Freelance Brand and Creative Strategist / Strategic Planner and Fractional Strategy Director
While moderating groups to cover off the qual for my own projects I’ve noticed that research attendance has gone up a lot in the last 9 months. I know we’re supposed to be coming out of recession, but attendance at my focus groups is now so enthusiastic that I think I’m going to have to … Continue reading it’s geting easier to recruit – but will they play along?
There's been the odd occasion over the last few years when I've felt like I've been researching something in order to get that box ticked on the client's project plan, rather than to use fresh insight to move things forward. There's simply no point in spending money on research if the answer is staring you … Continue reading do you really need to research this?
I’ve been thinking about Planners Who Do Other Things Now. These fall into several subcategories, there’s Planners Who Now Do Something Totally Different But Use Their Planning Skillset, like the Chief Exec of an NHS Trust and the Life Coach I know. Then there’s Planners Who Don’t Work In Ad Agencies Anymore, but instead work … Continue reading why are so many Planners not doing ad agency Planning anymore?
We get The Sunday Times delivered at home and reading their Style section usually results in me ranting over the breakfast table. Style tends to focus on £100 face creams, the latest exercise crazes, outfits that less than 0.05% of the population can afford and fad diets - the latest being sugar-free, so kale smoothie … Continue reading Style can’t have it both ways
I've been making an extra effort recently to spend more time catching up with fellow Planners and Strategists (of all types) - and I've never come away from a coffee shop, cafe or restaurant without a post-it note full of scribbled ideas and To Dos. Notes of websites to visit, books to read, new business … Continue reading why agencies don’t value the modern meet up enough
images via the BBC online and TV forecasts I love all the weather-related retail stories that come out whenever there’s the slightest sign of a heatwave in the UK. It’s a gift for PRs (who are probably sitting on a load of Royal Baby press releases they can’t send out yet) and a fun way … Continue reading retail winners and losers in a heatwave
In last week’s Radio Times (which is nearly as good as The Sun for a pulse of the nation type snapshot) Radio 4’s Today presenter Justin Webb wrote in his column about how his children will have a limited need to know actual facts, what with the world’s knowledge being there at their digital fingertips. … Continue reading we’re going to need considerably more Investigators of Interesting
Have you had a play with the BBC’s new class calculator yet? Looking at the categories, most of the Planners I’ve met would slot neatly into the Technical Middle Class box: But when I tried with my own data, I came out as Established Middle Class, probably because thanks to my horsey friends I could … Continue reading the new BBC class calculator doesn’t get full marks from me
I saw an ad today for Scrooge the musical, which will be at the London Palladium this Autumn starring Tommy Steele, aged 75. This tied in rather nicely with a piece I stumbled across on The Stage’s website earlier this week about the resilience of older performers, including Ann Emery (82), who plays Billy’s gran … Continue reading older performers still treading the boards to meet demand from their contemporaries
In the first half of my Planning career I worked on a number of drinks brands and became a bit of an authority on stuff like maximising back bar selling hotspots. As a result, I ended up writing lots of features for drinks trade mag The Publican and still provide expert comment for the odd … Continue reading why brewers have yet to learn what women want