Connections Planningness

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Connections planning in 2009 @Jasonoke @Garethk

description

Presentation from Planningness, October 17 2009, by Jason Oke and Gareth Kay. For more on the event & speakers check out http://www.planningness.com http://www.jasonoke.com http://www.garethkay.com

Transcript of Connections Planningness

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Connections planning in 2009

@Jasonoke @Garethk

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Does anyone here have the job title “connections planner?”

*we’re sorry in advance

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Caveat – we don’t mean to paint everyone with the same brush. There is brilliant work

done by connections planners out there. But as a total discipline, it’s in trouble.

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Spring 2009 survey:

“What is connections planning?”

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The argument: Connections Planning hasn’t lived

up to its promise.

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Why Connections Planning is where it is: a brief history.

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Once upon a time, some rich white guys decided to make money by spinning off

media from creative agencies.

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This separated the creation of ideas from the choosing of media

≠  

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The underlying assumption is that media is a container for holding messages – and

turned media into a commodity to be bought primarily on price.

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But at exactly the same time, the media landscape exploded.

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And a new breed of ideas emerged, leveraging the particular strengths of

different media.

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Connections planning was an attempt to fix the mistake.

+  

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It was the right idea.

But we’ve mostly been using it the wrong way.

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We use it to generate “stunts”

for pitches and award shows.

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We use it to turn everything into a medium.

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We use it to find new places to interrupt people.

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We create fake “movements” for things people don’t care about.

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We create utility that isn’t useful to anyone.

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Basically, we put more shit in more places.

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And it’s not working.

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The irony is connections planning doesn’t create very many

connections.

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Where did it all go wrong?

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Connections planning was solving for the wrong problem.

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It wasn’t trying to build greater value for brands or people.

It was solving for agency problems. New revenue stream

Sexy new business tool Award show friendly creative

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It was dependent on the person who did it.

We got connections planners, instead of connections planning.

We don’t have a shared approach or way of working.

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It’s like pornography: “I know it when I see it”

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We applied the lens of advertising (interruptive, message-based) to

new media.

Instead we should apply the lens of new media (interactivity,

iteration) to advertising.

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The opportunity:

Re-thinking the value of connections planning.

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The opportunity:

A new creative process, not an output.

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A process of putting human connections at the heart of

everything. Grounded in a deep understanding of

what people are trying to do, what the brand is trying to do, and how people use media.

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A journey, not a destination.

Ideas as unfolding stories, a stream of iterations and interactions that

invite people into the process.

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Think of the flow of information over time.

365 day planning instead of 360 degree.

Cultural latency is a strategic tool.

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Think of the flow of information over geography.

How do you create contextual value in each particular space?

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Think of the flow of information over the depth of the story.

How deep does the rabbit hole go?

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Think of the flow of information over technology.

How can each medium & technology be used to its full

potential? The role of creative technologist is

increasingly important.

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weloveyouso.com

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h%p://www.missiong.com/show/Replay  

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A plan for what happens after the connection.

What will people do with it? How will they use it & share it? What might they remix?

And what will that mean for the brand? How will we change because of our

interaction with them?

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Learn from other disciplines that create meaningful interactions.

We need to absorb practices & approaches from design, information architecture, and

user experience planning. Things like agility, rapid iteration,

prototyping.

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Connections Planning has more in common with Experience Planning

than media planning. We are all experience designers,

whether we think of ourselves that way or not.

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Focus on maximizing value for all.

Create thick value, with interactions that are rewarding for everyone –

media provider, participant, brand.

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It isn’t just about digital. It’s about planning for interaction.

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Television  

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Solve real problems. At the end of the day, our job is straightforward:

What’s the business problem? What audience can best solve that problem?

What response do they need to have? What experience could generate that response?

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And the solution could live anywhere.

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Embrace the one-off. Do we worry too much about campaigns?

Sometimes, affecting one thing well is powerful. Commitment, not campaigning

It gives you a chance to learn: a one-off is just something you haven’t figured out how to

dimensionalize yet.

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We all have the same job: making better ideas.

Whatever the job function, everyone’s job is additive to a shared goal. You’re not

responsible for the brief or the channel plan but for the idea. That requires a fluid

iterative interchange of strategic, media, and creative thinking.

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The $64,000 question:

Is connections planning a separate discipline?

Are we niche-ing ourselves into irrelevance with splintered sub-disciplines?

Should these just be core planning skills?

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Topics for discussion:

1)  Is connections planning a separate discipline? Or a core planning skill?

2)  What skills/methods do we need to absorb from other disciplines?

3)  What could the new ‘idea’ team look like? 4)  What’s holding us back from evolving?

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Thanks.

@Jasonoke @Garethk