2010 - The Questions

After being tagged by Rob C, here are my answers to his questions on 2010..:

1/ Best single thing [personal &/or professional] you did/achieved in 2010.
Being part of a decent TV ad where I was sole planner.

2/ Most shameful thing [personal &/or professional] you did/achieved in 2010.
Embarrassing lots of colleagues with the Agency Xmas Party video.

3/ Ad industry scandal or scoundrel of the year.
A tie between the 'Missing Planner' scandal and the grumpy genius scoundrel that is George Parker.

4/ Your overall rating for 2010 out of 10. [1 = shit / 10 = showoff]
7 - Mostly good but fewer exciting opportunities than last year.

5/ What do you think will be the most overhyped advertising related subject of 2011?
Gamification will probably start filtering through to agencies that don't understand gaming, and we will end up collecting XP and coins on everything.


I tag these questions to:

David
Gemma T
Adam and Dan
James
Ben

How to Understand Planners - No1

We planners are an unusual bunch, so with tongue slightly in cheek I thought it was time to start explaining some more about us to the creative and account types out there. A Haynes manual may or may not follow...

How to Understand Planners - No.1 (in a series of some)

"Planners are Basically Kids"

You know that phase kids go through when they never stop asking questions?

"Why is that thing Red? ... Why? ... But why? ... Whay's that? Where from? Why? Why?..."

Yeah, that's us; and we won't change. We always want to know something about everything and everything about something. The best planners never lose that hunger to find out more and more things about a client's product, brand, market, competitors, customers, etc. Some of us actually enjoy reading up on entirely random topics and random viewpoints to give ourselves a wider view of the world. A good planner can find something interesting in even the most boring of topics.

We often tend to have the kid like habit of remembering completely random and trivial bits of information that nobody else could find any use for, and then finding a way to make them relevant to something we are working on.

We also like to draw things despite not having developed (in most cases) the ability to draw. Hence we usually end up drawing charts, graphs or tables that we can then fill with the random information we piled up from asking endless questions.

That said, like kids we love creativity; the fun of making something and exploring things other people create is there within us. Most planners I know love things like music, design, art, architecture, fashion and so on. We can be bluntly objective sometimes, but I assure you that just because we don't copywrite or art direct does not mean we don't get it.

La Clio.. erm... el Responsivous

A while back I asked both of you for some questions to put to the director of the Clio awards, Wayne Youkhana. He has kindly got back with some answers:

1. With all the award schemes that have risen up in the last 10 years do you think advertising awards have devalued their own currency? And if so, how do you maintain the value of the CLIO against the other major awards?The value of an advertising award is only as good as the credibility and respect it carries within the industry. CLIO has worked hard for 50 years to create and maintain the highest level of both, and is a leader in the Awards show arena.

2. What criteria do you use to judge creativity? Which do you think is the most important criteria?The highest levels of creativity entail fresh, simple, and well-executed ideas born out of the product. Each part being just as integral as the next. Examples of these award winning creative ideas will be on display in May at the 50th Anniversary CLIO Awards Festival in Las Vegas.

3. Do you think the industry is in danger of forgetting what its actual purpose is from a commercial perspective?No, because there’s always the client there to remind them of that purpose.

4. Do you think we're (as an industry) getting more or less creative - and why?I believe the industry is getting more creative as it works harder to make the client’s message stand out from their competitors. Powerful creativity is one way to achieve this.

5. Who do you think is the advertising industries’ real competitor? [from a commercial imagination perspective, not from a client remuneration side]Last year the industry was responding to consumer generated videos on sites like YouTube. This year it’s social-networking. Next year it might be something different. Regardless of what it is, at some point it becomes part of the industry as they will use it as yet another tool in developing solutions for their clients.

6. How come all the examples used in presentations and other material is about companies who's lead the majority don't follow (Apple, Nike, etc)? And why do you think other don't follow them despite their success?These are examples of big brands that take big risks that often reap big rewards. There’s a lot of fear out there, now more than ever, and some companies choose to play it safer than others.

7. Has the mainstream acceptance of advertising as a profession, tamed it?It has given it the legitimacy needed to allow for more risk-taking.

8. Why did no advertising company invent Dopplr, twitter, flickr for any of its clients?That’s the question that many agencies are asking themselves, “Why didn’t we think of that?”

9. Why Vegas and not Miami again?A survey of 1,800 respondents conducted in August 2008 found that Las Vegas was the most attractive and affordable option for the 2009 50th Anniversary CLIO Festival, because it is a city internationally renowned for its bright lights and great entertainment – a truly appropriate venue to showcase all talent and creativity within the industry.

Question for Ad Pit Readers

Would you be interested in asking questions about mobile advertising and mobile ad opportunities (etc) to the CEO of 'one of the fastest growing online and mobile chatting/flirting/dating networks' ? (I will mention their name if the consensus is you would like to hear their answers)

If so please post your questions here and I will get back to them with what you would like to know.

Danke

Thanks to everyone who asked questions about me!
I'll be happy to answer anymore if you have them :)

Questions about Me ...11

Rob @ Cynic: Why does advertising excite me?

Its quite difficult to answer because its something i've always been interested in. I can remember in detail some ads from when I must have been 3 or 4!

I love creative things, music, graphics, film etc... and advertising combines all of those things. I've always been into writing, and it's always fascinated me about how advertising talks to people (tone of voice, the words they use etc).

Now that people can spread messages in minutes, the prospect of joining advertising at a time when it is both more restricted and yet more open than ever is a thrilling one.

Question About Me 6-10

NP:

1. How do I cope with failure: It depends on the situation. I dont like failure, but i'm not one to give up without a fight (metaphorically speaking). Ive not yet got an ad job but im still here blogging and reading ad blogs every single day. Im still searching.

Its cliche, but you only fail when you stop trying.

2. My Middle Name: James

3. Biggest Disappointment: Hard to know really. I think the second ad job I went for. As I still didnt know that much (compared to now) at the time, but I thought I had done really well... then was gutted when I didnt get it!

4. Where do I see myself in 10 years: As a good account planner/manager, hopefully I will have developed and be looking up that proverbial ladder!


Lauren:

1. what is the one question you hate answering about yourself? and then answer it:
Nice question! Normally its people asking me what I do, as because its a small business I do about 5 things...even then I have to explain what we do before I answer!

Essentially I write guides/articles for small businesses. I also do some PR writing. (As well as other bits!)

Questions 1-5

Here are the first set of answers to questions submitted to me!

Ben:

1. I love lots of films including American Beauty, Fight Club, Garden State and Chungking Express

2. Where id like to live in London? Not sure. My dad is a cockney so maybe north of the river somewhere!

3. Last Holiday: Hong Kong, wonderful place. My first visit out of Europe, so many amazing things; lots of future family places (my fiancee's family are from HK). I cant wait to go back.

Rob:

1. Biggest adland disappointment: In terms of places ive visited, most definitely M+C Saatchi. It felt much more guarded and stuffy than any other agency ive gone to; which is probably why it seems to be quite prehistoric in its thinking. One guy who interviewed me acted like he wasnt at all interested in what I was saying!

Im sure there's good people there, but my experience was not positive. It's the one ad job ever I didnt care if I got.

2. How I feel when something impacts me: Im hard to impact, but if something does I find it both inspiring and thought provoking. All of my favourite films above are those that impacted something on me.

Personally speaking...

After my recent post on Risk taking and determination, it has been suggested to me that I wrote a bit more about myself.

So id like to find out what people want to know about me (if anything!)... so please fire away with questions!