Coffee with BBDO strategist Omar El Gammal
D: So Omar, you’ve recently made the jump from account handling to planning, any advice you would offer someone wanting to make the same transition?
O: Be persistent. Most people will try to convince you to stay within account management with tempting offers and the promise of moving into planning later. It's not that they have bad intentions – it's just because it's so tough to find/keep talented and dependable people that manage and build a relationship with a client. If you really want to get into planning though, don’t put it off – keep at it and stick to your guns because the right door will open up if you keep looking.
Some people will also tell you that there isn’t a strong demand for planners in the region and that opportunities are scarce and the career ladder is slow. The reality is that more clients are demanding strategic planning and a deeper understanding of consumer insights and market trends. More and more agencies are opening or expanding planning departments as a result. Media conglomerates have already picked up on the need for it and are also evolving their various strategic departments. Planners are going to be in big demand the more savvy consumers get and the more competition tightens. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise should start looking for another industry to work in.
Finally – make sure you're really into planning and not just running from the day-to-day of a client servicing job. If you think planning means you get to do all the fun stuff just without contact reports and cost estimates – you're probably right, but there's a lot more to it than that. Planning is not about being the philosopher and creating fun looking presentations – it's about being able to analyze loads of research and your own observations and pinpoint what really matters to consumers and how that can make your brand more successful. You can make as many colorful presentations, edits and philosophical statements as you want – if they don’t actually lead to better creative that builds business than your role as a planner is useless. If you’re not ready for that, planning is not for you.
D: You seem to have developed a pretty good grasping of exactly what planning is so early on when you’ll find some seniors still struggling with the definition. Why do you think it’s the case?
O: There are different kinds of planners and different agencies have different definitions of what a planner should be. In some places, their role is purely a 'new business' role. In others, planning is just a fancy word for a research department. In some agencies, planners are there to make the creative better. It really depends on what the agency's philosophy is and how management look at the role of planning in the brand building process.
Planning is really what you make of it at this stage in the region as it's still quite a young discipline (here) and it will still evolve further to suit the region and its consumers.
The funny thing is, I'm still learning more and more about 'what planning is' every day. What I know today is mainly from reading and personal experience. It will probably evolve as my experience as a formal planner grows.
The one unshakable truth I'm sure of though is that our responsibility is to better understand our consumers and uncover insights that will build a brands business. If a planner, senior or not, is not about getting brands to connect with consumers and result ultimately in higher sales – than something is very wrong and they should rethink their role.
D: What about future job prospects for planners?
O: Anywhere you find a need to understand and connect with consumers. Design agencies, new product development departments, branding consultancies – anything and everything that needs to communicate with consumers will need to understand consumers. That's why you see in the West, planners have started to find prospects on the client side (Russell Davies for Nike for example).
Whether or not planners will stay in the confines of the ad agency is in the hands of the ad agency itself. If agency managements recognize the opportunity in their clients' needs, than that's where our job prospects are. If not, we'll definitely be in demand elsewhere.
D: Ok so, what worries you enough to keep you up at night and what excites you when it comes to planning?
O: The answer to both those questions is the same: Ideas.
Ideas that I believe in but can’t make others believe in.
Ideas that I fear I won’t end up acting on.
Ideas that don’t mean anything to anyone.
Those are the things that make me worry most.
Likewise, what I love about planning is the challenge to come up with ideas that are original and relevant.
It's almost like I have little voices in my head constantly going off on tangents and getting excited over ideas – some stupid and some not. Yet there's nothing as wonderful as uncovering an insight.
There's a very good article I read recently by Jeremy Bullmore about how a good insight is like a refrigerator – the moment you look into it a light comes on. Love it.
D: So what question would you have asked yourself had you been conducting this interview?
O: That one. No, not really. I guess I would ask 'If you had the chance to get any job in the world right now what would it be?' (a classic lunch break favorite). For me I'd say it's a toss up between a planner at Nike and ditching the rat race to sell tacos & margaritas on the beach.
D: Omar, we know from personal experience that BBDO made one hell of a good decision by bringing you on board, we wish you all the best.
Thanks so much for chatting with us!
O: A pleasure X. Or the blogger formerly known as…
posted by Nic at 1:20 PM
12 Comments:
Omar, what do you say about Planners still not being assigned specific accounts to focus on?
BBDO seems to be "poaching" a lot of good people these days. what's going on!
P.s. where can we get a hold of that Jeremy Bulmore article?
