APG Chair Urges Planners To Lead Industry Evolution

APG Chair Urges Planners To Lead Industry Evolution
Hayley Warwick
By Hayley Warwick
SHARE
THIS



“To survive in today’s industry, agencies must change. And planning must be at the van-guard of this evolution” – that is the agenda set by APG Chair Jason Lonsdale for The Communications Council’s new IPA Strategic Planning course which runs in Sydney and Melbourne next month.

The three-day residential program, which will be chaired in Sydney by Lonsdale (executive planning director at Saatchi & Saatchi), and in Melbourne by Justin Graham (chief strategy officer at M&C Saatchi Australasia), will explore the challenges and opportunities of ‘new-fashioned’ strategic planning, providing planners with the tools and knowledge to be the lead strategic brain for their agency’s clients.

Preparing participants for the program, Lonsdale said: “We are unmistakably living in a period of massive upheaval –a period in which consumers both avoid and distrust our ads, and in which our once-loyal clients question our contribution to their profitability. There is an opportunity and a responsibility here for planners to steer their agencies in the right direction: away from the old ‘brand-out’ thinking, and towards acting ‘people-in’; towards solving actual business problems.”

He continued: “New-fashioned strategic planning is about evolution, not revolution. New approaches that marry proven philosophies with fresh thinking, creating new tools for a new world.”

Both Lonsdale and Graham have played an instrumental role in ensuring content is localized for the Australian market and aligned with the APG vision, championing unexpected thinking.

Graham said: “This course is about strategy in action, we are handpicking speakers both in and around the industry to provide a balance of inspiration and grounded skills. Importantly it should be a lot of fun, the best young thinkers in the room part discovering, part challenging what it means to be a brilliant strategist in 2015.”

Tony Hale, CEO of The Communications Council, said: “As two of Australia’s leading strategists, Jason and Justin bring a wealth of experience to the course – from working with many of the world’s leading agencies and brands, to raising professional standards in planning through their experience on the APG committee.”

Joining the course chairs, confirmed speakers to date include: UM chief strategy officer Sophie Price; VICE Australia head of content Alex Light; and ChapterSF co-founder Gareth Kay, speaking via Google Hangout from San Francisco.

Running from 24th to 26th May in Sydney and 31st May to 2nd June in Melbourne, the course is designed for strategic planners with two or more years’experience or account managers making the transition to planning.

Talks will cover:

  • Challenges and opportunities of new-fashioned strategic planning
  • Dirty Planning: How to lie and cheat your way to better strategies
  • Planning on the other side of the fence: a client’s perspective
  • Vice, content creation and the new rules of engagement
  • The relationship between data, stories and creative
  • How to use engineering to make your thinking work harder
  • If technology is the new Creative, who’s the new Strategist?

Hale continued: “This is the second of our IPA experiential programs to run in Australia, introduced to allow members access to a truly intensive and immersive learning experience. This course requires planners to remove themselves from the agency, re-focus, live and build close-working relationships with their peers, and interact with some of the best minds in their field.”

Please login with linkedin to comment

andy milne Edge Mad Men Yumtable

Latest News

72andSunny Unveils First Campaign For Plant-Based Drink Brand Australia’s Own
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns

72andSunny Unveils First Campaign For Plant-Based Drink Brand Australia’s Own

Freedom Foods and 72andSunny Sydney have launched the first advertising campaign for Australia’s Own range of plant-based beverages. The campaign introduces a new visual world and identity for the brand and captures the healthy, positive feeling you get when spending time in nature and when consuming Australia’s Own certified-organic, plant-based beverages. As well as featuring […]

Are You Paying Too Much In Search Marketing?
  • Partner Content

Are You Paying Too Much In Search Marketing?

Are you paying too much for search marketing? Discover the awful truth here. Or, alternatively, look at the invoice.

Partner Content

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
Nine APAC Finalists In One Club’s Young Guns 19 Competition
  • Advertising

Nine APAC Finalists In One Club’s Young Guns 19 Competition

Nine creatives from APAC are among the 94 finalists from 27 countries in The One Club for Creativity’s prestigious Young Guns 19 competition, celebrating international creative professionals age 30 or younger. The finalists from APAC are: Hiu Ching Kung, graphic designer, Hong Kong Lam Ieong Kun, graphic designer, illustrator, indego design, Macau Raxenne Maniquiz, graphic designer, illustrator, Santa Maria (Philippines) Kiyotaka […]

Adflow’s Regional OOH Coverage Expands By 60%
  • Media

Adflow’s Regional OOH Coverage Expands By 60%

OOH transit company Adflow has announced the success of the first phase of its regional expansion program. Adflow’s regional footprint has increased by 60 per cent to now include 65 regional locations. With 9.1 million people living regionally in Australia (growth of 1.1 per cent experienced in the 19/20 Financial year) and most regional centres […]

Freshworks Starts Trading On Nasdaq, Valued at $13.7 Billion
  • Technology

Freshworks Starts Trading On Nasdaq, Valued at $13.7 Billion

Freshworks, a leading software company, has started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, marking an important milestone for the company. The company priced its IPO at US$36 per share (AU$49.76), raising about US$1 billion (AU$1.4B), resulting in a total market capitalisation of AU$13.7 billion  (US$10B). Freshworks, which was founded in India, has strong roots […]

SLIK Announces Four New Key Hires
  • Marketing
  • Media

SLIK Announces Four New Key Hires

Independent creative agency, SLIK, has made significant changes to its full service creative offering with four hires across management, creative and production.

How Retailers Can Maximise Their Results This Sales Season
  • Marketing
  • Technology

How Retailers Can Maximise Their Results This Sales Season

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the biggest player in the holiday shopping game and Google’s most recent research suggests consumer interest for the peak sales season starts much earlier than retailers may realise. The pandemic has fundamentally changed buyer behaviour over peak sales season, with Google suggesting that global consumer interest in Black Friday […]