My UNCUT Viewer Response to Redscout Presents Spur from Kenji Summers on Vimeo.

I love (good) planning and strategy. This is what I sent to Redscout before they cut everything up and used a sound byte. View it here.

3:26

“Planners need to be (more) craftsmen. Planners and the planning discipline need to be a guild”

I’ll post my uncut @reverse7 director’s cut video next week. I enjoyed most of the responses from the Redscout Spur video series. The videos that inspired the responses should be stored in the Akashic (planners) library for eternity.  I also believe both planners and laymen will be speaking about the Spur series for months to come. I enjoyed participating and the ongoing conversation.

http://www.psfk.com/2010/01/redscout-presents-spur-viewers-respond.html

This time I attempted to tackle The Client’s Relationship With Planning. Is Planning Handicapped By “Advertising”?

I related advertising to Medieval Europe, planners to jesters and oracles, and creatives to royalty.

SPUR episode 4 Video Response – Kenji Summers from Kenji Summers on Vimeo.

I should have touched on projects by great planners that extend beyond the advertising agency walls. Projects such as Cubesareevil.com, Thisplace09.com, Planners Who Wave bit.ly/2uDT8f, and Planningforgood.blogspot.com.

I was two seconds from adding background music. Maybe the (new) Mickey Factz track I heard while up lat night attempting to reach 1,000 followers on Twitter was the inspiration. Either way, I decided to go acapella.

SPUR episode 1 Video Response – Kenji Summers from Kenji Summers on Vimeo.

My favorite point was about the potential for partnerships within the planning discipline. I.e., the dynamics of the art director and copy writer team but for planners with different skill sets and personalities.

Please disagree with everything I said and do your own.

For those that are familiar with the world of advertising, this is a momentous occasion. As top planners/strategists debate our role in the ‘process’ over at PSFK (Redscout presents SPUR), Nick Barham has demonstrated the growth of the planning discipline. He is truly someone who came to the table with a knife, fork, and appetite. Cheers to him!

John C Jay, the W+K’s global executive creative director adds, “the qualifications for a true creative director have evolved beyond craft and management”. Jay noted that “broader skills are required in order to lead brands with speed and cultural relevancy”. He also added that Barham had played a key role in creative processes, such as developing documentaries, music videos, event websites and applications at Wieden & Kennedy since joining in 2006.

Let this be a lesson to all aspiring and current planners. The Sky’s the Limit. No Ceilings.

via Media.Asia

A brand development shop by the name of Red Scout has hit the web with a video series called SPUR. Hosted by PSFK.com, this series explores the intersection of brands, strategy, innovation and the world of account planning. Check the list of participants below:

• Douglas Atkin, Writer; Partner & Chief Community Officer of MeetUp.com
• Devika Bulchandani, Chief Strategy Officer; McCann Erickson
• Dan Cherry, Managing Partner, Director of Brand Strategy; Anomaly
• Piers Fawkes, Founder; PSFK
• John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer; Young & Rubicam
• Heidi Hackemer, Senior Planner; BBH
• Robin Hafitz, Chief Strategic Officer; Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners
• Sally Jones, Founder; Tangerine
• Gareth Kay, Director of Digital Strategy; Goodby & Silverstein
• Hank Leber, Founder; Agency Nil and Associate Planner, McKinney
• Domenico Vitale, Founder; People, Ideas & Culture
• Freya Williams, Global Planning Director; Ogilvy Earth
• Paul Woolmington, Founding Partner; Naked Communications NY, Global Partner of Naked Communications

Red Scout contends that over the course of the next few weeks they will show you the planning elite, the planning rebels, and the planning newbies. Let’s see what conversation this series will start. I know Suits is Watching…

Teaser Video

For all my fellow account planners on Google Wave remember to check Planners Who Wave.

via PSFK