Life after Account Planning Boot Camp

So, I am back in Graz and getting ready for my last regular exam in Salzburg. Two weeks have gone by since I returned from Hamburg and I pretty much have been constantly doing stuff – from attending weddings and sorting out last term’s notes, books left behind in July to picking mushrooms.

I guess it is time to look back at the Miami Ad School Account Planning Boot Camp. For me it has been a great experience. Miami Ad School is an exciting place to be, I enjoyed learning from several outstanding planners and my fellow planning students have been a diverse, inspiring group of talented individuals.

Many people keep approaching me with questions about the program. To answer the most burning question: Would I recommend the Account Planning Boot Camp? Yes.

I will write up a more detailed summary of the course and my experience in the coming weeks. There were several great projects that resulted in awesome work, but also sobering experiences in how ideas won’t happen. I believe I learned more from these rocky road trips than the smooth rides.

Account Planning Boot Camp

The planning projects went great for me, in a team with Diana Caplinska I won a pitch presentation and my other teams’s (Zoe Maritz, Carolina Bueno, Antonio Delgado) final strategy presentation for a German-wide launch campaign got awarded a “Best of Show”. I will soon publish the case studies and presentations of these projects we worked on.

But for the moment I have to return from the glamorous, glittery world of advertising to the real, sober world of academia: studying social semiotics and finishing my bachelor paper on English literature, specifically the morphology of characters in the American romance novel. I am living the dream.

Great vs. Good

This is the presentation Simon Law, planning director of new True Worldwide gave here at Miami Ad School Europe. His key point was that today, as the advertising industry has evolved into a mature business, has learned and mastered many things, most of the work actually is good. (Or not as bad as it used to be.) In this environment only great work will stand out and it harder to achieve than ever.

Great vs. Good
View more presentations from Simon Law.

I liked about his presentation that it did not bring up only the usual suspects of great work, but a few older and not exhaustedly reblogged examples. And some with very interesting angles.
Of course, if you are expecting a formula or recipe for instant great, there is no such thing. Only hard work, sweat and tears, mastering the craft, brutal honesty with yourself and most importantly: resisting the temptation of good.

Account Planning Boot Camp 2010

This is a bit delayed. Upon arriving in Hamburg the plan was to immediatedly and regularly blog everything that is happening here at Miami Ad School Europe. Now we are through with the third week and here is my first post. So much for ambitious plans.
The name Boot Camp really lives up to it’s sweat-promising name. We were sweating literally, but that was also due to the unusual heat here in Hamburg. Boot Camp wise, the first weeks felt like more like four with so many new ideas, new people, presentations, new things learned and it takes some time to process it all.
I will hopefully commence regular transmissions from the field by Sunday. Until then, here is a photo of the Account Planning Boot Campers 2010 courtesy of the phantastic Olaf Kroenke.

Account Planning Boot Campers 2010

We are quite a diverse bunch from Brazil, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Latvia and Austria. Some with experience in planning, some in account management, some in creative and some fresh from school.

But I still think it’s a Good Idea

Working in teams with the creatives here at Miami Ad School in Hamburg, I have a strong feeling of deja vu – of me as a young copywriter. The one defining lesson I took from my experience in the creative field was how much you can fall in love with what you believe is a great idea. But, truth be told, it is not a good idea – no matter how eloquently you post-rationalize it. The memory of me as a bad copywriter is my constant reminder how important the third person in the middle is to ask, “Does this really work?”.

A quote from a discussion this week: “I know it goes against all the values of the brand, but I want to present it anyway.” So what do you think will happen? That miraculously the client throws over board all his prior considerations and picks your idea? That would not a the brave client, that would be a stupid client.

Now there is proof you can make a client brave and bold, but you need substance and strategy that make sense for the client, not for yourself, not for the idea. I am still amazed how many of the seemingly crazy ideas (Old Spice guy) have obvious and clear strategy behind them (we need to address married middle-aged women because they make the bodywash decisions for their husbands, often choosing lady-scented varieties). Planning gruntwork and great creative helped P&G take a controlled risk, not a leap of faith.

Creatives have it tough. Idea after idea after idea rejected, buried, killed. Every meeting a rendezvous with the guillotine for your most brilliant work to date. I get why they hate it. I’d hate it, too. But all the great clients are usually the toughest clients with meetings that can be summarized (according to folks I met) as “Great! Your best work, ever! – Make it better.” To steal and paraphrase a quote from Winston Churchill: “Great creative is the result of going from one rejected idea to another with no loss of enthusiasm”. Creative is more about letting go many ideas than coming up with one perfect idea.

That said, being aware of the creative’s fragile mind I avoided to kill off the idea of the prior quote: I will let the person present their great idea personally, if they show up on time. Which they never did at any of our meetings. I rest assured we will not be wasting our client’s time in the meeting.

Why I want to work in Planning

Great news in my mail today: I have been accepted to the Miami Ad School Europe’s Account Planning Boot Camp in Hamburg. The program will start in July.
I am super-excited about this opportunity and about being able to see St.Pauli play in the German Bundesliga again.

One of the questions posed for the application was: “Why do want a career in Account Planning?”. Here is what I wrote:

First, because it is the field that makes the most difference in advertising. My perception is that the outstanding work of the last years was only possible because it had a firm strategic foundation.

Second, it will be the most challenging and exciting discipline in advertising. We are just at the beginning of the digital age. The maps of human behavior and communication will be redrawn. What a great time to be an explorer!

And third, because I hate being bombarded with lame, irrelevant and meaningless advertising. I want to change that.

On a more personal note, I have been excited about account planning and it’s practice since I studied it at the University of Oklahoma. It never let go of me. I kept myself informed and took courses. What I learned I put into practice at my job with DMS, but never worked as a planner.

I am applying here because I want to turn a hobby into a career.