John Griffiths' Podcast

John Griffiths reflects this week on the difference between promotional ideas and product ideas and the danger of coming up with product ideas without proper support - straying well beyond the original brief.

Early Honda online experiments which showed the way advertising would break boundaries into content marketing. 20 years on I have second thoughts

With the prospect of Honda closing its factory in Swindon I talk about the way advertising misses the bigger picture (eg factory closures) and tell the story of how we used Swindon to make a point about a new range of Civics, a campaign pulled at the last minute.

Today Tony Stead's death was announced. As he was the one who came up with the name Account Planning it seemed appropriate to remember his contribution. John Griffiths talks about his meetings with Tony Stead one of the only interviewees for 98% Pure Potato who he encountered as a young planner

dropping into Links of London in a Canadian Mall this month I was struck by how the brand had not changed from when I worked with the management team 15 years ago. So a ponder about brand consistency and invention.

IPA award winner for best use of Tech Led data - this cough predictor managed to increase sales while spending less on advertising. Take a look at the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szUossECitM&list=PLPnfQnOwrhzZul3CNJSj5dZkC8m2rNa18&index=19

I was startled to find myself soundbitten by the IPA talking about the Baileys campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=74&v=mj5Arjcx22E And worse appearing to say nothing at all! So here's my right of reply - what I tried to say before I was cut! And it gives an opportunity to talk about the elements of ingredient branding which is why I like this campaign. you can get the whole silver awarded paper off the IPA site if you're a member.

So how does an ad written by artificial intelligence actually perform? Here's a piece by Adweek which explains what the AI did: https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/an-ai-tried-to-write-the-perfect-lexus-ad-heres-a-scene-by-scene-look-at-what-it-was-thinking/ And a piece by System 1 which explains how well the ad tracked with real people: https://system1group.com/blog/advertising/robot-revolution-how-good-are-ai-ads?utm_campaign=S1G%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_4M6SJNshWEF7RuTDamIg-5Kmb4Yr6WdepkMO1e49h-ldo4CMOJB_2lyg5lo0-VkKJuLxZGFruIrBdQKaHMFqnr_WXHg&_hsmi=71453334&utm_content=71453334&utm_source=hs_email&hsCtaTracking=61eab5e8-cd0d-4705-97e5-107013e93dcd%7Cf1e1a2eb-780f-45d7-a610-23ec85a5cdf4 And I discuss the implications for how we might use AI to make ads that are brilliant not just better than average

the famous ice cream brand has to appeal to a younger generation appalled that parents might find it sexy. The solution to take the sex out and focus on simple luxury instead.

Reviewing the press campaign for Refuge who support those suffering domestic abuse - here's a link to the Campaign including a Valentines day poem https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/refuge-valentines-day-mccann-bristol/1525442 Plus a link to Refuge itself https://www.refuge.org.uk/refuge-unveils-chilling-reversible-poems/

I review a new campaign whose interest is entirely borrowed from a footballing scandal from years ago to make a point about the value of rewards versus loyalty. Chip off the old Paddy Power Block but I don't think this cynical ad is doing much for advertising or the gambling industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=EQL4tl0U_5o

This week we look at the De Paul Unheard campaign on Spotify using playlists to highlight the plight of homeless young people and to build empathy.Here's the campaign page: https://uk.depaulcharity.org/spotify-playlists-tell-depaul-stories And here's the landing page: https://uk.depaulcharity.org/unheard and I talk about calls to action and measures

Here's the commercial Amazon are going to be showing at the Superbowl this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA1rqEn_7YU It takes all the things which people worry Alexa is going to do wrong and magnifies them. I talk about why advertising does this and the likely effect.

in which I reference the Aero Mexico DNA discount campaign which has got a second life this year. And I ask the question - why aren't brands using Brexit to get noticed? Here's the link to the ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=2sCeMTB5P6U

the third outing of the podcast looks at today's advertising and advertising issues and where relevant references them against the book 98% Pure Potato written by John Griffiths and Tracey Follows. This week it is that controversial Gillette campaign. We consider 6 levels at which the campaign might be working before settling on Irritation being the most likely and effective way of understanding how it works.

A podcast which makes the simple point about the way account planners - even junior ones- can make a major contribution. The best way to introduce planning to clients.

There's a dust up at JWT about straight middle aged middle class male white creatives being let go in the interests of diversity. Cue a discussion about the diversity and elitism that clings to advertising and how the first planning agencies addressed that.

in this podcast I ask about how digital advertising has got so locked into short term activitation. By contrast the first planners in 1968 discovered the long term effects of advertising and turned TV advertising into a medium whose power is still evident today.

Talking about the likeability of advertising - when its useful and when its not. And doing a comparison with the approach to advertising of the first ad agencies with planning departments at Boase Massimi Pollitt and J Walter Thompson. Drawn on interviews used for the book 98% Pure Potato

What I am doing now in the revived podcast is focussing on today's issues for communications looking back to compare how the first planners addressed them. You can of course find out lots more by getting hold of a copy of 98% Pure Potato but there is plenty of the ancient wisdom via these podcasts.

