Members of the adverati are increasingly calling for branded utility. You might even say it’s a mantra for a new year. But what is it? What does it look like? And how might we sell it in? Benjamin Palmer of Barbarian said, “For the same budget and energy as we expend on current forms of [...]

There are only two types of Account Planners in America: Forty-something Brits and Twenty-something Americans. That’s it. I’m not sure if that bodes well for the future of Account Planning, because those British accents can really give any presentation an aura of legitimacy. This whole conference is awash in…greenwashing. From carbon-neutral ad agency networks and [...]

Today at the Account Planning Conference, Aki Spicer from the Fallon Planning Blog and Ed Cotton from Butler Shine & Stern’s Influx Insights led an interesting discussion entitled “Blogging the Agency,” encouraging Account Planners to start blogs, use the blogosphere to find unique voices and encourage clients to take advantage of blogs and social networks. [...]

Anne Benvenuto is executive vice president of strategic services at R/GA. In the May 2007 issue of Admap Magazine she wrote an article called “Planning: the challenge of complexity” which introduces her concept of the creative hydra and other new media challenges. The creative hydra was born when a few new roles were grafted on [...]

Cambridge-educated brand planner Richard Huntington wonders aloud on his blog adliterate if blogging is killing planning. The idea that blogging is killing planning is arrant nonsense. The main accusation is that it encourages people to share half thought through thinking. Well no shit, in a 2.0 world where you should always be in Beta test, [...]

A cognitive scientist in the employ of Arnold is responsible for clouding up what was once a very simple execution. Yuo know the one—two men in the role of cranberry growers stand knee-deep in a bog. The duo has been appearing in Ocean Spray ads since late 2005. But now the growers have company in [...]

Randon Culture points to this Financial Times story on corporate websites. At the center of the story is BP’s decision not to scrap its site altogether in 2002. For companies, websites are often a first point of contact with the outside world. So how can they make the best impression? Someone – though not necessarily [...]

This story from The New York Times sounds strangely familiar. The accelerating speed of business and the relentless churn of consumer trends can create nightmares for marketers and their advertising agencies. By the time clients and creative directors realize that hemlines are going down, they may actually be rising again. Some agencies are responding by [...]

Jennifer Whetzel of Sullivan Higdon Sink attended the 4As Planning Conference in Chicago and had this to say: So the conference kicked off yesterday with a great incitation by John Hunt, the Worldwide Creative Director of TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris. He defined Account Planners as the intelligentsia of the advertising industry. He charged us with the task of [...]