Snack on This

You don't have to roam around the plannersphere for too long these days before you bump into another post that challenges traditional advertising and questions the evolving role of planners.

Planners seem to be an inherently restless and bunch, always sniffing out what's next, so it probably isn't too surprising that so many of us are asking the same questions. Most of those questions revolve around figuring out what the right tools now are, given that so many conditions have changed. Everything from the metaphors we use to the models of the future is up for debate.

Generally speaking, design, digital media, technology and social media ("conversations", if you're so inclined) are the sometime overlapping new frontiers, quickly eroding the old model, and there are plenty of very smart people with the vision to see where things are headed, and they want to be a part of it.

One of those smart people is Lee Maicon, who I met a while back while he was at StrawberryFrog. Lee now works for a PR company (DeVries). Here Lee provides insight into why a strategic planner with a background in advertising would make the move to work for a PR company to help start up their Strategy and Innovation practice.

At the last Account Planning Conference, I was struck by the dichotomy of the optimistic view of the brand new world (or is it the New Brand World?) and the great malaise a lot of the (really really good) planners I spoke to there felt. Why is that? It was more than just envy for that guy who quit planning to found Method, right?

It’s likely it has something to do with the pressure that Snack-sized content culture has put on the context and utility of the tools and teams most agencies use to solve the problems we’re paid to solve.

It would be arrogant to say that any one agency or type of agency is positioned better for this change. But…bringing together the craft of planning with that of PR is wonderfully poised to unlock brands’ capital.

I agree with Lee that the "value of brands needs to be unlocked in new ways", and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from him on this. I'm really glad that Lee will be providing insight from the PR point of view (but not from a traditional PR guy, if that makes sense).

(image via)