A SPECIAL ADDITION“All the material in this website is dated back to the end of 2003. Urged by colleagues the following are a number of candid references that may help advertisers, agency chiefs and planners to achieve a deeper understanding of the extremely complex and sometimes the most controversial and hideously misunderstood role of the professional agency planner.” David Brent, January 2014.

Index

1. A Unilever manager outlines the truth of planning’s evolution in Australia2. Policemen with unusual talents3. A world-first demonstration of planning’s power for new business success4. Australia ahead of the UK in skilled advertising research5. Differences in the definition of a professional agency planner6. APGs and history7. Training management with examples of Australian agency planning successes

1.-A Unilever manager outlines the truth of planning’s evolution in Australia

The true genesis of innovative ad agency planning.Where? At Beacon Research, Unilever AustraliaThe start of this simple record has to be a sincere dedication to Des Brett, the visionary and inspiring founder of Beacon Research in the 1950s in Sydney, Australia, as the market research arm of the Unilever Group in Australia. Together with other talented managers, he established the standards of excellence that were the foundation for all that followed in the ensuing decades. All that was established was based on a deep understanding of the latest developments and techniques which had been established and practiced overseas and within the global Unilever Group and the growing vital importance of accurate intelligence for ongoing, profitable decision making. The very best techniques were culled, refined and established for every aspect of qualitative and quantitative research that helped to guide R&D and the various marketing divisions to make sound and profitable decisions for current operations and to plan for the future. A highly competitive advantage over other corporations and powerful leverage which helped to establish Unilever as a leader in its many markets.

Flair, imagination, a questioning attitude and dedication to truth and accuracy were de rigeur and encouraged at all times together with a view that the most consistent factor in modern marketing was ‘change’. Nothing was ‘set in stone’. Techniques were closely scrutinized, modified, improved, discarded and replaced. The guidelines were simple – all research had to be highly relevant, accurate, timely, actionable and affordable. The result of these very high standards and hard work was a reputation within the Unilever global hierarchy of absolute excellence and very often the origin of benchmarks for other Unilever offices to follow. In fact, in advertising research the techniques developed for evaluating and contributing to advertising effectiveness, especially in TV, and the visionary and excellent marketing and advertising monthly tracking studies were the inspiration for the establishment of Millward Brown and its multiple high quality research services to industry today. It would be true to say that Beacon’s exceptionally professional and innovative approach to vigorous and innovative marketing intelligence was one of the leading forces in Australia for change that began turning industry from sales-orientation to marketing orientation by the sixties. Unilever’s resource of highly skilled marketing intelligence was the envy of its competitors who often lagged well behind in many areas of marketing, particularly product innovation, strategies and more effective advertising. It was into this powerful, innovative and vigorous environment that, by an incredible stroke of good fortune, David Brent arrived in early 1962, commencing as an advertising researcher. David’s somewhat eclectic background was the reason for his recruitment. Unilever was looking for someone with both market research experience and ad agency experience to establish an advertising research section. Luckily, David had been GM of a market research company in Singapore and had also worked in client service and creative writing at the region’s second-largest ad agency. Following this he had worked at a small Sydney ad agency in account service, creative writing and media management. But probably the most unusual earlier background was as a senior para-military police officer, counter-insurgency commander and secret service counter-espionage officer during the Malayan Emergency, the long and exhausting 1948-60 war against the communists’ attempt to take over Malaya and Singapore. Without doubt, rare and very powerful experience in gaining hard-won intelligence and carefully developing powerful strategies against a determined and ruthless enemy.How? Powerful experience. Following several months of an orientation program with Unilever companies and a one month residential marketing and advertising training course, David moved up to client service working with Unilever’s marketing teams and its many successful brands. Here the combination of world-best marketing and world-best market research experience during an intense period of new product development, test markets and advertising campaigns began to lay the foundations for concern for some inconsistency

in advertising campaigns. By 1965 he felt this was due to insufficient marketing orientation among senior agency managers and talent, lack of sufficient engagement with consumers and over reliance on intuition. His train of thought led him to conceive a new professional pro-active ad agency role with quality skills and experience in marketing, market research, intelligence, planning and advertising to work with agency teams and clients. The problem of ‘competitive sclerosis’ due to the blockage of intelligence flow from the market place to the agency’s heart – senior managers and talent – would be solved by the ‘immune system’ established by this new skilled role. Furthermore, David’s view incorporated another important, little understood factor. In the intelligence services prior quality military or police experience can in certain circumstances develop a powerful symbiosis which can lead to more effective and speedier outcomes. Similarly, David realized that with the ad agency planning role, multi-skilling with quality skills and experience in marketing, market research, intelligence, planning and advertising developed a powerful symbiosis and synergy that evolved more valuable insights and speedier outcomes than by the current managers, talent and their MO in ad agencies. At that time the efforts of Stephen King and Stanley Pollitt in the UK to seek a similar solution were unknown. However, two curious points of difference between the Australian approach and the UK approach seem to emerge. First, it appears that the Australian role was more comprehensive and concerned with total brand health, including advertising, while in the UK the initial concern seemed to be mainly with campaign development. This was probably due to the intense involvement with brand marketing and health at Unilever. Second, there is evidence that the identification of theproblem and the determination of the solution was much faster in Australia than in the UK. It appears that the intense ongoing experience of working with Unilever’s brands over about four years was more powerful than the longer experience at the UK ad agencies before they finally conceived and launched the innovative new agency role. David’s later view was that maybe more credit was due to the UK innovators with a more difficult path to fruition. While in Australia, the extremely powerful experience at Unilever was the inspiration and conduit to speedier diagnosis of the problem and correct formulation with the final solution. He recalls that all he did was to take the very rare skills, experience and wisdom of Unilever and infuse them into an ad agency. The rest was determination, tenacity and perseverance.When? In Sydney 1966. Finally, David successfully launched the new role of marketing and research manager [later named the planner] in a medium-size Sydney ad agency in 1966. David’s pioneering role is recorded at www.originplan.com with many case studies and enthusiastic endorsements by agency chiefs and many appreciative advertiser executives who witnessed the dynamic new planning role for the very first time

