So, you want to work in Planning?

Mmm, yellow fats. A classic planning problem.

Hello all.

I'd say about half of the emails I receive about getting into advertising relate to planning.

And, being a planner myself, I'm more than happy to offer advice, especially as it's a tricky line of work to get into. When I was trying to get into it, I read an awful lot of Russell Davies's blog (the planner who did a lot of very good work on Nike and Honda, amongst others) - and, I think, is still a good resource. Additionally, the London Strategy Unit has begun to run a short course for wannabe planners that you should check out.

Planning is always a hard thing to write about, much less explain coherently (though the APG has a brilliant guidebook on it) if you've never done it. And, for most of the folks reading this, the opportunity to do planning is fairly remote.

Now, when you're in the job as a junior planner, there's a post in the AdGrads archives that might be useful. But for those who've never had to write a planning presentation, or want to understand what goes into it, I've written a short presentation to help show how you'd put something together to show your client, and set up what the creative work will be - along with a communications plan, something to  indicate how you'd spend the media money in an ideal world.

I thought it would be a good idea to pick a brand and answer a fictional problem to help folks understand the thought process that goes into a planning presentation - one that's away from the typical sexy brand (your Nikes, your Apples', your Budweiser's) that most think of when they talk about their favourite work. And, after all, the 'yellow fats' category is amongst one of the most traditional planning problems to tackle.


Have a go yourself. Send me your presentations, or put it up on Slideshare, and we can have a Q&A as to how you've tackled it.


Most of this presentation was written with a bit of desk research, some time spent in-store and some time spent chatting to the typical consumers (mums, in short). Check out the ONS, read up on new launches in the category - and see what you think. If I was planner on the business, there'd be a raft of information I'd receive; but in this instance, don't worry about being 100% right when it comes to buying behaviours...just use whatever research you can find on or offline.

The presentation's below, and you can download it (or get in touch with me - william.humphrey at yahoo.co.uk if you'd like the keynote presentation with notes) from Slideshare.

A point of view on Flora margarine.. from Will Humphrey

NB: The business has come up for pitch; it'll be interesting to see what sort of work they come up with.

Ogilvy's 2013 Account Management Scheme..

The man himself, in full mad man garb.

Hello, all.

Another agency has opened its grad recruitment doors in 2013.

This time, it's the turn of Ogilvy, who've just launched their account management graduate scheme for 2013. The page can be accessed here.

This scheme is an amalgamation of the old summer placement scheme and the account management schemes of years previously. To find out more about the structure, have a look here.


Key dates include the closing date - February 18th, the interview and assessment day (the week commencing April the 8th), and when the scheme starts (1st July) and ends (30th August). Assuming all goes well, you'll begin the fellowship in mid-October.

Good luck, gang. You can ask questions of Ogilvy via their twitter and Facebook accounts.

McCann & Ogilvy...

Perhaps not this chap...but someone like him..

Hello adgrad folk.

It's 2013, and given that the dust has settled from quite a lot of schemes pre-Christmas, I thought it might be an idea to draw your attention to a few agencies' successful candidates - how they got on and in.

Who knows, it might help you redouble your efforts for next time, or - if you're due to graduate the year after, provide you with some much needed tips for your first application.

The first is a short video McCann have produced following their 'McCademy' graduate scheme. Find out more here. The video's below:



A successful Ogilvy planning fellow, John Hillier, has written a very good blog post on the topic of his application to the 2012 scheme. Read it here. His twitter account is here, should you have any questions/tweet yourself.

I hope those two are useful. As ever, check the adgrads archives - there are a fair number of posts about how to prepare application forms/interview successfully.

Wannabe and current Planner types, read this...

That's these guys.

Hello gang.

An interesting opportunity, this. I'd estimate some 80% of the people who email me off the back of my witterings on AdGrads want to work in planning.

And, as a planner, I'm delighted to hear that. However, one of the most tricky questions I get asked is 'how do I get a Junior Planner job?' To be quite honest, there's no one clear or easy way into this line of work. It is frequently frustrating, and often requires months/years of interning or being an account handler/manager first.

I was lucky. Through a combination of blogging, interning and being in the right place at the right time, I was able to get into planning without having to do account management for several years. Partly, it was down to one of the dons of planning, Russell Davies (the mind behind 'Grr' for Honda and 'Run London' for Nike, and that's just the tip of the iceberg).

He and his good bunch at the London Strategy Unit have realised that formal grounding and training in planning is fairly thin on the ground, and want to help wannabe (and current junior) planners with some best in class training. Note, this ISN'T just for wannabe planners - it's for those in the business as well.

