New Thoughts on Planning

If things had been going better in the ad industry, the annual Planner's Conference would have happened this week in San Francisco. The 4A's is trying to make-up for the cancellation with their "Summer of Planning" series. For $35, I could attend a webinar with a guy I worked with 10 years ago (sorry Dr. Cohen--psychologics is interesting, but not new). I wondered, where is the new thinking about planning? So I googled on over to Slideshare, and lo and behold found a presentation Gareth Kay posted last year. Gareth, considered a leading light in the biz, made news last week as he jumps from Modernista to Goodby.

At Element 79, our thinking, our approach is all about getting to an idea that incites interaction. I guess I shouldn't be surprised--but I am--to see Gareth sharing a similar POV. In a nutshell, Gareth writes:

1. Brands need to have a point-of-view on the world…not a position in a category
2. Brands need a social mission--it drives brand energy (Landor’s BAV model states brands with energy fare better financially)
3. Brands need a social idea (vs. an unsocial idea)
4. A distributed identity is about coherency… not consistency
5. Planners should understand what people are interested in and work backwards
6. Planners need to plan for a different outcome (it’s not about awareness, it’s about interaction)
7. We're in the business of creating ideas that solve business problems in a culturally positive way

Gareth's thoughts are inspiring reminders of where we're going. I wish I had said or thought about some of these things first (although I was the first kid on my block to get excited about Landor's model of brand energy).

Why are ideas so important? Ideas drive our economy. In fact, two-thirds of our country’s GDP is driven by ideas.* A nifty soundbite for the next presentation.


*Cited by John Gerzema, author of the Brand Bubble and CIO of Y&R, based on research conducted by Brand Finance.

Word-of-Mouth Planning: Don't forget the Story

The Keller Fay group serves up smart questions when thinking about WOM. Story+Influencer+Tools+Impact. When brands don't have a story, they can always invent. Like Zuji, an online travel division of Travelocity.

Any thoughts on a pithy acronym? (SITI probably doesn't stick).

1. What’s your story – why should consumers talk about your product?
2. Who will tell it – who are your influencers?
3. How can you facilitate the conversation – what tools can you create?
4. What’s the impact – does WOM lead to positive outcomes for my brand?

Addendum: AdAge 6/5/09 issue interviews CMO of Mtn Dew, who believes having relationships with the right people are the keys to all brand plans today:

"We clearly have moved from impressions as the primary determinate of whether something's successful to answering the question, 'Are we building relationships with the right group of people?'" Mr. Cooper said. "Whether it's a blogger at these events, influencers talking about it, those are more indicators of whether we're reaching the right consumer."