Summation.It is a point of interest that the ad agency planning role is now arguably recognized as the most important and powerful management innovation in the advertising industry in the past half century or more and is responsible for estimated $billions of added profits for ad agencies and advertisers globally due to a more effective MO and better outcomes. A secondary potential benefit is an improved perception of the advertising industry due to more relevant and effective advertising and a demonstrably more effective business MO with greater potential ROI. Noteworthy perhaps is that the launch of the ad agency planning role in Australia as early as 1966 would not have occurred without the very powerful and brilliant Australian minds at Unilever, providing analysis and accumulated knowledge from some of the best marketing management structures across the world. They were the visionary forerunners and pioneers who challenged traditional thinking, encouraged sustained thinking for better solutions and were the innovative force that created change for the better

John Clark FAMSRSManaging DirectorDecided Advantage Pty LtdFormer Marketing ManagerUnilever Australia Date: 5 June 2013

2. Policemen with unusual talents

Very curiously, the colonial police forces of Great Britain seem to have been the source of several past interesting changes in career. Among these was Eric Blair, an assistant superintendent in the Imperial Indian Police in Burma in the earlier part of the 20 th

Century who resigned after several years while on sick leave in England after contracting a bad bout of dengue fever in Burma. There, in England, he turned his hand to writing. Searching for a nom-de-plume he chose the name of the nearby Orwell river and the good name, George, to become known internationally as the literary genius, George Orwell. John West was a friend and colleague of David Brent. He was the police chief of Ipoh in Malaya’s north when David Brent was the police chief of Johor Bahru in Malaya’s south. In 1958 John left the force and joined Reckitt & Colman in the UK and later became CEO Reckitt & Colman India, then CEO Reckitt & Colman Australia and finally CEO Reckitt & Colman Worldwide. Both met again in Sydney, Australia in

1979 when David Brent was GM and planner of a Sydney ad agency with a stunning planner-driven new campaign for a major client. The outstanding campaign featuring famous celebrity, Julie Anthony, broke all sales records for the company. In fact, the campaign so impressed the management of Reckitt & Colman that they bought the company. A very unusual conclusion to an association between two ex-cops from long ago during turbulent times in far away Malaya. Obviously something in the makeup and experiences of these two ex-coppers drove them to aspire to greater achievement via flair, imagination and a determined drive for results with persistence for truth and accuracy.

3. A world-first demonstration of planning’s power for new business success

“The Ad Agency Planning Role is a Most Powerful Factor in Developing New Business.”When news of the success of the new ad agency planning role in the UK reached the USA, ad agency Chiat Day immediately adopted the new role with an imported British planner in 1983. The agency’s new business successes soared astronomically.

Jay Chiat declared that the agency planning role was the best [‘secret’] new business tool ever invented!

But what Jay Chiat didn’t know, and neither did the UK or Australian ad industries realize, was that this powerful

‘secret’ had already been dramatically demonstrated in Australia with the first-ever planner-led major successful new business credentials submission for the coveted Amoco petroleum account in 1969. A brief outline of this outstanding historical landmark campaign follows -

Why was the famous Amoco campaign such a significant landmark in Australian advertising? Allan [Jo] Johnston – “The Amoco campaign in 1969 and the seventies was undoubtedly a milestone and landmark campaign in Australian advertising.”

Two vital “rules” were broken – ditching an outmoded agency MO for the new and radical agency planning role – ditching the accepted style for petroleum advertising for an audacious, totally different style. Combined, both made history globally. The first key reason was that pioneer planner, David Brent, initiated Australia’s first-ever successful planner-led credentials submission for a major new business presentation. The second reason was that the tiny Aussie agency won the business against 23 other powerful agencies vying for the coveted account. Amoco’s conclusion was that the agency’s submission was the most professional and way ahead of the other agencies. The third reason was the very comprehensive planning and research program before, during development and after the launch of the very famous campaign. The fourth reason was the outstanding success of the creative ‘jingle’ campaign, “Amoco In My Machine”, a completely unique style of advertising appealing to the emotions of both young and older drivers. It became the most popular, successful and memorable petroleum campaign ever in Australia. The post-launch research tracking studies revealed that the campaign equaled Shell for top scoring measurements with only one third of Shell’s expenditure. Incredible ROI and a very pleased Amoco.

