this week's planner gatherings

There were basically two attempts to organize a planner’s meeting this week. On Monday, John Griffiths continued his tradition and was kind enough to be in Amsterdam and meet with whoever was willing to come. Adrian, who is currently part of BBDO, came and so did Stefan of the same BBDO. Since earlier during the day we took part in John's "Extreme research" training, we went on a bit discussing “extreme” research methods, but also creative ways to deliver the results of the research in an inspirational way. Russell and Jeffre and their understanding of "creative research" were naturally brought up, and so was the wonderful episode of Arthur commenting Stefan's monster book.

Since the morning training mainly focused on client and consumer knowledge, and getting research done, while i was also really curious about further introducing relevant research results to creatives, a considerate amount of the conversation was dedicated to creatives. John thinks there is no such thing as bad creatives, there’s only bad creative management. At which point he showed me the "Brand Tarot" pack of cards, as well as a wonderful little blue book called "Simple Truth about Advertising".

Richard Huntington's controversial "I don't get digital" post was also debated. And so was “blog anxiety”, which made me think quite a lot about this blog and what i should do with it from now on. Anyway, the meeting was extremely enjoyable, and John somehow always gives you the feeling that he's listening and taking into consideration what you're saying, no matter how stupid that is - which is great, cause it gives one some self-confidence.

Then, on Thursday, there was the second "local" planner meeting (featuring - in order of their appearance). Alex (Prezent PR), Coco, Miruna and Andrei (both from V+O) and Alina (Vodafone) were supportive enough not to leave me all alone in the coffee house (thanks a lot, guys !). Being so few, and not having priorly established any sort of agenda, we didn't actually get into any sort of deep and meaningful planning considerations. But as far as i'm concerned, the meeting was great anyway, because we got to know ourselves a bit, and because it gave me a far clearer idea of how i see these meeting further on. Andrei and Miruna helped me remember about a sort of project i wanted to start some time ago, one which involves a collection of social experiments. And perhaps, they'll even help me get it started somehow.

We talked about the local planning arena, about local telecom communication, about how it feels like to switch from agency to client side (like Alina did), about the recent trainings brought by the Napoleons and John Griffiths, and about ways to turn these meetings into something more organized, and, most important, more knowledge-beneficial. Once again, as i had also settled with Bogdana earlier, we decided that the two of us will hopefully meet clockwise on Thurdays, every two weeks - the only thing yet to be established being the location (The Living Room which we tested on Thursday doesn't seem like quite a solution either). And anybody willing and supportive (like Alina, Andrei and Miruna proved to be) is more than welcome to come. We'll also hopefully have a blog and an agenda for each meeting, staying as open to suggestions as possible :). After all, it's not much yet, but it can hopefully grow.