2008 AAAA Account Planning Conference Prep Rally and Post Show

AAAA Account Planning Conference

Paul Isakson and Kelly Thompson have created a Facebook group so we can all see who will be attending and better connect/make plans beforehand. We can also use this as a place to discuss expectations, recap thoughts/takeaways afterward, etc.

Additionally, they've proposed a cocktail gathering on Tuesday night at Shore Club's Skybar for people to meet, connect and unwind on the last night of the conference. The details and RSVP can be found here.

Pass along the links/info to others who might be interested.

**STANDBY FOR UPDATES SOON re: PLANNING FOR GOOD (PfG) 24 Hour Challenge @ AAAA Planning Conference.

Planning For Good 24 Hour Challenge at AAAA Planning Conference

Planning For Good (PfG) will head up a 24-Hour Challenge at this year's AAAA Account Planning Conference. Junior Planners (under 5 years experience) will be invited to work on a team, with a Planning Director mentor, to solve a problem for a worthy cause. 2 non-profits will brief participants, Kiva and Witness. To participate, sign up for "Real Time Crafting" workshop when you send in your AAAA app and fees. Also note which cause you wish to work on (Kiva or Witness).

-You will need to arrive early on Saturday nite before the conference so that you can be briefed on Sunday at 9am
-You will work for 8 hours only to create a solution and a low tech, flip chart presentation. Note: You won't miss any of the conference!
-Kiva and Witness, as well as Planning For Good leadership team, will listen to private presentations by the teams on Sunday evening. A winning solution will be chosen for each cause.
-The work with be showcased and presented at an event sponsored by Good Magazine on the Tuesday evening of the conference.

What is Planning For Good?

1600+ of the brightest minds in advertising want to collaborate with good causes and make a difference.

Planning For Good’s mission is to bring strategic marketing help to not-for-profit organizations by leveraging a global network of communications planners and strategists from the worlds of advertising and branding (over 1,670 members to-date).

Planning For Good leverages the power of social networks (Bloggr, Facebook) to connect and collaborate monthly on a specific communication problem for a non-profit. A collection of this thinking is harvested then presented back to the non-profit. To date, we've responded to project briefs for Unicef, Live Earth, and Idea Village in New Orleans.

Fast Strategy (PfG and IPA)

The IPA (the UK's AAAA's) are conducting a conference on Fast Strategy this Monday 28 April.

Mark Earls, one of the brains behind Planning for Good is taking part in a live contest against some of the sharpest minds in the London Planning scene and needs to build an army to tackle a brief from the Central Office of Information (the UK Government's communications 'client').

Mark has assembled a crack group of planners - Jon Leach (of HHCL fame), Chris Forrest (ex DFGW and now of the research company The Nursery) and Ian Tait (of Poke to work on the brief as the P4G Allstars. BUT THEY WANT YOUR HELP.

Mark wants to demonstrate the power of P4G by involving any of us with internet access (and favorable time zones) to contribute to the the thinking. Here's the deal.

Monday, April 28, 10amBST brief posted on wiki site; responses by 12pm (noon) at the latest. Mark and the team will present at 2pm BST.

Please try and contribute - it will be fun and a great demonstration of the power of P4G at work.
If you're interested please email faststrategy@planningforgood.org and/or keep an eye on Planning for Good.



Details about the IPA event below..

How can you come up with the right strategy fast? A selection of Adland’s finest will be giving practical advice on how to achieve this at the IPA and Times Media Strategy Conference on Monday 28th April.
Speakers will include:

- Tim Lindsay, President, TBWA Group: 'How taking the disruption approach can help you get to the right answer fast.'

- Tim Hames, Assistant Editor & Chief Leader Writer, The Times: 'What planners can learn from those that write the news and the pressures of doing it fast and accurately.'

- Gurdeep Puri, Head of Effectiveness, and Janey Bullivant, Board Planning Director, Leo Burnett: 'How, counter to popular belief, data can help you to get to the answers fast'.

- Jon Wilkins, Founder, Naked: 'Fast strategy in a media environment'.

- Stuart Smith, Head of Planning, Wieden & Kennedy London: 'Strategic and creative dovetailing - Fast'.

- Rob Forshaw, Founding Partner, Grand Union: 'How to develop thinking quickly from a digital perspective'.

These short, sharp and fast presentations will be presented throughout the morning, whilst leading communications consultant Mark Earls; Phil Georgiadis, Chairman of Walker Media; Johnny Hornby, Founding Partner of CHI & Partners, and their respective teams, will be putting into practice what they do best and responding to a highly realistic but fictitious COI brief, set and delivered by Peter Buchanan, Deputy Chief Executive, COI.

You, the audience, will then get the opportunity to vote for who you think is the fastest strategist in town, when these three teams return to the stage in the afternoon to pitch live in front of the audience.

Says Guy Murphy, Chairman IPA Strategy Group and Worldwide Planning Director, JWT, “The most important skill that strategists need to learn in this era is speed. The quality of a strategic answer is now partly determined by the time taken to create it. Slow-baked strategy, no matter how good, can never be great.”

The conference will take place between 9am-5pm on Monday 28th April at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 0AE.

Planning For Good: Live Earth

Planning For Good (PfG) - strategists donating brain power to good causes. 1100+ members strong. Across the globe. In only a few short months, we've successfully briefed Idea Village in New Orleans, and Unicef. Now Live Earth.






Live Earth Brief- Due December 17th

Get the brief @ Facebk and @ blog.

PfG Minneapolis - standby for meeting dates and location info. Sign up for updates, or "friend" me on Facebook and I'll add u to the PfG MPLS United army.

Planners in other cities around the globe may connect with their local cells here.