How to become a planner – Part VII

The Account Planning Group had a really great piece on what planning is and how to get into it. Here are some of the highlights:

Thinking like a planner

Here are some ideas from top planners in the industry about how you should approach planning.

“Get curious”

If you’re considering becoming a planner, curiosity should be something that comes naturally to you anyway. If not, then start getting out of your comfort zone and looking at life from a different angle, through taking courses you’d never thought of taking, to taking a different route to school, to spending a morning just watching people on the street. There is no linear progression into planning. It comes from an interest in many different facets of life. From an openness to see things from multiple perspectives. And from an ability to make connections between seemingly disparate things. So up your life curiosity. – Simin Radmanesh

“Whole Brain Thinking”

Make sure you have evidence and experience in right brain conceptual thinking and left brain analytical thinking. Logical: maths, logic puzzles, business case studies. Conceptual: painting, creative writing, going on ‘adventures’. – Simin Radmanesh

“Embrace your nerdy side”

We want people we work with – and planners in particular – to be interesting and interested in the world – we’re looking for people with sparky, inquisitive minds. Don’t be afraid of strategically exposing your slightly nerdy side – planners need to be able to get interested in the detailed minutiae of the most apparently ‘boring’ products and services. If you spin it right, that dark past as a dedicated teenage trainspotter may work in your favour… – Mathew Palmer

“Unhealthy interests”

Be interested in brands and how they work. I think I only ever got a job because I was able to develop an unhealthy interest in stock cubes and chocolate biscuit countlines and what people had to say about them. These things are not to be looked down on, they’re to be celebrated and explored – John Shaw

Agency training programs (not a ton of these, and highly competitive, but worth checking out – note: these are all UK based)

Access
AMV Academy
BBH Homegrown
Carat Media Manchester
Isobel Summer School
Leo Burnett – The Foundry: Creatives
M&C Saatchi
ZenithOptimedia
JWT Project Management Graduate Scheme
Ogilvy Fellowship
RKCR/Y&R
Saatchi & Saatchi Summer Scholarship
The7Stars
WPP Fellowship

And lastly, some interview tips

Advertising interviews are much like the interviews for any other industry. There are apocryphal stories about the more arcane ones but on the whole they tend to be serious minded and quite normal. Once again we have our expert panel telling you how to succeed at the first hurdle.

“Be Honest”
Try to be yourself, think about your fit with the agency as much as your enthusiasm for the job. Try to encourage a conversation rather than Q&A. Planners love to just chat about issues and challenges. Also be honest – try not to know everything – recognise good questions and have a chat about them rather than think of your best answer. – Will Railton

“Have an opinion”
When you do get interviews, make sure you have examples of what advertising you like and don’t like and WHY. The why should not be at an execution level (ie. I thought the baby looked too unhappy), but the idea behind the work – Simin Radmanesh

“Be Controversial”
There’s nothing more annoying than having someone in an interview regurgitate a case study to you almost verbatim. It tells us nothing about YOU. Be prepared to answer questions about the top campaigns of the day, but have your own point of view on them. Be controversial if you can defend your point of view (it’ll be more memorable). – Mathew Palmer

“Deconstruct the Ads”
Getting hold of agency reels before the interview and deconstructing the ads, and trying to predict what the original brief was would impress most interviewers I would think. – Chris Arning

“Be Funny”
Be funny. Not to excess perhaps, but remember that each employer usually has a choice between which of various bright candidates they’d like to spend time with. Bright and funny is better than bright and not funny
Don’t talk too much about Apple or Nike. Particularly Nike+. Find another brand. And don’t call me Mr. Shaw. – John Shaw

If you’ve read this far, I highly recommend going and reading the entire post here.

And if that isn’t enough you can read parts one, two, three, four, five, and six of my series on how to become a planner and brush up on The Planners Reading List.