Latest ACCOUNTS articles

What Is Planning?

From the pages of BBDO Toronto’s FIRESTARTER the Borg offers Ihaveanidea some thoughts on Account Planning.
Many people ask what is planning? What do you guys do?
I recommend starting off by defining what you aren’t, so here goes.
Planning isn’t a process. It may use processes like Brand Pyramids but that doesn’t define it. Anyone can [...]

Existential Crisis Of Planning

At a conference on planning in Boca Raton, Florida, early last month, advertising star Jeff Goodby said something that the advertising world may see, but refuse to acknowledge: advertising account planners are floundering.
The profession of advertising account planning is in deep crisis, Goodby said, which could lead to its ultimate irrelevancy.
He told of an internal [...]

Idea Killers

Research kills good ideas!
You probably hear that from agencies all the time. Research gets a bad rap from agencies, sometimes for very good reasons. But the truth is that agencies are also responsible for killing good ideas.
Think about it. In creative presentations, agencies typically come to the table with two or three ad ideas. The [...]

Account Planning – Added Value Or Lost Opportunity

Account Planning – Added value or lost opportunity.
(5 Myths of account planning)
In Canada, Account Planning, or as it is often called, Strategic Planning, is in danger of mutating into a confusing amalgam of account management, research and fantasy. If the process is to become a meaningful addition to the advertising development process – one which [...]

Why Should We Ad Account Planning? (Part II)

If you were to pose that question to an agency the most common response for adding planning would be “to win more business” and “to give a strategic edge to the agency.” It’s much simpler than that.
It relates to relevance and trust.
Or we could just call Jeff Goodby and ask him why he embraces [...]

Practical Advice For Gary And Neil’s Pocket Book

In a recent Marketing Magazine issue (November 11, 2002), Gary Prouk offers up some opinion for agency-hunting clients that believe there is no art to the advertising business. He was smart enough to not mention any of Leo Burnett’s cross-cultural studies in his story, but he forgot that his readers actually might have a [...]

Mommy, Where Do Account Planners Come From?

In this three-part article I will attempt to demystify the mystique surrounding the art of account planning. As Strategic Editor for ihaveanidea.org, my mission is to celebrate great ideas and clever thinking and one of the ways I can do that is by recognizing the people, the case studies and the stories that demonstrate the [...]