‘Can Planners Really Be the New Creatives?’ Panel at the PSFK Conference London

In this 40 minute video from the PSFK Conference London, Jessica Greenwood (Contagious Magazine) chairs a panel of Harry Fowler (MajorPlayers), Flo Heiss (Dare), Liz Saville (Profero), Amelia Torode (VCCP) as they discuss whether planners really have the skills, experience and intuition to apply creativity in their work?

• It used to be planners told creatives what pitch to play on… now “planner tells creative what game to play, on what football pitch”
• “Good planners have always been creatively minded… Good creatives have always been able to generate insights”
• “For digital, don’t have to go to Art School to be a Creative Director”
• A good idea can come from anywhere but needs to be the right kind of idea for the business problem – so need the knowledge/consumer focus… and that’s what planners bring.
• “Ultimately the clients own the idea – they don’t need an agency to tell them”
• “The sooner we recognise it’s one world and work together the better” … in context of coming together of digital & traditional
• There was a side discussion about the crazy “Is blogging killing planning” debate at IPA where the arguments made were that people shouldn’t be sharing insights as it was ‘proprietary’, people had no right to position as experts. etc. But creatives have always shared… good ideas spark other ideas. “Best planners are those who illuminate and share ideas” …

Come listen to more inspiring speakers at the PSFK Conference Los Angeles on September 18 2007 in West Hollywood – psfkla.eventbrite.com.