DAY 1

ADVICE FOR NEW PLANNERS

FROM OLD PLANNERS
 Day 1, we’ve all been there.

A cocktail of excitement and anxiety.

We tapped the smartest brains from around the globe to give you knowledge
bombs on what it takes to be great.

We got you.

Julian Cole

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EMBRACE IGNORANCE!
Don’t hide your ignorance, celebrate it.

John Roberts, CSO Truth Collective

 Don't be afraid to fuck up.

It'll happen at some stage in your career and it's good to get it out of the way whilst you're learning
the ropes.
Matt Oakley Senior Creative Strategist, Taxi Studio

Admitting that you don't have the answers, but demonstrating a willingness to learn is a key
strength to succeed in this business.
Jenna Taffet Strategy Director, Global Prairie

Never underestimate the power of vulnerability, embrace it. It sharpens your ability to empathize,
belong, love. These are the keys to human connection and authenticity.
George Moreira VP Strategy, Blast Radius
If you're stuck on something for more than an hour, ask someone to be your
sounding board.

Don't expect them to answer it for you, but don't be embarrassed to ask for
help either.

Lee Maicon Chief Strategy Officer, 360i

Yes to everything
 Be helpful.

Michael Van den Brande Strategy Director, XXS

Spend way too much time trying to find ways to be helpful to everyone around you

Just remember, everyone else in the room gets to choose if you are invited back.

Sam Chotiner Strategy Director, McCann

 Say yes to things, even if it’s not your ‘job’. Don't wait for things to come to you; proactively
pursue and support where you can. Small projects can become bigger with the right perspective.

Chelsea Thompson-O'Brien Strategist, Mirum Agency

Never(well, almost never) say no!

Get as much experience as you can on as many different clients as possible. This will help you
learn what you like/don't like, and what you're good at/have to challenge yourself to get better at.
It also helps build your resume to get you to the next stepping stone in your career.

Leah Sr. Planner, The Marketing Arm

 Say 'yes' to everything, especially pitches.

Be the 'Pitch Bitch' because there's no greater environment to learn from the
masters of their craft quick than the intensity of a pitch process. Just being
there to help on this small task or the other will give you opportunities to
watch and listen to how great Planners work, and work quickly - because the
growth of skill in Planning is about speed, so what better place to learn than a
pitch. Just say 'yes'.

Charlie Brenninkmeijer Planner, Saatchi & Saatchi

DEFINE THE PROBLEM
 Be crystal clear on defining the problem, but really open on what the solution looks like. If you
find the real problem, then you will be sure to recognize the solution when it shows up. Which it
will, inevitably.

Greg Duquesne Head of Planning, M&C Saatchi France

Don't anticipate execution and creative too much, start from the beginning of the
need/problem/tension.

Neil Tamzali Senior Digital Strategist, Head of Publicis Loft

Master the data. You earn an automatic seat at the table if you can tell your senior clients and
colleagues what’s going on.
Tom Morton Head of Strategy, R/GA

Seek out contradictions about the consumer as sources of real insight

Jon Cheffings EVP Strategy, SCC&M
our secret power - questions
 Always bring at least one smart question to the table.

No matter how old or green you are. Show that there is a reason why you have a place at the table.

Gijs ten Buuren Strategist

You´re allowed to ask so....ask EVERYTHING

Andrea Pérez CX Strategist, Findasense Spain

Ask more. Every question (even stupid ones) can lead you to great insights.

Jan Marcinek Strategic Planner, Y&R Prague

Do not be afraid to ask 'why' on everything you question.

Elina Skakovski Planner, MediaCom

 Start building a list of great questions.

Most of my best solutions or sparks of ideas came from asking clients and
colleagues questions.

Geoffrey Wilcoxson Senior Client Performance Engineer, Digital Current

 The smartest thing you can do is ask questions.

Arrogance is the enemy of good strategic planning. And one of the smartest things a planner can
ever say in a meeting is "I don't know, but let's find out". It's not your job to know the answer, your
job is to FIND the answer. Don't overestimate your knowledge and don't underestimate your
clients..

Illana Bryant Chief Intelligence Officer, Special Forces

Make one contribution, for everyone else's three.

James Clee Strategist, MullenLowe

READ READ READ
 Reading is fuel for thoughts.

A brain full of seemingly unrelated information is a brain that sparks ideas.

Juan Patti Director of Strategic Planning, Wunderman

 Read Jay Chiat papers.

It will help you start differentiating what is strategy to what is bullshit.

Marcelo Chabes Strategist, Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo

Read a piece of research and prepare a number of questions that pique your curiosity.