A final interesting aspect was that this extremely remarkable series of events and subsequent outstanding campaign provided Allan Johnston with the first opportunity to demonstrate his unique, award-winning flair for incredibly powerful ‘jingle’ campaigns. The audacious approach and the charm and appeal of the very different and extremely memorable Amoco campaign established the very special ‘signature’ that identified the magical supremacy of Allan Johnston’s later genre of great successes. It is arguable that the very unique and powerful events which culminated in the acquisition of the Amoco business, the detailed planning and research which followed and the highly unique and ‘rule-breaking’ creative treatment by a famous creative writer is the most significant very early record of the very powerful result which occurs with the partnership of professional planning and great creative talent. As international marketing guru, Dr Max Sutherland commented - So early in the history of the planning role in Australia and globally. [See: Utube Amoco for the famous campaign]

4. Australia ahead of the UK in skilled advertising research

‘Why Pollitt and King would like to have known what was being achieved by Unilever Australia with powerful advertising development and measuring advertising effectiveness in the early sixties.’ D. Brent

Together with Steven King at J. Walter Thompson, Stanley Pollitt at Pritchard Wood in the UK was a founder and pioneer of the advertising agency planning role at the same time that David Brent at Unilever Australia also conceived the role in 1965 and launched the radical new role in a Sydney ad agency in 1966.

Over the decades there has been considerable controversy about the agency planning role which has become the most complex and hideously misunderstood role in the advertising industry. Drawing on my past experience in counter-insurgency and counter-espionage in a famously successful Asian war, I recall that in the intelligence services prior quality experience in the police and military can develop a powerful symbiosis that helps to achieve superior decisions and speedier conclusions and outcomes. In exactly the same way in the ad agency planning role multi-skilling with quality skills and experience in the main areas of marketing, market research, intelligence, planning and advertising develops a powerful symbiosis that helps greater sensitivity, insights and speedier conclusions that less qualified and active planners find it difficult to achieve.

This aspect of multi-skilling does not seem to have sufficiently penetrated the comprehension of agency managements which has contributed to developing problems with the planning role, including recruitment. This author has not found reference to it anywhere else, including the very excellent UK APG’s book ‘How to Plan Advertising’. Curiously, Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking concept similarly draws from the view of added productivity with different mind-sets by advocating the idea of imagining wearing ‘Six Hats’ – Black, White, Green, Red, Blue and Yellow - which each help to encourage different standpoints conducive to searching for insights and a form of symbiosis to help better and swifter problem solving.

On 24 November 2012 a former Pritchard Wood executive mounted an interesting article on Google in which he summarized the concerns of Stanley Pollitt about advertising research in the early sixties. Here are some excerpts –- ‘There are many interesting things about Stanley Pollitt, one of the most interesting being that he didn’t believe in advertising research. He hated it with a passion.’- ‘A lot of people since have had rude things to say about the relentless attempt to quantify advertising effectiveness.’-‘Stanley depended on people like Stephen King, Andrew Ehrenberg and Timothy Joyce who were publishing papers in which they pointed out that there was little correlation between advertising awareness and purchase.’-‘There was more correlation between attitudes and purchase.’- ‘People bought brands that they liked. And advertising that made them like and trust the brand was more effective in driving purchase than advertising that was famous, or that there was lots of.’-‘Advertising that you liked and got involved with had a lot more influence on positive brand attitudes than the kind that told you a lot but which you learned to filter out.’-‘You can see what problems this created for marketers trying to decide how much money to spend on advertising and what to make adverting about. Because there wasn’t a straight line through from adspend to sales.’He then discusses the evolution of the agency planning role with considerable investment in consumer research into consumers’ habits, practices, attitudes and motivations, and to seek ways of interesting consumers about brands and motivating them more positively towards final purchase. He thanks the agency’s creative genius. ‘But thanks also to a radical approach to research which depended less on measurements of dimensions which were irrelevant to marketing effectiveness but which enabled the creation of funny clever advertising that people liked and which changed the way they thought about brands and how often they bought them.’[Point of interest – there is mention of much research into mashed potato consumption. Stanley Pollitt’s agency, Boase Massimi Pollitt, was famous for the outstanding, funny and very effective ‘Martians’ campaign for IMP brand, Cadbury’s ‘Smash’. In Australia

in 1970 Cadbury and its multi-national agency launched ‘Smash’. I was the agency planner for its competitor’s brand which after research we named Edgell Potato Whip. The Irish potato eaters campaign for Edgell Potato Whip rocketed the brand to market leadership taking 50% share off Unilever’s ‘Deb’ brand and annihilating Cadbury ‘Smash’ with its very mundane campaign which was delisted a year or so later. Professor Chris Hackley from the Royal Holloway University in London published the highly successful Edgell Potato Whip case history in his management training book, Advertising and Promotion – Communicating Brands in 2005].- ‘Stanley Pollitt could not have foreseen the way in which research has been used as a blunt instrument to force a bogus connection between advertising spending and effectiveness. Because it helped marketing folk to sleep more soundly at night. Nearly half a century on we are still in the thrall to numbers if we are not quite sure what those numbers mean. Whether we are wiring people up to MRI scanners, or asking them to waggle joysticks. The killer combination of intellect and imagination is as necessary as it has ever been.’

