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Medicine needs measurement to work - but how can we rate the healing power of music?

One of my favorite brands and their perspective on the power of music in improving patient care. Does music reduce anxiety and improve surgical outcomes? Sonos unpacks this hypothesis. #sonos

bonjour-mab

At 4A's Strat Fest, Ken Muench offers the industry's strategists some tough love. From Campaign US

Great read from Ken Muench whom I’ve had the honor to meet with. I agree that many planners do feel as if they are underutilized or not providing maximum value within the agency. Perhaps this speaks to this trend that I can’t help but notice that many experienced planners are leaving or looking to leave agencies because they believe that their talents will bring greater value elsewhere.

This sense of bringing value is a conversation I’ve had with many of my clients. We often do find ourselves stepping outside of our discipline. If you’re a nice and kind person, you’ll over invest your time in another department within the agency such as proofing or even writing copy because you’re hardworking and smart.

To be brutally honest, a planner’s role is not that. The best planners have a deep knowledge of the human condition and a solid understanding of what propels behavior and moves people emotionally. They have keen insight, clear vision, and a strong perspective about the direction of the business and the creative work. And if you’re an overachiever, you’ll manage to balance all this with empathy.

Yes, empathy is important. I think as marketers, we often forget that consumers are people first and consumers second. That’s a big distinction that makes a difference in the work that we can do and that is why planning deserves a big voice in the agency.

Planning is an invaluable resource to brands today and integral to powerful creative and product changes. And to Ken’s point, it’s not about being relevant, bringing a distinctive quality to a brand is what will connect people to your product or service. People are smart and we should honor and respect their ability to read our bullshit a mile away. We know in neuroscience that the brain holds onto what is different/unique not what is similar to everything else. When you go to a party, do you remember the woman in the crowd that is wearing American Apparel spandex having quiet generic conversations or will you remember the woman having passionate debates about La Croix not being real water? Relevance is going with the flow, distinctiveness is rising above the noise. Relevance is Ray J, distinctiveness is Kanye.

I still love the discipline of planning/strategy because the world is constantly changing, people are fascinating, culture is power, and businesses will have to change in order to thrive in that new world order.

For those of us who are still in the game, I believe that we as planners are at the door of leading that change in both our jobs and agencies.

I’m excited to stick around and see what adventures will come next.

Onward and Forward,

MAB