The AdNews NGen blog: How to be a better planner

What does it mean to be a planner in today’s world?

Mark Twain said, “Two of your most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I think the same thing can be said about your career, the first day you start your career, and the day you figure out what you can do with it. Right now, I want to help my clients to figure out the best way to allocate their media budget, and connect with people where it is relevant. This is why I would like to share with you what it means for me to be good planner at an agency. Here are the six things I have set myself to work on:

Listening – your clients

It’s about listening to your client’s needs and consumer’s needs. Often this goes beyond what is written on the brief. What is the underlining need or concern your client has? Where do you hear your client is coming from, and what is the underlining challenge you can help with?

Listening – your clients’ customers

You also need to figure out the customer needs behind a product or category. Then look for the media consumption pattern for that customer. What do they care about? What is the emotional need state when they consider the product or brand? Facebook, Twitter, Google Trends and Roy Morgan are good starting points, you can find out even more by talking to people.

Understand media offering:

This is where regular contacts from your publishers come in handy. I think we can all have a channel of expertise. But we should not turn a blind eye to the channels that is not on our job description. Why? Because this opens up new opportunities on your media plan, and allows you to have meaningful conversations with your marketing managers when you have the holistic view. So if you mostly plan digital, please take time to go to the next TV product update. Then you can start thinking from an overall picture for your clients.  

Embrace technology:

This is the part most of the younger guys are doing pretty well, because we grew up on it and I still like to refer to myself as young. The thing that we can do better is to expand this knowledge around us. Embracing technology should not be left to a few, but everyone who works in the planning team. If you do read The Verge and have a whole list of tech feeds on your Flipboard, share any news within the agency. What I like about PHD is we have weekly trading meetings which allow discussions like this to happen.

Understand the channel progress and potential:

Let’s take gaming as an example. If your client did advertising in games for the first time last year, then that is excellent progress for that channel. They have started something which they haven’t done before. However the potential of the gaming industry is bigger than that, so we haven’t reached its full potential. For example, GTA-V sold 800 million in the first day, and this is bigger than total gross revenue of Iron Man 3, the biggest movie of 2013. So unlocking the potential of a particular channel is something that is quite rewarding.

Start out small, and don’t criticise:

How many times do you hear us agency people say: “OMG, my clients just don’t get it, they just pulled all of their digital budget.” While I understand the frustration we are coming from, it is also our responsibility to make sure that the client understand what that means for them. When you get a no, or push back about a new idea, do seek proper feedback. If it is something your clients haven’t done before, start with small steps quickly. If it works, celebrate the wins and expand it into bigger projects.

I would like to wrap up by quoting something Seth Godin said: “the long tradition of a job is slowly disappearing, and notion of opportunities will emerge in the future.” If you have a job, then others will always find the cheaper, faster, better you. If you are good at solving problems and spotting opportunities, people will always come to you for help. I think this is the key ingredient to progress and growth in this fast paced industry of ours.

Xikan Han
Digital account manager
PHD