Among the many aspects that a professional agency planner needs to thoroughly understand is the extremely complex area of skilled market research. In 1982 there was some industry debate about the significance and value of various advertising effectiveness measurements. I responded in ‘Ad news’ magazine, explaining how Unilever’s marketing teams achieved success and leadership with powerful advertising effectiveness research [See following pages]. This was the modus operandi achieved and applied so effectively by Unilever’s market research division and was an important aspect, together with other vital skills and experiences, that helped to finally convince me that the long-ignored problem in the prevailing modus operandi of ad agencies must have a solution and then to formulate and launch the new proactive role in a Sydney ad agency which later was named the ‘planner’.

Decades later in ‘Ad News’ issue 4 June 2010 an article appeared titled ‘Sorting the Brand Facts from the Fairy Tales’ by a leading industry opinion leader about the complexity of marketing intelligence and brand equity, performance and measurement.

I sent him the above mentioned article published in 1982 and received the following reply –

‘Dear David, You recently wrote to me about an article I submitted to Ad News, June 2010. You included a fascinating and ageless article penned by you in 1982.

To be perfectly frank, and to illustrate my ignorance, I was completely surprised by how contemporary your opinions were – or rather, how dated my “new” opinions are. Thank you for contacting me. I circulated your letter around the office as a warning to all of the folly of thinking today’s discussion is any more informed than that of 30 years ago.

Of course, there is an alternative explanation – that is, you were a generation ahead of mainstream thinking.’

Thank you, David

27 June 2010 [See following article]

Edited re-print of article in Ad News – MARKET RESEARCH - 1982

Recall revisited – and revived?[The outset of the matter evolved from a prior article in Ad News on the subject of ‘Recognition and recall’ research measurements used in measuring advertising effectiveness and the misunderstanding and confusion which existed in the industry.]

Let me start by saying that in any form of investigation to reach accurate, informed decisions, it is nearly always the case that the answer or broad picture does not emerge from one piece of evidence, information measurement or technique, but from many sources which together in the hands of the intelligent operator, like a jig-saw puzzle, fit together to build the right picture.

It is the case in so many of the sciences but, perhaps a little more down-to-earth and closer to my own experiences, very much so with effective criminal investigations, military intelligence and counter-insurgency/espionage. Indeed, the essence of effective operations is to consistently study the relationships between the gathered pieces of information and ask WHY? That one small word [and a lot of hard sweat, tenacity and perseverance] has resulted in some of the greatest coups in police and intelligence work.

In the context of the Australian marketing scene, my own experience takes me back to the early sixties when I worked for Unilever in market research, specializing for a time

in advertising research. Let me outline, as simply as possible, the philosophy developed to help brand managers make the best possible decisions as fast as possible.

Most importantly, the key consumer research measurement for any brand [let us say, a laundry detergent] was share of brand preference. All other consumer research measurements were studied in relation to share of brand preference [including, retrospectively, sales figures and the Nielsen Index as a form of quality control]. Share of brand preference [as implied] was obtained for all brands in the market place. Other main consumer measurements obtained for all brands were –Monthly-brand name awareness-recall of advertising content-various usage measurements-home stocking measurements-purchasing measurements and brand switchingSix monthly/annually-brand image measurements [attribute ratings]And also ‘ad hoc’-on-going focused, qualitative studies sometimes to study special problems that emerged from the foregoing measurements

This is certainly not the place to discuss detailed survey techniques or forms and style of questionaires and interviewing so I will leave this aspect out and stay with the main broad issues.

When this mass of market intelligence for all measurements, for all brands on a monthly on-going basis was made available, like a jig-saw the pieces fitted and a much more meaningful picture began to form. Also, we were not then looking at absolute measurements at any one time but relative measurements over time and between brands and between measurements.

Nobody ever claimed that this evaluative system was perfect but it proved to be an excellent and very reliable warning system for the brand manager, a long time before sales figures showed problems months later, and also indicated possible reasons. Furthermore, the correlation between key consumer research measurements and sales and Nielsen Index measurements proved consistently very high.

In this context the recall of advertising content measurement was useful and played its particular role whatever its inadequacies. Imagine the situation when a key copy point /story element for [our] Brand A is consistently associated with [competitive] Brand B –

why? Or the main attribute for our Brand A has consistently very low recall while the main attribute for Brand B has consistently very high recall – why?

Both these instances could alert the brand manager and possibly focused qualitative research could be mounted to identify if there was a problem and, if so, the direction for remedial action. These are but two brief examples of very many situations that could arise using advertising content recall diagnostically.

