Marketing in the Participation Age: A Guide to Motivating People to Join, Share, Take Part, Connect, and Engage

Chapter 11

Planning

Bringing the Participation Way to Life

The first step in embracing the Participation Way begins in a familiar place for marketers who have to create any program with an eye toward strategy and planning. Developing revolutionary marketing programs begins with a solid foundation comprised of insight, documented in a strategy, and brought to life in execution. Even in the Participation Age, there is no substitute for having a brilliant strategy as your foundation. This has been the case for decades, and it will continue well into the future.

Yet unlike many of the language, tools, and marketing approaches developed for advertising and marketing over the years, strategic planning is a relatively recent addition to the marketing toolkit. British advertising agencies in the mid-1960s were the first to develop the early versions of account planning practices. In 1965, Stanley Pollitt, who cofounded Boase Massimi Pollitt (known as BMP) agency, recognized how necessary it was becoming to improve information flow among agencies and clients. The birth of broadcast had heightened the need for more expedient communications among organizations throughout the campaign process. At the same time, research and information were found to be valuable in developing effective creative ideas. So Pollitt suggested that a specially trained research firm work with the account manager as an equal partner—and planning was born.

In 1991, Lisa Fortini-Campbell, a consultant, author, and widely ...