Jye Smith Director, Brand & Marketing, Experience Centre, PwC

 Resource:

Ten best Jay Chiat strategy papers

First ten books you should read as a planner

Original JWT Planning Guide

First 10 books to read as a planner

Newsletters to subscribe to:

Planning Dirty, Open Strategy, Rosie and Faris
 Read EVERYTHING. Even the back of cereal packets can you take you some place.

Yolanda Blasco Planning Director, Publicis

Read about the inner workings of your clients' businesses. Read financial reports, talk with people
at the company, pay attention to the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Chris Walbert Partner, Drexler

Always follow the news! You need to know what is happening in the world.

Lore Brand Planner, Tomorrow-Tribal Pty

Stay plugged into the normal industry trades, but AdAge won't give you insight. Books on writing,
cultural think pieces, movie reviews, anything.

Michael Gillooly Insights Lead, RED Interactive

BUILD YOUR INTERESTING
LIBRARY
 Set up a stream of interestingness.

Aim for the fringes and authorities.

You need interestingness to wash over you constantly.

Andrew Reeves Comms Director, The Royals

 Make collecting things a habit and think of Evernote as your planning scrapbook (one you can
flick through whenever and wherever is needed). The great planners I look up to have a million
references they've collected over the years. They had notebooks to help them, we have Evernote.

David Adamson Senior Planner, Saatchi & Saatchi London

Start building your own repository of interesting articles/papers/videos. You don't have to
read/listen to each and every piece in detail, just enough to know that it might be useful one day.
Tools like GetPocket are fantastic, because they allow you to tag content–making it much quicker
and easier to search for relevant information.

Lauren Crichton Senior Strategic Planner, AKQA Gothenburg

 Never stop seeking. Stay curious.

Michelle Reagan Planning Director, Weber Shandwick

Always look for new things to learn, not only about strategy. As a planner we need to have a rich
repertoire so we can always bring fresh point of views.

Gabriel Veras Strategic Planner, Artplan

Be open minded
Amelie Palmblad Planner, ICA
Be outrageously interesting.

Quentin Mahé Sr. Planner, F/Nazca Saatchi&Saatchi

OUT OF OFFICE
Spend more time in the streets/stores/bars than anyone else in the agency.

Adrian Mediavilla Head of Planning, Señora Rushmore

 Clients are already on the web, but they’re not in the supermarket go find insights there.
Marcos Casares Strategist, Generacion Code

Spend a lot of time in the field ..The people above you don't have that much time available to do it,
so they'll listen and appreciate it.. Take photos, videos, make notes and share it.

Chrisna Basson Strategist, Weathermen & Co

The most important part of your job.. is to spend time with people, watch them, talk to them, and
above all, LISTEN to them.

Ian Gee, Ex-Regional Planning Director

 For the brands you're told today you'll be working on:

1. This very weekend, go and visit their stores, or buy from their site, or locate them in the supermarket.

2. Just observe. Watch. Harder.

3. Then literally put a reminder in your diary/calendar to do this every 3 months.

Why?
It doesn't cost anything.
It takes all of 5 - 20 mins.
You will get notes out of it that will help your actual planning output.
You will get notes out of it that will help you super easily build client relationships via small talk and/or
showing that you frickin' care.
You will get notes out of it that will help any new business work you're involved in.

Andrew Pascoe Consultant

 Explore the world. Listen, watch, read stuff others don’t.

Think dangerous thoughts.

Find your own voice. Our industry is full of people who look, think and speak
alike. Don’t be afraid of what makes you weird, that’s where interesting lives.

Joel Pearson Planning Director, Whybin TBWA

BEING PART OF THE AGENCY
 Be a sponge..

Be in as many meetings as possible right off the bat to get up to speed quickly
and to get a feel for every function, everyone involved.

Elicia Banks-Gabriel Lead Account Manager, Octane AI

 Don't wait around for your manager to give you higher priority work or plot your course for you.
Ask for 1-on-1 time with them and let them know clearly what you're after, whether that be new
learning opportunities, certain types of projects or a promotion. Your manager is there to help you
move up but you need to communicate with them what you want.

Jordan Pennin Strategist, Giant Spoon

No-one thinks quite like you. One of the best things you can give your boss is an idea, insight or
POV they wouldn’t come up with themselves.

Caspar Mason Creative Strategy Director, Jack Morton Worldwide

Be friendly with your boss. Planners usually feel lonely, and your boss might feel that as well.
Spend more time with them, talk to them, laugh with them have lunch with them, anything. You
will understand them more, and you can grow faster.

Ryan Dwana Strategy Director, TBWA\Indonesia

 Embrace creatives from day 1.

Florian Rock Senior Strategist, Jung von Matt

Hang out with the creatives and improve your creative empathy. We are all responsible for the
product that leaves the building.

