The Bluffers Guide to Planning

Read these books

and away you go

What account planners do

• Know stuff – especially about trends, consumer behaviour, business and marketing theory

• Think about stuff – consumer motivations, customer journeys, brand positioning

• Challenge stuff – traditional ways of thinking, conventional media planning

• Measure stuff – sales, attitudes, employee satisfaction

Know stuff

“Why we buy” by Paco Underhill

• What’s the big idea?– a meticulous and

quantitative study of shopping behaviour and what does and doesn’t make people buy

– How to get more take up of new banking products

– How to get old people to buy

– What men do in changing rooms that women don't

“Microtrends” by Mark Penn• What’s the big idea?

– Mark Penn was Clinton’s pollster and he helped Clinton win elections by identifying small but influential groups of voters, the most famous of which was the “Soccer Mom”

– These small tribes are often indicative of an emerging trend or of a niche marketing opportunity

– 5 people you wouldn’t want to meet at a dinner party:• Xxx men• Powerful petites• Vegan children• French teetotallers• Surgery lovers

“The Green Marketing Manifesto” by John Grant

• What’s the big idea?– Green is now far too

important to be left to the Greens

– The green marketing grid – what strategy can work for every green problem and every type of company

– A good analysis of green consumer mindsets

Think about stuff

“The Culture Code” by Clotaire Rapaille

• What’s the big idea?– We are irrevocably

programmed by our culture and upbringing and if you understand what memories and associations are driving consumers you can communicate better and more deeply

– Jeep = horse– Beauty = mask– Cheese = dead (US), alive

(France)

“Eating the Big Fish” by Adam Morgan

• What’s the big idea– How to win if you are not

no 1 – the ultimate challenger brand manual

– 8 key strategies to try to outwit the big boys e.g. overcommit, sacrifice, be a thought leader

– The companion book is Brand Leader by David Akers if your brand wants to be the firstest with the mostest

“Positioning: the battle for your mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout

• What’s the big idea?– Headspace is limited and

congested. – Positioning is about

simplicity, clarity and commensurate with what the consumer already believes

– Examples include positioning a bank, a country, the Catholic Church and yourself

“Problem Solved” by Michael Johnson

• What’s the big idea?– A primer/training

manual in solving 18 of the most common communications problems from a designers perspective

– A master class in book design

“Primal Branding” by Patrick Hanlon

• What’s the big idea?– The Primal Code creates

brands people believe in• The creation story• The creed• The sacred words• The rituals• The iconography• The believers and non-

believers• The leader

Challenge Stuff

“Disruption” by Jean Marie Dru

• What’s the big idea?– Disruption is based on the

premise that doing the same as everyone else, or the same as you’ve always done, will not deliver a step change in performance

– It is a theory and a method – you hunt down conventions and then find relevant ways of disrupting or even destroying them

– Airlines, computers,

“Perfect Pitch” by Jon Steel

• What’s the big idea?– Every pitch has to tell a

story – A process for

approaching a pitch, thinking about a pitch, writing a pitch and delivering a pitch

Measure stuff

IPA Effectiveness Awards

• What’s the big idea?– Dozens of fascinating

examples of how advertisng effects can be measured even on very small budgets

Bonus tracks

“This Means That” by Sean Hall

• Brilliant beginners guide to semiotic analysis

• Must have for designers and anyone who wants to use visual language to communicate

“Social Marketing” by Gerald Hastings

• The buzz word of the moment

• Good (not great) but at the moment the only book around.

• Case studies from around the world

Thank you