Communication Efficacy

Developing your own planning style

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My planning mentor would have just distilled that title down to 'Efficacy', which is the what we planners do. But in any case Richard Huntington of Saatchi & Saatchi has put a presentation up that he did at the IPA called "Developing your own style" which is the school of planning that I learned at HHCL & Partners where Richard and I both worked, nearly a decade ago. Richard also includes some words from Guy Murphy the Global Planning Director for JWT and one of the reasons why I joined JWT and would fear them in any big pitch. Guy is easily the best multinational network planner I've had the luxury of spending time with when I worked for JWT in London before heading out to Beijing.


Often it's not what Guy says. It's what he doesn't say that commands most respect and is to my mind genius clever from the perspective of garruolous planners like myself. Less is more and all that.


Anyway enough of my waffle. Take a couple of minutes to see how powerful the right combination of words can be from some of the best in the business. And as someone who has lived and worked in more countries than most as a planner I think I can seperate the politically savvy but creatively mediocre beasts from the best in class cats.

Adult Swim

As Rob is off on a nostalgia trip of lycra pants, long hair and sneaky trips away from HHCL where we used to work in London to read Kerrang I thought I'd share something that came my way in RSS feeds last night from Tokyohanna, that immediately stood out from the usual music tip offs.

I really like this ability to embed and share music with people through blogs and widgets. It's a terrific recommendation/distribution model, and means that Adult Swim make it into my awareness and/or consideration set quickly easily and effectively.

I guess their next task is to find a way to get a few Euros out of me. I believe they can do this outside of the traditional revenue model and despite David's startling assertion in a brilliant post he just wrote that content production as we know it may be dead, or even the nature of content itself.

I'm guessing it depends a lot on the context but make sure to follow his thought leadership blog for more on the future of media and take time to check out David's seminal 'Where are the Joneses', for a glimpse I believe into the future of mobile content.

The other talent that caught my attention recently off the Radio One site are Crystal Castles. This video is for Rob because its all about the noise right?

Mark Piper/Captain Pipes - RIP

I just found out yesterday that Mark Piper of HHCL & Partners passed away on Sunday. He was responsible for giving me my break in planning and mentored me in my first year. He was to my mind one of the most superior planners that the agency ever had.

Pipes however was notoriously prickly, and kept himself to himself in the main when working furiously on lots of new business at HHCL that he won including Egg and Go (The Low Cost Airline). I was on the receiving end of his sharp tongue on occasions and it was very sobering. He was at the same time a rock and roll star both in the meeting and off the pitch I will remember him at his most happy on his speedboat L'Etranger which I later learned was swapped for a more peaceful and to my mind more enjoyable, sailing lifestyle. I never saw that period of his life while I was in Asia.

Mark was also incredibly generous to his friends and liked breaking rules.

Pipes' big send off is next Tuesday at St Marys Church, Draycott Terrace, Chelsea on Tuesday 20th November at 11.50. Drinks after at The Coopers Arms in Flood Street from 1.30 onwards.

Thanks for the ride Mark.

Update: You can read more about Mark over here from his very delightful wife Kate.

Working Class Hero

by John Lennon

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me