When one is studying this type of information [cross relating all the measurements for each brand and between brands] an incredibly reliable flow of information emerges. This allows a much better decisions to be made, faster.

If we take a very oversimplified graphic exposition of how a brand manager could look at his brand’s advertising in the marketplace it might look something like the following charts [see at the end]. This analysis could be carried out for each competitive brand and the relationship between results for all brands studied. Additionally, measurements for brand name awareness [unprompted] would also be observed. And where applicable, purchasing and usage measurements.

All this may appear historically oriented and the point of this is to show that back in the late fifties and early sixties sound thinking and pragmatic application of research to problem-solving was well advanced in Australia, particularly with regard to advertising research and specially the advertising content measurement. In my experience, the many manufacturers, clients and research companies I have since worked with have contributed to the same philosophy when evaluating advertising effectiveness – using the advertising content recall measurement as it should be used, as a useful link in the chain of evidence.

I guess that whether a principal, technique or measurement is worthwhile or not depends on the context and/or how it is applied [on its own or as one element of a mix]. A little like tea and coffee, I would not believe that consuming sugar, milk or pure coffee independently does anything for me. But mixed together in the right proportions – terrific!I guess, too, that thinking hard and working hard in a consistent, sustained manner is something most of us try to avoid if we think we can find a simpler, easier shortcut for doing things. Sadly, very often that shortcut [or Holy Grail] is pure deception. .....................................................The charts referred to earlier may be observed on the following page.This is followed by some references to the planning role in the UK and its foundersand a brief outline of David Brent’s experiences.

The following two references may help to support the foregoing powerful experience at Unilever as an important contribution to the professional ad agency planning role conceived and launched in Australia–

“Marketers now widely accept that the combination of informed and disciplined planning with outstanding creative produces the best results in advertising communications, and in ideal circumstances the two feed off each other. David’s success has been to realize the strength of this combination and to tirelessly promote and practice it over the years.”John PennFormer General Manager, Edgell Canned Food, Sydney.Former Marketing Director, Australian Meat & Livestock Corporation. 2 Sept’ 2002

“Dear David, Thanks for your continued enthusiasm in sharing with us the history of planning, yours and Unilever’s pioneering role in it, and your critique of the profession and discipline today. We at Unilever remain as ever committed to pursuing work of the highest standards with all our agency partners and to ensuring that we remain true to the legacy of the pioneers. Best wishes for 2012”ChairmanUnilever AustraliaDecember 2011

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While natural high regard is due to the two pioneers of the new planning role in the UK ad industry, launched in 1967 and 1968, there is compelling evidence, particularly from a study of views expressed by Stanley Pollitt, that the depth of understanding and experience in market research, especially advertising research, by David Brent in Australia was possibly more comprehensive than by those in the UK. This is a significant factor as quality market research is the life-blood of agency planning.

The reader is reminded that the very comprehensive and diverse all-round experience of David Brent included –Senior police commander, Malaya – senior counter-insurgency commander, Malaya – paramount secret service, Malaya – GM market research company, Singapore - ad agency account service, creative writer, media manager in Singapore and Sydney – senior market researcher, Unilever Australia – established Reckitt & Colman’s first Australian market research department – conceived and launched the first ad agency planning role in a Sydney ad agency in 1966 – agency director of planning and development - ad agency GM and planner – ad agency director/owner.

An additional important point to note is that David Brent conceived and launched the new and powerful, multi-skilled ad agency planning role following two major life experiences –

- First, senior roles in a long, very tough major South-East Asian counter-insurgency war against the communists at the height of the ‘Cold War’ when superb hard-won intelligence and carefully developed, powerful strategies achieved an exemplary, vital victory leading to the independence of Malaya and Singapore and security in Asia.

- Second, intense world-best marketing and world-best market research working with Unilever’s marketing teams and its many successful brands provided the skills and experience that enabled him to identify a long established and ignored major problem in ad agencies’ modus operandi and to formulate a new multi-skilled role mainly involving superior intelligence and more powerful strategies.

An added aspect was an apparent speedier conception and launch of the agency planning role in Australia than in the UK.

However, the path to success with the planning role in Australia was tougher and more bumpy than in the UK.

5. Differences in the definition of a professional agency planner

As I have expressed before in a lead article, the advertising industry is an extremely important one with excellent managers and talent. But unfortunately, with some negative connotations due to a notable minority who may be unprofessional and badly behaved. The secondary benefit of the agency planning role was to help overcome this reputation problem resulting in an improved view of ad agencies by advertisers due to more relevant and effective advertising and a perceived more professional and business-like MO. It is not hard to understand that this improved perception is undermined if agency chiefs don’t fully understand the planning role and if sub-standard, unskilled planners are observed by advertisers. Advertisers have too often found agency ‘experts’ skilled in ‘patter’ who know how to ‘talk the talk’ but can’t ‘walk the walk’

To reiterate briefly again - in ad agency planning, multi-skilling with quality skills and experience in the main areas of marketing, market research, intelligence, planning and advertising develops a powerful symbiosis with greater sensitivity, superior insights and speedier outcomes that less qualified and active planners find it difficult to achieve. This very important point is largely unrecognized, anywhere, including in the UK’s

very excellent book, ‘How to Plan Advertising’. It also stands to reason that the fewer of the above five main areas of quality experience the less will be the capacity of the planner to deliver effective counsel and guidance to the agency teams and to clients. All the above helps to reinforce the view that the ad agency planning role is the most complex role in the industry and certainly the most hideously misunderstood role.

