![Once you’ve found your [current best bet at an] answer, write the creative
brief. This is centred around a ‘proposition’- a sentence with your simple
and single minded argument
A famous planning brief… Sainsbury’s needed +£2.5bn over 3 years
A clever planner figured that inspiring Sainsbury’s shoppers to put one additional item in
their basket every week (an extra £1.14) would achieve this
This brief resulted in the campaign](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/introtoplanningvw-150430075341-conversion-gate01/85/An-introduction-to-advertising-planning-strategy-26-320.jpg)
An introduction to advertising planning / strategy
- 1. An introduction to planning* Getting from a client brief to finished advertising by @verity_williams *Also known as strategy. A planner does strategy, so strategy is more descriptive, but planning is the traditional name
- 2. The point of planning
- 3. The point of advertising is to connect an audience with your product / message Connect an audience in want or need of something With a product / message that answers that want or need
- 4. ‘smart because it’s made that way’ doesn’t mean much, but I’m not sure it means a famous naked bottom in the clouds at all Therefore, you need to present your product in the most compelling and relevant way
- 5. N is also for new pizza, new dress, new anything, really It should feel interesting and show off the product in its best light
- 6. So the point of planning is to ensure the ad has a clear, logical and compelling core message aka, the ‘PROPOSITION’ Typically, a simple short sentence the planner gives the creative team that tells them the one single message their creative idea should convey
- 7. A very quick planning overview
- 8. What does a planner do? Take a client brief – the business challenge they think advertising will solve Decide the most effective way and compelling message to answer this challenge Give that compelling message (the proposition) to creatives to turn into something beautiful Ensure the final ad sticks to your message and visually and tonally reflects the brand
- 9. Rough overview of creating an ad* A planner should keep the message simple and clear; so here’s a simplified ad timeline based on a planner’s role Get brief Ask qu.s Ponder Write brief. Get team approval Creatives create ad ideas Accounts sell ad to client Research: creative development Craftspeople add magic Write rationale for work Post production add magic Track ad performance Client brief Advert created Advert live Research: potential areas
- 10. *Disclaimer* the real shape of the journey is more like this, and has many roles beyond both planning, and the ad agency Advertising is a team game, not just within the agency, and between agency and client, but between agency, client, and independent craftspeople, e.g. directors / post production (who make the creative idea come alive, hopefully beautifully). Forget that at your peril
- 11. The planning process in more detail
- 12. This arrow runs along each page to show you where you are in the ad process
- 13. Start with the client brief, which hopefully gives you a clear and credible business challenge This is crucial - it tells you what your communications need to achieve and how your success will be judged
- 14. The planner decides how to answer that business challenge, and finds the argument that will convince the audience to do what you’re asking (You give this to a creative team, who add the magic and think up the creative idea; the creatives give their idea to craftspeople, who make their creative idea come alive )
- 15. But don’t worry. You’re paid to find AN answer, not THE answer Make a call based on what you know, now
- 16. You’ll find your current answer by being thorough – think about it through fresh eyes “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
- 17. Be honest You need to be credible You’re giving people a judgement criteria – once they’ve met the product, it has to do its job Product experience outweighs any 30 seconds of spin
- 18. This is the benefits ladder as my first boss taught me Remember the value of brands. They bring: trust, reliability, quality, accountability Start with the product
- 19. Consider your brand world – how does it look, sound and feel?
- 20. Read everything From old planning papers, to the news, to weird websites, to the company’s annual report Do your homework. Before you make an argument, you gather the evidence
- 21. People watch Take time to understand your audience. Have empathy No-one wins over a room of strangers by patronising them
- 22. Understand the competition. Where are they strong? And weak?
- 23. What have you missed? Think broadly. What would happen if you did the opposite?
