AdSchool graduate and Strategy Manager Emily Brydon enrolled in the advanced strategic planning course to work more effectively with her creative colleagues. Along the way, she learnt how to challenge campaign briefs, to uncover a client’s ‘real’ problem, and to embrace ‘simplicity’.
TCC: Why did you do the AdSchool Advanced Strategic Planning course?
EB: Collaboration has become more complex as clients are increasingly engaging a roster of agencies for different purposes. I wanted to better understand creative planning so that I can work more effectively with my creative colleagues.
TCC: Has up-skilling helped you when discussing campaign briefs with clients?
EB: Absolutely, the course has armed me with different questions and tools to probe and uncover real client problems, not just those presented at the surface – often in the form of campaign briefs.
It also gave me a better grasp on the theory and science behind what we do. There’s so much we have to learn in this space and it’s important to clients that we know it, both the new and the old!
My favourite thing about the course though was the exposure to such different industry leaders, it was their knowledge and experience that was genuinely invaluable.
TCC: What are your 3 takeaways from the course?
EB:
1) It’s our job to ask the questions that others don’t, so we need to have the confidence to do so
2) Marketing is both art and science and to put the puzzle together you need to balance the magic and logic in your strategic thinking
3) There is nothing wrong with simplicity – If solutions don’t flow easily, you’ve probably not uncovered the real problem
TCC: What is your advice to clients for working together better on media campaigns?
EB: The rise of addressable media and people-based marketing brings with it unquestionable benefits for our clients but it’s important that we are the guardians of effectiveness, not just efficiency. Together it’s essential that we balance the benefits that digitisation and ad tech affords us with a holistic view of what drives success in both the short as well as the long term.
TCC: What could agencies do better when giving briefs and working with clients?
EB: I think agencies need to put more value on our process. We’ve designed processes to make sure we’re delivering the best outcomes for our clients but too often these are overlooked when urgent takes precedence over important.