The selection and training of recruits for the agency planning role is extremely difficult with a perceived not too high success rate borne out by highly qualified critics in the UK industry. A personal point of view is that ‘marketing’ and ‘market research’ are the two most important attributes of a powerful planner. If the planner has powerful world-best marketing at-the-coal-face experience and powerful world-best market research at-the-coal-face experience, this is the absolute ideal, especially as market research is the life blood of planning. If the planner recruit is, say, a former journalist or other background and is trained in text-book marketing and text-book market research this is better than nothing but is very far from the ideal.

6. APGs and history

Some Notes for Global APGs. Some reminders worth recollection and careful consideration.

A recent view of the very busy UK APG website was reassuring that the ad agency planning role is being taken very seriously and that there is a team of dedicated, intelligent people working hard to keep the role on track for the future. Obviously others also, such as the Miami Ad School, have taken advantage of the pressing need for skilled planners in the communications industry to evolve special courses to train agency planners.

Numerous publications have appeared explaining and promoting the planning role, some of them excellent such as the UK APG publication ‘How to Plan Advertising’ with skillful, erudite authors all reflecting the hallowed modus operandi of the UK’s two talented founders, Stephen King and Stanley Pollitt. The origins of the planning role in the UK were absolutely conventional. Where else would such an innovative, unique and powerful role be conceived other than by highly intelligent, perceptive, elite, erudite senior agency managers in highly respected large mainstream agencies with stables of blue chip clients? In fact, the whole scenario of the superior, elegant British advertising industry exudes from every aspect of UK publications, websites and related anecdotal sources. Very admirable and very appropriate.

Interesting. So let’s look at the realities. The original British founders aren’t around anymore. The only original founder in Australia is David Brent whose story of conceiving and pioneering the agency planning role couldn’t have been more different. After a challenging early experience with a steep learning curve as a platoon commander in the defence of NATO, this was followed by special police training in police investigations, forensics and police management with the London Metropolitan Police before returning to his home country in 1952 as an assistant superintendent in Malaya’s para-military police force. The timing was at the height of the Emergency, the long, exhausting counter-insurgency war against the attempt by ruthless and determined communists to take over Malaya and Singapore by force-of-arms and subversion and to establish a revolutionary government. Cutting a long story short, years followed with deep hinterland police district commands and intense police work, counter-insurgency intelligence, counter-insurgency jungle operations and also service in Malaya’s paramount secret service engaged in counter-espionage against the Min Yuen, the communists’ clandestine supply and assassination support organization. The Malayan victory is still studied by serious military strategists and is recognized in global military circles as the exemplary blueprint for counter-insurgency operations anywhere in the world. The final exemplary outcome was the independence of two new nations, Malaya and Singapore, and the prevention of a rapid spread of communism in South-East Asia.

What was so special? Totally unrealized by David Brent was that those tough, exhausting years of complex experience with powerful intelligence, superior tactics and strategies against a determined and ruthless enemy was laying aspects of groundwork for a special later mindset to help identify a serious ad industry problem and to formulate a new future advertising industry role later to be named the ‘planner’. It doesn’t take much effort to understand that there is a strong shared congruency between police intelligence and counter-insurgency intelligence and marketing and advertising intelligence and market research. They are all investigative and all seek the truth. It would be extremely difficult to find a more powerful university of learning than years combating crime and in a brutal, long and exhausting war against deadly communist forces fighting for domination at the height of the ‘Cold War’ era.

But the innovative and powerful ad agency planning role was so far away, so inconceivable, so completely remote and so irrelevant that something else had to happen – and incredibly it did! Following GM of a Singapore market research company and ad agency account service, creative writing and media management in Singapore and Sydney ad agencies David Brent accepted an appointment in 1962 as an account director at Clemenger Advertising in Sydney. But before he joined Clemenger, Unilever Australia ran an advertisement looking for a person with combined experience in

market research and in advertising, an unusual combination at that time, and David Brent decided that was the way to go. He wasn’t wrong!

The following experience at Unilever Australia was a revelation. Following an early period in advertising research and a residential marketing and advertising course David Brent moved up to client service working with Unilever’s marketing teams and its many successful brands. The following years included intense involvement with marketing teams and powerful world-best marketing and intensive world-best market research. Most important was the international recognition of Unilever Australia’s market research division as highly visionary with many innovative methods and techniques, some adopted by Unilever offices and others overseas including Millward Brown.