Good on 'em for doing so...the industry needs some poaching to elevate those salaries
I think they will eventually, as clients increasingly begin to realize the value of planning, they willbeging to carry them on reatiner.
I think they will eventually, as clients increasingly begin to realize the value of planning, they willbeging to carry them on reatiner.
I think they will eventually, as clients increasingly begin to realize the value of planning, they willbeging to carry them on reatiner.
Anonymous 1:
Personally I think it's an advantage to have a planner work on more than one account. It keeps you fresh and on your toes - constantly having to shift perspective from one target audience's life to another. Plus you don't get bored quick. Look at how creatives are structured and you'll find a lot of the same.
At the same time, I don't really agree with agencies that have decided to keep one planner for all accounts - s/he ends up with not much perspective on anything.
Although I think all of that is a broad generalization - what it comes down to is the planner, the agency and what accounts. If they fit and it works than great. If not, than I'd be stating the obvious.
You can find the Jeremy Bullmore article here (along with a lot of other fantastic blogs and articles from WPP people):
http://www.wpp.com/WPP/Marketing/Articles/whyisagoodinsightlikearefrigerator.htm
As for BBDO - :) there's a good feeling going through the halls at the moment (at least in my eyes).
Anonymous 2/3/4:
You raise a good point - I think the more clients demand it the more agencies will follow. Yet it's also in an agency's nature to make sure it's using every resource to it's fullest.
It depends on the agency though - maybe the agency's strategy might be to have each planner specialized in certain target audiences(youth, women, etc) as oppossed to breaking down by client.
Omar, i forgot to ask you this, but u think we're ready for an APG?
The APG is all about 'Championing creative thinking' (as opposed to just creative ads).
I don't think we're ready for the APG - I think it's long overdue.
Hi Omar,
Interesting interview, but I felt it's a bit broad. You mentioned the planning job description involves sifting through research and comming up with customer insights.
What about contact strategy, transmedia planning, creative strategy and overall strategy, yes the insight is the starting point but is just getting the insight enough?
The most typical scenario would say that media should do the contact strategy/transmedia planning, the creatives handle the creative strategy, and the project leader should handle the overall strategy; I would beg to argue. I would argue the need of having the planner involved in all of this process and responsible for the implementation and the integration (i hate this word) of the overall campaign. What are your thoughts?
I personally dislike the fact that people need to read planning documents to understand the actual ads.
Interesting.
Is it not the job of creative thinking to help lead to creative strategies that inspire creative ads?
I think an APG is a need, not a question if planning is to get a chance here.
Not only does management need to believe in planning themselves, they need to SELL planning to their clients just like a creative idea is sold to them.
There is more to planning than insights. That is like saying an Art Director only needs to get the casting right for an ad in order to evoke the right feeling.
A planner digs into the client's business, their category, the consumers, culture to make connections or see opportunities that inspire a strategy that is relevant. A good planner understands their creative teams and as a result creates an atmosphere for a creative team to concept based on that strategy.
Also, it is a planner's job to hear their creative teams comments on the proposed strategy. Great work can not come from an uninspiring brief.
A planner's job should never be translated as slipping the brief under the door of the creative department.
Great work is a result of collaboration.
Let's try and see ourselves as partners to our clients vs. vendors. Then maybe we will earn their respect and it would not be so hard to sell the idea of plannING to them.
Apologies if this in any way comes off as preachy. I am only very passionate about great creative communication.
Interesting.
Is it not the job of creative thinking to help lead to creative strategies that inspire creative ads?
I think an APG is a need, not a question if planning is to get a chance here.
Not only does management need to believe in planning themselves, they need to SELL planning to their clients just like a creative idea is sold to them.
There is more to planning than insights. That is like saying an Art Director only needs to get the casting right for an ad in order to evoke the right feeling.
A planner digs into the client's business, their category, the consumers, culture to make connections or see opportunities that inspire a strategy that is relevant. A good planner understands their creative teams and as a result creates an atmosphere for a creative team to concept based on that strategy.
Also, it is a planner's job to hear their creative teams comments on the proposed strategy. Great work can not come from an uninspiring brief.
A planner's job should never be translated as slipping the brief under the door of the creative department.
Great work is a result of collaboration.
Let's try and see ourselves as partners to our clients vs. vendors. Then maybe we will earn their respect and it would not be so hard to sell the idea of plannING to them.
Apologies if this in any way comes off as preachy. I am only very passionate about great creative communication.
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