Erin Core Strategy Director, Clemenger BBDO Brisbane

Find people in senior positions who can advocate for you and echo your ideas
in meetings. This will build your credibility.

Julie Naidu Comms Planner, BBDO

PRESENTING
 If you can’t persuade the client, you won't get the chance to persuade the
consumer.

So, your job is not just creating a plan for the best possible outcome of an
interaction between brand and consumer, but also planning how to sell that
plan to the client.

Too many strategists live only in the land of human theory, then wonder why
they are constantly frustrated by organizational realities.

Jonah Bloom CSO, KBS

 Treat your decks like artwork.

It's the easiest way to draw attention to your work.

Andrew Q. Planning Director, Deutsch

 Start every deck with a template.

Choose two fonts (headline and main text), three colours (background, text
and accent, one style for images and stick to it. You will never have time to
redesign the deck after it will be finished, because it will not be finished until
the middle of the meeting when it will be your turn to present.

Ilya Petrov Digital Brand Director, Nike Russia

 Photos for this deck:

Kelia Anne MacCluskey & Jonpaul Douglass

 Embrace the rewrite.

Know that it's not about you, it's about the work. At the end of the 5th iteration, lies gold.

Preeti Nadgar Head of Comms Planning, PHD

Write your deck out longhand before attempting slides.

Helps to ensure you have a clear narrative and helps you think of interesting ways to visually
support each point you make.

Rebecca Senior Strategist, Rufus

 Learn to present convincingly.

It's exciting to go on your first pitches, so it's normal that your voice may
break a little, or maybe you talk too fast because you're really passionate about
the subject. That's fine, but it's important to become a better
presenter/storyteller to "entrance" your audience.

Beatriz Bulhões Creative Planner, Fillet

Everybody will interpret a direction differently. Be clear about what is up to interpretation and
what isn’t.

Alex Morris Senior Strategist, Virtue Worldwide

Write and explain like a 17-year-old.

Chung Hwa Chao Creative Planner Lead, Bose

Get to grips with Boolean search operators if you haven't already. They'll speed up your desk
research.

Helen Stavri Planner, Born + Raised

YOU GOT THIS!
Treat advertising as having absolute seriousness while recognising it is utterly trivial and of no
interest to the people for whom it is designed.

John Griffiths Founder, Planning Above and Beyond

Always remember that the reason you are in the room is because people think you know
something that they don't.

Sean Bonthuys VP Strategy, Elephant

There is no single correct answer in strategy — only many ways to achieve the desired outcome.
Everyone has their “flavour” of strategy and no planner’s approach is the same...

Annabel Jenkins Strategy Director, THANK YOU Studio

Don't be afraid to put your ideas forward. The feedback, critical or not, may open your eyes to a
whole new way of thinking. It will help you do better work, thicken your skin and speed up your
career.

Jan Mausch Strategy Planner

Remember to listen to your instinct as much as the data.

Patrick Rust Director of Integrated Comms, Vitro

PRACTICE THE CRAFT
 Practice.

Your development is your responsibility. Your sanity is yours to give away. You can't always
control what happens with your thinking but you can practice your craft.

The simplest technique: stare at something you see all the time and re-name it, give it new
meaning, and do it ten times.
Mark Pollard Strategy CEO, Mighty Jungle

Pick a fellow Planner you look up to and study their method. You learn a lot by 'stealing' the trade.
Corina Bratu Strategic Planner, Leo Burnett
Empathize and you will have a chance of being relevant; Have a strategy mentor you trust and
ditto, a headhunter/career planner.
Stuart Parkin Career Coach, SPARKIN

Read widely and have lots of friends who don't work in advertising.
Rachael Lonergan Founder, CanDo

If you can't crack it, go for a walk.

Lach Hall Communication Strategy Director, Freelance,

Read all the rules. Follow all the guides. But most importantly question them.
Robin Chan Digital Strategist, Red Engine
 #1: "I don't know but I'll find out."
#2: Never stop learning about your craft.
#3: Make yourself useful to everyone. Ask people how you can help, don't
wait for someone to give you something to do.
#4: Question everything.

Jonathan Colmenares Strategy Director, Freelance

 Always take thunderbolt adapter

Митя Воскресенский Strategy Planning Director, Possible

Learn how to fix the printer and the projector.

Russell Davies Chief Strategy Officer, BETC

Make it shorter.

Brian Wakabayashi Director of Strategy, 215 McCann

OTHER PLANNING DIRTY DECKS
Strategy Mate
Brand Actions Library 2018
Day 1 Advice for New Planners
Day 1 Advice for New Heads of Strategy
What Clients Want in 2018
Data Sources Cheat sheet
Planners Template
10 Best Strategy Papers
What is Comms Planning/Digital Strategy