In 1965, after four years of intense involvement with brand marketing and advertising campaigns a most significant determination was clear evidence of an entrenched and largely disregarded problem with ad agencies’ modus operandi due to a general lack of marketing orientation among senior management and talent, an obsessive dedication to intuition and insufficient ongoing interface with consumers and the market place. The solution was derived from Unilever’s extremely superior management protocols and the influence of past far away experience in a very complex conflict that called for an extremely powerful modus operandi that finally gained traction and defeated a very dangerous and determined enemy.

So complex was the agency problem that it could not be solved with the prevailing resources and management structure of an ad agency. What was urgently needed was a new and radical role with quality skills and experience in the main areas of marketing, market research, intelligence, planning and advertising. Very fortunately David Brent had exactly these proven skills and experience and in 1966 he launched the radical new role in a Sydney ad agency later named the ‘planner’.

On a far less stable and more bumpy path than in the UK, the new agency planning role took off in Australia with a fine record of success. The true story of the early years of the innovative ad agency planning role is in this website. And the added proof of powerful performance can be found in the recorded enthusiastic endorsements of agency chiefs and appreciative advertiser executives who all witnessed the dynamic new planning role in action for the very first time.

Perhaps it is difficult for today’s generation to understand the early first years of the very radical new ad agency planning role. There was no precedent and the erudite authors who now explain the complex aspects and qualification for the vital ad agency

planning role and who train others for the role probably weren’t born when planning was launched. How much do some really understand of the early pioneering years?

And how did the planning role in Australia compare with the planning role in the UK? A very interesting question with some revealing answers. It seems that the planning role in Australia was more comprehensive and more concerned with total brand health, including advertising, than initially in the UK where the concerns were more with campaign development. This was due to David Brent’s intense experience and concerns with every aspect of Unilever brands’ total health. In addition, the determination of the prevailing ad agency modus operandi problem and the conception of the final solution – the agency planner, was achieved faster in Australia than in the UK. This seems to be evidence that the skills and experiences at Unilever Australia were possibly more powerful than those in the UK ad agencies.

In addition, there is evidence that possibly the particular skills and experiences in marketing and market research in Australia were ahead of those in the UK. For example, several publications concerning advertising research by Stanley Pollitt and by others reveal an obsessive concern, even aversion with research methods applied to creative development and measuring advertising effectiveness. At Unilever Australia those same concerns were closely studied and finally very superior methods and techniques were formulated and were responsible for helping Unilever’s marketing teams to better outgun their competitors and to achieve market leadership. There is some interesting reference to creative development research and measurement of campaign effectiveness in case studies in this website. And the last two pages of this article reveal some important insights stemming from Unilever’s powerful wide-ranging modus operandi.

However, the greater industry resources, finances and initiatives in the UK advertising industry were largely responsible for the global export of the planning role commencing in the USA. A summation of the new role’s influence would be-First, it was arguably considered to be the most important management innovation in the advertising industry in the past half century or more. It is responsible for estimated added profits of $billions annually for ad agencies and advertisers globally due to a more effective MO, better outcomes and improved ROI. A secondary benefit has been an improvement in advertisers’ valuation of ad agencies due to more relevant and effective advertising and a perceived more professional and business-like MO. In summation, what do we observe from an Australian view? - Very many past historical decades of an ad agency modus operandi with an inadequacy in intelligence and strategic planning and no management solution.

- The identification of the problem and the formulation of a powerful new intelligence and strategic planning role in the mid-sixties.- Australia was faster than the UK in identifying the major agency problem and the ideal solution of the professional planning role- Evidence of a more comprehensive planning role in Australia than in the UK- Immediate attack on the new planning role by adversarial agency management- Continuing later attacks on the planning role by high profile agency chiefs in a desperate attempt to try to defend a long outmoded agency modus operandi- Instances of cynical agency managers posing as planner-staffed agencies- Instances of imposters in the agency planning role- Instances of agency chiefs not fully comprehending the vital agency planning role - Formation of UK APG to carefully analyze the past experience of the successful planning role in the UK and to develop explanatory and training material- Publication on the internet of the world’s first true summary of the early years of planning in Australia at www.originplan.com - Instances of failure in recruitment for the planning role- Considerable misunderstanding about the qualifications of a good planner- Market research appears to be the main area of misunderstanding and confusion- More generally, the role has become recognized as the most complex and most hideously misunderstood role in the industry- Luminary UK industry planner publishes a scathing critique of UK planners ‘going off the rails’ with inadequate skills and experience and sometimes bad behaviour- Defamatory public character assassination attempt against pioneer, David Brent, by a pathological serial liar & planning hater. For interest has this happened elsewhere? - Certainly, the controversial Australian industry cultural problem of excessive egos & unprofessionalism has been repeatedly aired by thoughtful senior managers- APGs are established globally but there is some concern about their roles and how successful they have been based on some planners’ poor records - General lack of interest by many planners in the origins of the planning role leading to some lack of true understanding of the role - Rigid politics within the Australian advertising industry peak body to discourage interest in planning’s true and proven pioneering record in Australia in spite of unequivocal evidence supported by agency chiefs and many appreciative advertisers- Generally, industry journals these days appear to handle the agency planning role in a superficial manner, sometimes with trivia and inconsequential or untruthful material from contributors that does not reflect the vital importance of the role. But then, if many agency chiefs still don’t really understand the true planning role how can publishers of industry journals be expected to understand?