The week account planning started in 1968 with BM@P opening its doors and J Walter Thompson launching its planning department on Nov 1st. Where are we now? I talk about the significance of the beginning and how it differs from today.

something I have been meaning to say for ages - the book 98% Pure Potato started its life in 2012 but it took until 2016 before it came out. So here are some learnings for fledgling authors

explaining how we move from storytelling back into marketing to look at the new ways the brand has learned to behave and how we bring those to life.

Just making the point that with a single scene we can use the screenplay technique in qualitative research - the example I give is that of the London Eye. But it can also be used as a single scene development in shorter workshops

within a cast of characters mentors and rivals can play a particularly useful role. I explain how.

Moving on further into the brand screenplay workshop the discussion is about pushing the brand off balance - until it goes somewhere new and has to move away from conventional behaviour

In this episode about brand screenplay workshops we cover the brand character and selecting the cast of other characters we put around them.

Genre is what makes a screenplay come alive - I explain how I use genres giving some examples

in which I explain how the style of facilitation varies from a conventional business development workshop

an overview of cultural branding - putting together iconography, language, citizen characteristics to really start developing the originality of a brand. References work by John Grant and Adam Morgan

discussion of the weaknesses in brand development as an intro to explaining how to use movie screenplays to develop brands through conflict

In which I introduce the 3 book ideas I want to be bringing out either as ebooks or print on demand. Brand screenplay workshop how to, waggle dancers - how to move ideas through organisations, and a memoir of my life as an account planner - nothing like setting targets for the new year!

the year account planning got going. As we approach the anniversary year 2018 it seemed a good idea to outline the key events in 1968 which ended with 2 agencies J Walter Thompson and Boase Massimi Pollitt having planning depts. The year it really got going.

Explaining 3 characteristics that were embedded in account planning from the very start that made sure it lasted. The pretenders who claimed to have started it didn't use these 3.

Explanation of a postscript in 98% Pure Potato in which we explore the rival claims of David Brent and John Wood of CDP to have started planning before the acknowledged founding fathers - valuable lessons in what planning is. And what it isn't!

Out of the distinction made on the Nov 29th WARC podcast between deliberate and emergent planning we continue to debate the difference between been current and being liked

As a curtain raiser to next week's webinar with WARC I talk about the pressures productising planning thinking, playing right into the hands of the consultants. To register for webinar Nov 29th 3pm GMT go here: https://lnkd.in/eJhkPdh

in which we talk about how long you can do the same job. What comes next? And what comes later!

A question we asked our first generation of planners: is digital and social a whole new ball game. And they explain what they make of the new communication channels

Talking about the dangers of planners being too clever for their own good. With a story from Adam Lury which somehow didn't make it into 98% Pure Potato

Returning to the left brain right brain theme the talk is about getting the facts and the numbers right but then making a creative leap - which gets easier with experience

talking through a chapter in the book 98% Pure Potato which concerns not only the blend of analytical thinking and creativity but the higher powers too.

In this episode I outline a chapter I contributed to the revised 2nd edition of Readings in Account Planning edited by Hart Weichselbaum Which came out in March 2017 10 years after initial publication. Other authors include Malcolm Gladwell Scott Bedbury, Paul Feldwick and Mery Baskin

This came out 10 years ago and has been reissued revised and updated by Hart Weichselbaum. In this podcast I talk about the main ideas in the revised chapter I contributed. Still really chuffed that I am in a book alongside Malcolm Gladwell. Here is the link if you want to buy it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Readings-Account-Planning-Copy-Workshop/dp/1887229361/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507732246

Stephen King's scale of direct and indirect responses to advertising explained to show how important it is for plannner's to define the role of an ad before anyone tries to make one

an explanation of customer response and why it is so central to the idea of account planning when Stephen King developed his thinking. Both J Walter Thompson and Boase Massimi Pollitt put customer response at the heart of their way of developing advertising. We should continue to do so.

Author Tracey tells us what she thought when John suggested they write a book together, the process of writing it and what advice she would give to anybody else daft enough to want to write a book. Oh and here's a link to her podcast for Richard Branson's Future Visions Project: https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/can-we-use-artificial-intelligence-fight-crime-predicatively

following a prompt from Jeremy Bullmore this was a good opportunity to provide an introduction to the planning cycle which is only mentioned in passing in 98% Pure Potato. Is present as a paper in Brand Planning the timeless works of Stephen King but explained here using an unpublished version of the 1970s JWT Planning Guide

the remaining interviewees on whom the book was based which includes not only planners but some of the most influential advertising people in the UK these last 50 years

an account of the interviewees for the book in the order in which we interviewed them - with details that there was no time or space for in 98% Pure Potato

The final section from chapter 1 the context setting chapter of 98% Pure Potato. A review of the factors which led to account planning coming out of London. It was surprising that it did. Business, marketing, market research, advertising all came from America - but it was British contrarian ness which challenged the norms of how American influenced advertising was made and how its effects were understood. This last section from chapter 1 includes a special bonus if you are still listening. A coda NOT in the book about the democratisation of qualitative research and the way ordinary people were brought inside the development process.