- 24. Sit and ponder. Bounce ideas off people in your team
- 25. Ideally around now, you’d do positioning research with the client You test different ways to position the product – typically called territories – by holding research groups with normal people. You’ll find out what they think is interesting and will make your product stand out
- 26. Once you’ve found your [current best bet at an] answer, write the creative brief. This is centred around a ‘proposition’- a sentence with your simple and single minded argument A famous planning brief… Sainsbury’s needed +£2.5bn over 3 years A clever planner figured that inspiring Sainsbury’s shoppers to put one additional item in their basket every week (an extra £1.14) would achieve this This brief resulted in the campaign
- 27. Get the basics right when writing your creative brief Write as well as you can. Edit Spell check. Check you’ve spelled and punctuated brands correctly e.g. easyJet (and don’t let autocorrect undo your diligence) Get your facts right. Google everything to double check Talk as a human. Take The Economist’s route: clever people don’t need to hide behind jargon Even if your higher powers think there’s another answer, be proud of what you’ve created. It’s got your name on it
- 28. Now you give this creative brief to the creatives Pre, during and post briefing, stay positive. It’s contagious Any old fool can point out what’s wrong. It’s much harder to find the beauty inside and make it grow
- 29. When assessing the creative ideas, remember your brief. Will this creative achieve that business goal?
- 30. Ideally around now, you’d do creative development (also read http://www.slideshare.net/mweigel/martin-weigel-salmon-vs-lamposts-the-use-and-abuse-of-research) This time you test different creative ideas, again asking normal people what they find interesting and motivating. Use this research to build the creative ideas, and make them as brilliant as possible
- 31. Now you’ve got some winning creative ideas, you need the client to buy one. It’s time to craft that argument
- 32. You need to write a presentation to take the client from their business challenge to your proposed solution Part 1. Business challenge Part 2. Why your answer is right Part 3. Creative work
- 33. Writing strategy decks is a constant journey of improvement, but the better your deck, the easier it is to sell the work Every mark on every page should contribute to your one argument of why this work is right Don’t show your homework, or list observations. Show evidence if it supports your points Keep pages clear and formatting consistent. Can people at the back see the content? Talk as a human. Take The Economist’s route: clever people don’t need to hide behind jargon Give yourself time. Formulating a solid strategic argument is a lengthy process, and takes many drafts
- 34. Remember, your client has a boss If this fails, it could be their job on the line They’re spending their marketing budget (yes, their money, not yours)
- 35. Until the creative is live, keep the message on track. Don't let that little detail undermine your story
- 36. Woo hoo. Now the creative is live, encourage your client to do brand tracking / some econometrics to learn what’s working. Apply those lessons to future work
- 37. Write up your experience and enter awards Enter awards to show off your strategic thinking. The big guns are Cannes Effectiveness, IPA Awards, APG Awards, subjectively in that order Whether or not you win, the papers are publicly available. Read them to grow your planning wisdom
- 38. Ads get into and create culture and culture is powerful When you’re blasting unwanted ads in peoples’ faces everyday, the least you can do is make them beautiful Besides, research by the IPA, Thinkbox and the Gunn Report says that ‘highly creative advertising is the most effective of all’ Finally, aim high
- 39. Most of the time, planning is a wonderful job. Some days, you’ll sit and your desk and think, ‘Shit, how did I get this job?’ And smile. Other days you’ll say the same, but they won’t be happy tears bubbling up. This presentation is idealised. Yes, it’s the process, but it doesn’t always work as well as you want. The ad you end up with isn’t always one you want to add your name to, but you have to try to make it so. If you got it right every time, you’d be a billionaire, not a salaried planner. But thankfully, advertising is still magic because we are all irrational, biased, emotionally driven humans, trying to sell to irrational, biased, emotionally driven humans and while we know the effect of creativity, I don’t think we know its blueprint. We respond to things differently. There is no ‘A,B so C’ answer. Which is what makes our industry such an exciting one. This was created with the helpful oversight of two of my previous bosses. Because of most planner’s natures, they’re smart and helpful and generous. Treasure that. But remember, you’re only human. You can only try