In spite of some very dedicated staff in APGs and the commitment by some professional agency managers and planners the above true record is not encouraging. What would Stephen King and Stanley Pollitt think of all this? The reader will certainly know what David Brent thinks – very disappointed. The vital agency role responsible for more accurate intelligence input and more powerful and effective strategies does not appear to be receiving the professional attention it deserves from industry management. Will the original high level of enthusiastic appreciation expressed by the early Australian advertisers be sustained? Or will there be a decline in this hard-earned trust and consequent growing problems for the industry?

Last, the very unusual and extremely powerful experiences of David Brent in Malaya and Australia will never again be duplicated, particularly the super-charged time at Unilever Australia which inspired the recognition of the need for change in the ad agency MO and the very powerful solution – the professional multi-skilled planner. The biggest questions for the future are how to select the right recruits for the planning role, how to recognize the failures of the past, how to incorporate protocols for the new digital era and how to nurture and transform aspirants into valued and highly productive members of their agency teams?

7. Training management with examples of Australian agency planning successes

Chris Hackley, PhD is Professor of Marketing at the School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London. He has published research on advertising, consumer research and marketing communication in many leading journals including Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, Admap and Journal of Business Ethics.

Professor Hackley was fascinated by the powerful agency planning stories which were emerging from Australia when David Brent started to tell the true story of agency planning and its many successes. Professor Hackley’s management training book ‘Advertising and Promotion – Communicating Brands’ published by SAGE Publications in 2005 contains two case studies of agency planning by planning pioneer, David Brent. Each had interesting particular points of difference. In the case of the 1970 launch of instant mashed potato brand, Edgell ‘Potato Whip’, research helped to evolve the new brand name and also uncovered the very interesting fact that if Cadbury and its multi-national agency proceeded with the name of the iconic UK brand ‘Smash’ it would likely fail in Australia. It did fail and was de-listed 18 months later. The powerful campaign evolved for Edgell helped the brand to take 50% of market share from market leader, Unilever’s brand ‘Deb’ .The summary stated – ‘The success of Edgell’s Potato Whip in Australia

was attributed to the agency’s account planning approach that integrated research findings into advertising strategy and creative development. In addition, the company allowed the agency to influence their overall marketing strategy’. Edgell’s GM referred to David Brent as ‘their anchor man in the agency’. The second case study was the 1969 ‘Velvasoft VS Comfort’ planning event, made extraordinary because David Brent refused to air a Velvasoft TVC because he believed it would not compete with Unilever’s Comfort campaign and was a waste of the client’s money. Finally, using skilled research David proved his point to the client and a new successful campaign was developed and launched. A very happy client on the verge of firing the agency decided to stay, the creative writer kept his job and the agency owners got their first lesson in powerful agency planning. Also, shortly after the agency planning role was positively re-established [following the initial launch in the first agency in 1966] with a powerful influence on the agency’s future very rapid growth. Professor Hackley was interested in also including the very powerful, unique and famous Amoco petroleum ‘Amoco in my Machine’ television campaign and its very powerful planning story but didn’t have room for it in the book. [The campaign details are mentioned earlier.] Sad to say, while highly qualified professionals overseas are now extremely interested in the early Australian planning successes, at the time in Australia the industry didn’t have the slightest interest in the reasons for this success and in many instances some agencies suffered badly when the small Aussie agency with powerful planning on board beat the pants off them and grabbed their clients. They didn’t know what planning was, how it worked and that it was what advertisers had been waiting for over many decades. Also, as we know, the planning role became a powerful new business tool. It would pay agency chiefs now to carefully study these past highly effective planning case studies. There are valuable lessons to be learnt to find out what clients want and how the professional planner’s skills and experience deliver the powerful outcomes. It might also help them to assess if they are effectively planner equipped. The current and growing status of the digital scenario has driven many concerns and changes in the industry. In the hectic drive for answers and solutions it should not be forgotten that the vital role of the agency planner remains as solid as ever. The planner now has an added responsibility to work with qualified specialists and maintain control and direction with ongoing strategy development and marketing management input. Finally, David Brent’s view - ‘I was very privileged to play a responsible role in counter-insurgency and in the secret service of Malaya in a major war to halt communism’s ambitions in Asia. And very appreciative of the recognition accorded by the Malaysian government. Also for the extreme good fortune to benefit from superior management, marketing and research skills at Unilever Australia. In the Australian advertising industry it was a pleasure to work with world-best creative talent and also

perceptive and appreciative clients. Maybe the Australian advertising industry will one day recognize the true facts of the conception and introduction of the new agency planning role together with the UK pioneers and the opportunity for higher standards of productivity, profitability and the increased goodwill and trust of advertisers.

Note: This summary was sent to the UK APG for information on 27 January 2014.

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