Why planning is an outdoor job

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For planners, spending time outside the bubble of Adland is a necessity, argues Deutsch’s Rob Campbell in an essay for WARC’s Future of Strategy report 2018 (published yesterday – scroll down for the link to the full story).

“I’ve been asked to write a piece on the importance of spending time outside the office,” he says. “Not in the quest for a decent lunchtime sandwich, but to better understand what’s going on in people’s lives.

“In some ways, it’s kind of horrifying to be asked to do this because it should be bloody obvious.

“And yet, it seems fewer and fewer planners spend much time in the real world, preferring to observe it from the comfort of a research report and Google search.


“If you’re a planning head, you should push your team to get out the door, and if you’re a junior planner, you should push your boss to let you out the door. It will change your career.”

“Look I get we live in times where we can access incredible amounts of data. And I appreciate in this competitive world, things need to happen quicker than ever before.

But – and it’s a big but – spending time outside the bubble of Adland is a necessity. Not just for planners, but for the clients you’re working with and the audience you’re unleashing your creativity on.

“Plus there’s the fact this understanding leads to more interesting creativity with more powerful results.

“But it doesn’t have to be this huge, formal thing, it should just be a natural part of how you do your job.

“If you’re a planning head, you should push your team to get out the door, and if you’re a junior planner, you should push your boss to let you out the door. It will change your life. And career.”

  • Read the full Campbell piece here


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