparently, we were at least as good as the big European agencies , but we lost out because we weren’t part of a big European network. We’ll still get some tactical work though, and wait for the dinosuars to cock up.

Being optimistic, it’s nice to know that a small agency ‘Up North’ can stand up to the big boys. Being realistic, sometimes big isn’t clever, but it doesn’t have to be.

Picture via Toothpaste for Dinner

Don’t be fooled by the ‘House of Pain’ pose, if you haven’t got a Stu, find one quick. A Stu is:

1. A copywriter who can’t spell.

2. Someone who you can learn from if you haven’t been formally trained.

2. A sounding board for anything you need a chat about.

3. Someone to throw ideas around with, no matter how daft they may seem at first.

4. Helps your thinking, and wants you to make his work better.

5. Brilliant with clients – and helping you when it all goes wrong.

6. Someone who will overlook questionable retro tennis shirts and dodgy sandals .