How not to Plan: 66 ways to screw it up

Product Information

Many of us start our mornings with dozens of things we need to get done, only to realize at the end of the day we haven’t crossed any of them off. As an industry, we celebrate and share the good stuff. Meanwhile, the ‘less said about that the better’ stuff is swept out of sight… for obvious reasons. But through writing these articles, we came to realise that we perhaps learn more from the myths, misunderstandings and screw-ups than from the successes. And so our articles started to become useful little summaries to answer questions from planners. And planners, in turn, found them good jumping-off points for client discussions on similar real-life issues. For example, the explanation of how Kahnemann’s System 1 and System 2 thinking applies to advertising is as clear as you can get. Similarly, the push on advertising planners to consider the wider marketing mix beyond promotion, and in general to be critical thinkers and have a broad viewpoint, all very good. The 2016 John Lewis IPA case is a good example of how to set objectives. John Lewis’s ultimate aim is to keep its ‘Partners’ (permanent employees) happy. The paper shows how this informed the company’s plan, from business/commercial objectives through marketing objectives to communications goals. The KPIs by which success would be measured then flowed from the plan.

swirl around marketing and communications by using evidence-based approaches and interesting examples to make their points. Further analysis suggested why. The two big brands had followed identical marketing strategies. In trying to increase ‘Return on Investment’ (ROI) and efficiency, each reduced marketing expenditure. Each cut emotional brand advertising in favour of ‘harder selling’ stuff focused on ‘new news’. Each replaced expensive broadcast media with cheaper digital channels; this tighter targeting allowing both brands to reduce ‘wastage’. Or, there might be defined objectives, but they’re totally unrealistic. It’s actually very rare for brands to make big gains in market share, penetration or anything else. Yet, when did you last see a brand plan not stating this as an aim?

It’s loosely based on the Planning Cycle and is grouped into themes that are important at different stages in the process, covering everything from how to set objectives, the 4 Ps, research and analysis, to briefing, creative work and media and effectiveness. It should offer trusty guide to any problem that crosses your desk in the first years of your career. Those of you who have been around for some, or even all, of the APG’s own life will be familiar with previous volumes published by the APG: the original ‘Blue Book’, called How to Plan Advertising, and its younger sibling, the ‘Red Book’, which for many years served as excellent reference and guidance.

It’s particularly annoying because they “advise” you to be open-minded and consider multiple scenarios and contexts, then promptly don’t follow their own advice. If you’re not keen on a full-fledged task manager but still want a digital solution, consider less-specialized tools. oBut watch out. Small brands en masse can have a bigger market share than brand leaders, and so be the main competition.A couple of years ago, we reviewed an ice cream brand. It had dominated its category for decades, but had recently lost the top spot to a similar rival. What had gone wrong? Pre mna to bola asi najlepsia kniha ever, aj ked ma svoje muchy (o tych nizsie). Pri citani sa mi vybavovali vsetci kolegovia, klienti aj ludia, ktori sa o marketing zaujimaju a hned som vedel, ktori z nich by si to potrebovali najviac precitat. Zaroven som si hned spojil, ktore kampane v nasich koncinach vznikli presne podla tejto knihy, bod po bode - za vse napr. Dedoles.

It’s not uncommon to need to experiment and try a few iterations of daily planning before we land on the method that actually lead to getting more done. Should we focus on existing customers or new ones? Do we want more buying or more buyers? How much do we need to worry about alienating the buyers we have as we try to appeal to new ones?This criticism might be fun once a month in a magazine article, but one after another (66 times) in a book gets quite tiresome. Especially, as they tend to blame the tool or channel as useless, rather than the way people use that tool or channel. (there’s plenty of examples of the things they trash, done well for anyone who’s worked in marketing). First, a focus on efficiency, not on effectiveness. Big brands with high market share find it hard to increase revenue. So they focus on cost cutting. Our brand was just focused on short-term ROI. Its competitor had the same obsession. But cutting their budgets destroyed the foundations of their success. A final word – art and not science SETTING OBJECTIVES ‘If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there’ Lewis Carroll ONE You may be thinking: “How can I achieve all my goals if I only focus on one task per day?”. In Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky discuss the sneaky phenomenon of busyness without productivity. In between meetings and ad-hoc requests, it can feel like we’re on a treadmill we can’t get off.