We should all be digital planners

I think it's silly that planning is broken into so many specialities. Connections planning. Channel planning. Account planning. Media planning. Brand planning. Strategic planning. Cultural planning. Digital planning. And the newest kid on the block - Propagation planning.

What is with the titles? Can't planning just be... planning?

Call me crazy but last time I checked our job was to find the right problems to solve and then solve them. Any and all of them. We should be ideas people. Smart on consumers - their behavior and their opinions. We should be students of what they want - able and eager to decipher what they say they want and what they really want.

I don't want to be a dinosaur (although I do want to be an ideasaur). I don't want to think only about the relevant TV and print message. I want to study people and the way they think and behave in their entirety. And then I want to help come up with ideas to help clients sell stuff to them. Help ideas spread to them. Help them spread ideas. Help messages reach them. Help better their lives. Help them impress their friends. In short help cool ideas make it to as many people as possible while still affecting the bottom line be it a corporate entity or a non-profit. I want to be about ideas. And I don't want my ideas and my contribution to be limited by my title. The end. Is that so much to ask for?

I think we need to stop segmenting planning, stop focusing on titles and stop trying to come up with the latest and greatest discipline within our discipline. Instead, we should use all that brain power to come up with the simple things that we should ALL, as whatever planner, be good at anyways, regardless of what media is involved... and that is, finding the right problems to solve and then helping figure out how to solve them.

Sorry to any digital, connections, engagement, etc. planner if I've offended you in any way.

I think technology is to blame for all of this. It's undeniable importance is what keeps spawning all of these new, emerging types of planning. The secret is, the digital world is SO integrated into consumers lives. We should all be digital planners if we are planners at all. We should know how our consumers behave in this space and be comfortable with what's going on. As the sweet spot of marketing grows older, our main consumers will soon be digital natives anyways. We should all be ready.

The info-graphic to your right is what lit a fire in my belly to finally write this post I've been contemplating for some time...

the ad that spoke to ME

I was walking around Union Square the other day. As I skipped by the Puma store (jk, grown women don't skip... or do they?), I saw the window ad version of this:
This is what went through my mind: "Humans against hibernation? How do they know I hibernate in the winter? How do they know me? Did someone from ad land hear me talking on the train last winter about hibernating? There are more like me out there in the world? Are they talking to me? Do their coats generate thermal heat? Is it a new technology? O M G!"

What a great insight to leverage. I hate how lethargic I feel in the winter. I hate that I don't want to leave the house and 85% of the conversations I have are about a) how cold I am at that moment, b) how cold it will be in the next few days, or c) how much I can't wait for it to not be cold again (re: when will spring get here already? is it summer yet?)... The only thing is, for those of us from the South who are phobic of the cold, Puma taps into a very real (and emotional) insight and gets our attention but leaves us wondering... do their products deliver a function of superior protection from the innate and compelling desire to hibernate?

Setting aside the answer for now, I love that they use the word hibernate. It's the fun, actual, real way people acknowledge their laziness and hate of cold weather.

It's super smart... but along with trying to sell me winter jackets, I wish they would extend their offer to include trips to the Caribbean! People who seek a warm, resort get-away is a definitely a human against hibernation!

Meat Dress Makes History

It's not that I'm late on this, it's just that I think I just realized its significance...

I was on the train last night and I heard two fashion students talking about THE meat dress worn by Gaga. I remember the flurry of headlines when it first happened and these students were talking about some assignment that revolved around the concept and the meaning of the meat dress.

The one guy kept saying, "This assignment is so stupid." But the girl he was with exclaimed in frustration, "DON'T YOU GET IT, THIS IS HISTORY! H-I-S-T-O-R-Y!"

I thought back to the Met exhibit, "American Women: Fashioning A National Identity" and realized that 10 years from now, the meat dress might just make its way into the exhibit.

It was such an outrageously shocking outfit that made headlines for being SO controversial (PETA protests), making such a statement, and having many supposed meanings ("red dress" on the red carpet, gay rights military political statement, prime rib of America = equality, etc.).

For so long celebrities have worn t-shirts to make statements. This took it to a whole new level. I wonder if the message she was advertising with the meat dress made the impact it was intended to...

Bubbly

I love taking bubble baths. They are relaxing, they help me fall asleep, they allow me time to think, gather my thoughts and just unwiiiiinnnnndddd.

I just moved into a place with a "soaking" tub (re: ginormous tub). For the first time since moving to NYC I went to purchase bubble bath. Not just any bubble bath. Organic, natural bubble bath.

But there is no such thing for adults. Organic, natural bubble bath lives in kiddy-land.

It's hard to believe and I know you might think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. I consider myself a master at "the Google." But I've Googled the hell out of organic, natural bubble bath and my final purchase was for 100% pure Strawberry Ice Cream Bubble Bath.

I see a hole in the market that I want to fill. Get ready for my Organic, all natural bath product line. It's already in the making. Ingredients have been ordered. Brand names have been considered!