An Introduction to Account Planning
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Transcript of An Introduction to Account Planning
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganicBy Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
An introduction to account planning
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
What I will cover
• What is account planning
• The planning process
• Client brief
• Research and insights
• Strategy
• Creative briefing
• Creative development
• Measurement and evaluation
• Planning at it’s best
• How planning is changing
• Where to find out more
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
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What is an account planner?
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
The short answer!
• Strategic guidance within agency
• Guardian of the brand
• Provide strategic direction
• Add insight
• Assimilate & interpret info
• Commission research
• Represent the consumer
• Guide creative development
• Ensure effectiveness
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
“The voice of the consumer”
“If you talked to people the way advertising talked to people, they'd punch you in the face”
- Hugh MacLeod
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
These days, planning involves lot more than just representing the consumer
Market researcher
Data analyst
ModeratorInformation centre
Bad cop
NPD consultantBrainstorming facilitator
Soothsayer
Communications planner
Strategist
Brief writer
Think piece author
Social anthropologist
Insight miner
Knowledge applicator
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
The Planning Process
Why are we there?
Where are we now?
Where could we be?
How do we get there?
Are we getting there?
Client brief
Identify problemUnderstand consumer behaviour and attitudes Identifying insights and
opportunitiesObjective setting
Strategy development
Measurement and evaluation
Creative briefing and development
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
It all starts here
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By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Top tips for client briefings
• Ask LOTS of questions
• Do they have any helpful research?
• What would be their answer to the brief?
• Question assumptions
• What is the real issue?
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It all starts here
Getting to an a-ha! moment
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Where insights come from
Consumer research
Influencer research
Talking to people
Observation
Popular culture and trends
Brand history
Company cultureOther markets
Product
Competition
Behaviour
Futurology/scenario planning
Human psychologyPhilosophy
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Types of research
Primary
Quant
• Surveys
• Questionnaires
• Panels
• Observation
Qual
• Depth interviews
• Focus groups
• Workshops
• Observation
Secondary
Client data
• Sales
• Segmentation
• Brand tracking
Desk research
• News sites
• Social media
• Free tools online
• Trend sites
• Videos
• Paid for resources
• Mintel
• Warc
• Ebiquity
• TGI
• Syndicated surveys
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
When can you do research?
Desk research Hypothesis generation
Strategy developmentStrategy research
Concept research Final ad research
Creative development
Creative development
Consumer research
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Strategy
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Getting the strategy right
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
What is a strategy?
Where we want to be (solution)
Where we are (problem)
Tactics
Strategy
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Types of strategy
Business strategy Marketing strategy Brand strategy
Communications strategy Channel strategy
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
10 Steps to a strategy
1. Define your objectives
2. Read around the subject
3. Identify barriers in your way
4. Focus on those you can do something about
5. Re-define your problem precisely
6. List the potential opportunities/ solutions
7. Write an honest list of their pros and cons
8. Choose the most promising
9. Test/ research it
10. Summarise your strategy and how it should work
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Finding a creative thought
Consumer insight
Brand insight
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Client briefResearch
Insight
Creative Brief
Creative Work
The creative brief
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
The brief – questions to answer
• What’s the problem?
• What’s the task?
• Who’s the audience
• What’s the key message we need to convey?
• Why can we say this?
• What tone of voice should we use?
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Creative briefing top tips• Means to an end – great work!
• Clarity, brevity, fertility
• Inspiration not instruction
• Inject some personality (from the brand, audience etc.)
• Tell a story
• Think about the thoughts and feelings you are evoking
• Don’t use marketing speak
• Single minded proposition!
• The brief is not as important as the briefing
• Bring creativity to the briefing process
• Plant seeds
• Don’t bombard them – drip feed ideas and information
• Collaborative process – summary of a conversation
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Then it is time to get stuck in!
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Tips for getting involved in creative development
• Don’t be the devil’s advocate (be the work’s
advocate)
• Go back to the brief – will it meet the objectives?
• Stay open minded
• Clarify the creative idea – don’t be thrown by the
execution
• Give clear feedback – what YOU think, ideas and
insights not answers
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
I like itI don’t like it
It’s on brief
It’s not on brief
You don’t need to like it for it to be
effective
Is it a better way to achieve the objective
than the strategy?
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
What sorts of things can we measure?
• Hard and soft metrics
• Return on investment
• Behavioural and attitudinal shifts
• Rational and emotional responses
• Quantitative and qualitative
• Levels of engagement
Awareness
Comprehension
Intention
Action
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
IPA best practice
Common practice
Focus on single objectives
Generate volume
Focus on existing customers
Increase brand awareness
Rational communication
Shift to direct response
Evaluate against single KPIs
Accountability
Best practice
Aim for broad, multiple effects
Shift the demand curve
Talk to whole market
Generate brand fame
Emotional communication
Emotionally rich media lead
Use a balanced scorecard
Effectiveness
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Tracking tools
Behavioural/attitudinal surveys
Ad tracking
Media stats
Website analytics
Social media trackers
Email service providers
Store trackers
Brand tracking
Loyalty schemesPurchase trackingSales data
Voucher redemption tracking
TGI
Mintel
Market share/competitor reports
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
And then it all starts again!
Why are we there?
Where are we now?
Where could we be?
How do we get there?
Are we getting there?
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
What makes a good planner?
Just Kidding!
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
What makes a good planner?
• Curiosity and common sense intuition about people, brands and advertising
• Combination of logic/analytical skills and lateral thinking
• Accepts nothing at face value
• Ability to dive deep into an issue but not lose site of the bigger picture
• Open minded and optimistic
• Pragmatic approach to problem solving
• Can get to the nub of an issue
• Empathy
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
How the planning process is evolving
• Less time!
• Need to be more flexible, open, collaborative
• Diversification of roles
• Different types of planners
• No longer just brand planning
• Overlap between planning and creative
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
The relationships between brands and people has changed
• A two way conversation
• Peer to peer / trusted sources
• People as individuals not target markets
• Not just about what you say but what you get
people to do (engagement)
• Show not tell
• Attraction not interruption
• Creating movements
• But people haven’t changed that much!
Personal experiences
Friends
Trusted source
Sales person
Propensity
to believe
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
Wow, planning sounds so f***ing cool – how can I find out more?!
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
The APG Gold Standard - Gold winning papers from the awards1993-2007 (and the most recent version from 2009)
A Master Class in Brand Planning: The Timeless Works of Stephen King
Truth, Lies and Advertising by Jon Steel
Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan
Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature by
Mark Earls
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein
And many more depending what you are interested in!
Planning resources
Web
Account Planning Group
Plannersphere
Planning search engine
Planning on Facebook
Planners blogs
Planners on Twitter
Ask me if you need anything specific...
Books
By Jo Weston www.joweston.com @westonsorganic
“Be an optimist and evoke the spirit of
optimism in others”.
- Jon Steel