I like to talk about Planning. It’s fun and there’s really no wrong angle as Planning differs so much from agency to agency / client to client / region to region / team to team / and person to person. My guess as to ‘why’ is a Planner’s answer- it’s likely reflective of one’s surroundings. However, I can share an observation (based on my professional experience across agencies, clients, regions, and teams) for creative team building where a Planner, