What will you be preaching about at the Connection Planning Conference?

I am challenging the notion that CP is or should be a 3-way marriage of equals and instead identifying one dominant force that should be “incharge.” Yes, the Bill Paxton of marketing communications!

What compelled you to leave Fallon and open a strategic media consultancy?

After years of arguing for creative-media collaboration I started to see that we didn’t need to argue that point much any more. Today more and more marketers are “getting” that they need to work in new ways; they are open to new direction on how to invent smarter, more modern communications solutions. I saw a window of time over the next 3-5 years during which many clients and agencies would be questioning not WHETHER to work in new ways, but HOW. I have experience in trying, failing and succeeding and figured that experience could be valuable. I thought if I could consult on the topic, maybe I could have some small influence on how advertising 2.0 evolves.

How long do you think it will take for a shift from a minority to a majority of agencies and marketers to function successfully in this new age of advertising? Does your company help facilitate this evolution?

I certainly hope Mod helps facilitate the evolution since it’s practically our sole reason to exist! As for how long, your word choice dictates my response: how long “to function successfully” is very different than how long to experiment, fall down, redirect, start over, etc. I am witnessing a clear, broad and fast-growing shift from vague interest to true intention to act when it comes to setting up CP capabilities. So I think we will see various “experiments” cropping up very soon — as soon as yet this year (of course, some agencies and marketers already have begun to work in this way). But for a majority to function successfully? I think that is hugely reliant on a couple key variables I plan to discuss Friday, one of which is talent, and as such it could be quite some time. The market will have to catch up with the demand; this could take as long as 5 years, I suspect.

You led the pioneering of U.S. connection planning at Fallon back in 1999. Now we’re having a conference on the topic. Do you think it has been better defined since then or do you think agencies and marketers are still unclear as to what connection planning is? Do you think this conference will boost awareness?

I think connection planning is at least as unclear now as it was then! Back then no one knew what we were talking about, so they relied on us to explain. Now people THINK they know what it is, so they sometimes listen less closely to the explanation. Many, many definitions exist for connection planning (as well as labels — context planning, engagement planning, etc.). I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, necessarily — I believe there is room for multiple “flavors” of the craft — but it does beget a lack of clarity on what CP is, even at its most elemental. I hope this conference will boost awareness, although I’m not sure if it will boost clarity. The individual speakers most likely won’t come to a clear consensus on the definition of CP.

Do you think you’ll ever return to the agency trenches? Why or why not?

You won’t catch me saying “never” on anything! If I’ve learned anything it’s that life is unpredictable. I can say only that I’m really enjoying this consulting gig, more than I expected to. I can’t see myself returning to a media director role at an agency, but you never know.

What do you plan on doing in New Orleans besides attending the conference? Are you a New Orleans first-timer? What are you looking forward to?

I’m not a first timer but like every other time I’ve been, I’ll be in and out quickly. I will see a bit of the city Thursday night but that’s it. I hate it, but family calls!