How not to plan - Les Binet & Sarah Carter Uncensored CMO

Les Binet and Sarah Carter are planning royalty. Starting out at the iconic BMP, the agency which evolved over time to become adam&eve today, they are the planners behind many famous campaigns. Not least John Lewis which lasted an impressive 14 years. A few years ago their popular myth busting column turned into the well known book ‘How Not to Plan’ taking conventional wisdom and turning it on its head. I catch up with the dynamic duo to pick their considerable brains on the topics they think marketers least understand.
Talking points from this episode:
The real godfather of effectivenessHow John Lewis changed ChristmasLes & Sarah pick a favourite adWhy vignette ads are a cop outWhat the John Lewis econometrics reveals about the campaignWhy you should make people feel something not show them feelingJon discovers the Long & the Short of itThe best way to really upset LesThat famous key visualCan you ever achieve both long & short at the same timeWhy consumers don’t give a s**tHow myth busting inspired the bookBeing turned down by Marketing WeekWhy there are more P’s than PromotionHow to involve planners earlyThe BMP Philosophy of planningHow not to get caught ShortWhy 60% of campaign results are long termHow not to be consistentKnowing what to change and when to change itWhat advertisers can learn from designersA little plug for Orlando’s fluent device workIt’s only advertising and no-one diedThe case for animals and musicHow not to make senseHow not to change your pricingWhy EPOS data switched spend from communication to price promotionDigital attribution is the new price promotionThe more detailed the measurement the worse the marketing has gotJon shares his only Effie case studyHow not to be differentWhy how you say something matters more than what you sayLes takes down the idea of loyaltyThe one topic which wasn’t covered in the bookFinding things to get angry about