Dr I have a problem.....lay down on the couch then

Apg uk not doctors but_psychoanalysts

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I often find it amusing when I will be thinking of something and all of a sudden someone way more intelligent than me has gone and written something brilliant that personifies pretty much everything I was thinking about. You could argue that in a world of excess information that if you follow the blogosphere enough in the world of communications. We all in all will end up in the same place. But recently I have been thinking about a friend in Australia who was in fact a psychologist in his former life. Ive heard stories about how he could read the room and the clients during pitches. He could ask the right questions and push clients to get what they really want from their agencies in a way only he could.

I have combined this with a recent conversation I had witha friend who ran a pitch for media and creative. I asked her for a behind the scenes view on what goes on and why she picked the team she did. Straight away she said 'we liked the team'. Then she said their work was good, but they wanted to work with us. They didnt walk in and say 'we have the answer'. This open feel made her and her team feel like ' we really want to work with them'. Which is a statement Ive heard from a lot of clients.

So intro a much more intelligent man. Mr Jim Carroll the Chairman of BBH UK and a planner extraordinaire. Who has written the first of I hope many 'APG UK Planning Instants' entitled 'Not Doctors but Psychoanalyst's' which I have attached.

I have always seen planners as using these types of techniques for consumers to get a greater understanding. I have often chatted to friends in this field and stolen some texts from my sisters courses and used them for audience work. But to turn this on clients has been a recent viewpoint. Jim believes that clients are advanced enough now that they now longer come to agencies or indeed planners for their opinions. They come for a little therapy.

I have found this often with 'running workshops' to make sure you get everyone on the same page and consistent with each other. It seems that workshops often have very similar elements to what they utilise in group therapy sessions. Also she is studying an area called gestalt which is a type of therapy whereby the therapist is in fact working through their own personal journey. What you find with this is that the therapist doesnt take this overbearing and controlling viewpoint just because they read a couple of books at university. They have gone through it and being a therapist is often a part of their own therapy. You find that they work together with the paitent which often drives better rewards for everyone. Im sure this is how a client feels. They dont want to be spoken down to by somer upty planner with glasses and a piece of paper on the wall from Oxford. They want you to help them, identify and build ideas to address their problems. Not make them realise they arent as smart as you.

So once again the wonderful world of the internet has helped to build on some interesting points I have had and hopefully make them a little more useful in everyday life.

Can you work on a category in decline ?

I have always been interested when looking for a job whether people look at whether they can actually deliver for a client and the brand when the category is in decline. One of BBHs insights was for polaroid camera's was 'life lubrication' or something to that affect. But who cares when digital was taking over (i think they have made a small comeback with sticker versions for kids).
This came up again with all the talk about Stella and agency movements and stuff. But the idea of mass beer is dropping in every western country. The long tail.... less mass, more niche. This happened about 5 years back in aus with the huge influx of international and premium beers. The top ones started to die (please note I do not mean fosters... we dont drink that crap we just sell it to the rest of the world). So more beers.... but also total beer consumption was dropping.

I did quite a bit of analysis on Stella a few years back when I worked on Heineken. I thought the 'reassuringly expensive' positioning was brilliant. The ads they did were great. Everything they did was quality ... but it was drunk by hooligans and reprobates. But even down to when they were on offer at the supermarket.....they made a higher percentage of revenue than other largers on offer because people were willing to pay that little bit more. Its interesting to show their portfolio seems to be getting more money and exposure these days.

This will also be interesting with Heineken's purchase of Scottish Newcastle as well. Will they drive the big brands or lots of smaller ones. We will see.

So would I work for brands that are in decline. I dont know. I will have to look at each case. But the idea of looking at the category first before accepting, will always be a crucial point in my mind before the decision is made.

Account vs Media Planner - the argument continues

I went to one of the IPA debates the other day. To see Simon Francis the MD of OMD Europe take on Hooper Griffin of BBH on the topic of 'Who should own the consumer insight'. Im only going to highlight a couple of things I agreed with. As it is a long an ardious fight that I believe has gone on for too long, when its quite simple

1. No one owns anything
2. Be imaginative with any information you have
3. Dont stand behind your black box of information. Stand in front of it (love that comment Simon)
4. We should share everything - across agencies
5. Its not about the people that can read and present the information. Its about those that can interpret and utilise to their clients business are the ones that are truely the most important.

One thing that really stood out was the way in which Simon discussed how even as one of the biggest media operations in the world. How they kept good talent by continuing to build small companies for them to run. To really drive that Entreprenurial spirit. The MD of the London office was sitting there. He is 32. Goodstuff, invents all there other companies. It was good to see