They're just about to launch a series of training mornings at their place, and have sent the blurb along. Read on:

"One of the things we’ve observed in recent years is how difficult it is for junior strategists, and wannabe strategists, to get a proper foothold into the discipline, particularly agency-side. And by ‘foothold’, we mean access not only to the kinds of people and businesses who can help them on their way, but also to the kind of training and other professional development tools that turn brilliant potential into brilliant performance.

Of course, there are people and organisations out there who have already recognised this, and we have a lot of time for the APGs and IPAs of this world. But they can only do so much, limited (as they often are) by available space, available time, and of course available money. (The money point is also important as the relative paucity of available subsidies often precludes people who aren’t already in successful businesses from getting the kind of training and support that can help them get jobs in successful businesses – ironically enough.)

So, we’ve decided to try and do our bit. Next Monday at 9.00am we’ll have a new Events section up on our website where you can register interest in our first ‘strategist bootcamp’. That’s a working title; we’re beavering away so hard behind the scenes right now that we haven’t quite decided what it should be called yet.

We’ll be running our first event over a couple of days in February next year. It’ll feature interesting industry folk as well as senior LSU people. It’ll be hands-on, practical, and give every participant something of genuine career value. As it’ll be our first one, and we want to use it as an opportunity to try stuff out and learn as we go, we’re going to run the whole thing without attempting to profit from it. That means we’ll be sharing with everyone exactly what it costs us to stage, and simply dividing that by the number of paid tickets available. Tickets will be strictly limited, although to help out those who aren’t currently in jobs we’ll also be offering a few free ones – we’ll leave information on how that works for next week.

It’s going to be brilliant, or at least the start of something brilliant, and we hope that you’ll spread the word and come back to learn more next Monday."

So, keep an eye on their site. It's going to be brilliant, whether you want to work as a planner, are just into planning (also, have a look at this post) or if you want to brush up on your skills.

BMB Ad Scheme - Interviews For All!

BMB'sad scheme has launched..read on...

Hi all.

More gr(ad) scheme bits and bobs to tell you about. This time it's the turn of BMB.

They've been in touch to tell us about their advertising scheme; this time, they're doing things a little differently. Application forms are out - they want to chat, and to chat to everyone, grads and non-grads alike.

Here's what they've got to say:

"We're continuing our mission to challenge the status quo and democratise the interview process, so whether you're a grad, non-grad, martian or womble, if you want an interview, you can have one. We'll be doing it for one day only – November 22nd.

For those who are unfamiliar with how it works, it's simple really. We'll be getting you all to spin a virtual roulette wheel to let pot luck decide which one of our BMBers you will speak to via Skype for a 7 minute chat. Our BMB panel will be changing all the time, so you won't have a clue which one of our top dogs you'll be talking to. And neither will we.

Essentially, you'll need to come back and visit our website between 7am and 11pm on November 22nd (2012 – just to be totally clear). We'll be streaming the ever-changing interview panel live from an agency webcam – and it'll be up to you to spin the arrow to find out who you'll be chatting to for 7 minutes."

To learn more about the interview, and the job that's up for grabs, click here. 

Good luck!" 

Best of luck to each of you.

Want to work at W&K London?

This is one of the parking spaces. Lovely stuff.

Hi gang.

A bumper crop of opportunities this week, and this one concerns W&K London. They're on the look out for planning placements (both graduates/non graduates) to work there on 3 month long paid planning placements from January.

I know, from personal experience, just how tricky it is to gain meaningful planning experience when you're just starting out, and well, W&K are one of the best agencies in town, so this is a great opportunity. Also, the mass of applicants I had when my old agency Edelman needed a junior planner suggests that lots and lots of you want to get into planning...so there's likely to be a fair bit of competition.

You can apply by clicking here.  The closing date is the 24th of November, and you'll find out whether you've been invited to the agency for a day of chats and coffee by the 3rd of December.

Good luck, all.

IPG Media Brands...

This could be you (maybe without the baton).

Hi all.

There are a few opportunities to tell you about this week.

The first of them is from IPG MediaBrands. IPG (or the Interpublic Group) has a lot of agencies; this scheme is for their media side.

Here's what they've had to say:

"2012 sees the launch of the UK IPG Mediabrands graduate programme, as we are looking to hire up to 10 graduates on permanent contracts which will start September 2013 in London.

The programme involves a placement in one of the following London-based IPG Mediabrands agencies; UM, Initiative, Mediabrands Analytics or Mediabrands Audience Platform (which includes Cadreon and Reprisemedia).

 

Through 12 months of media-specific and professional-skills training, our graduate scheme will teach you all you need to know about media, give you the chance to work on high profile clients and give you great opportunities to get yourself noticed within a global media network.

Applications open on 1^st November 2012 and close at midnight on 4^th January 2013. For more details on what we are looking for and information on how to apply, please read the brochure on our website. Finally, to find out more about the scheme, check out our twitter account - @ipgmb_talent"

Good luck, all.