An introduction to advertising planning / strategy

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

The point of planning

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

‘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

N is also for new pizza, new dress, new anything, really

It should feel interesting and show off the product in its best light

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

A very quick planning overview

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

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

*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

The planning process in more detail

This arrow runs along each page to show you where you are in the ad process

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

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 )

But don’t worry. You’re paid to find AN answer,

not THE answer

Make a call based on what you know, now

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.”

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

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

Consider your brand world – how does it look, sound and feel?

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

People watch

Take time to understand

your audience. Have

empathy

No-one wins over a room

of strangers by

patronising them

Understand the competition. Where are they strong? And weak?

What have you missed?

Think broadly. What would happen if you did the opposite?

Sit and ponder. Bounce ideas off people in your team

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

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

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

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

When assessing the creative ideas, remember your brief. Will this creative achieve that business goal?

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

Now you’ve got some winning creative ideas, you need the client to buy one. It’s time to craft that argument

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

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

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)

Until the creative is live, keep the message on track. Don't let that little detail undermine your story

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

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

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

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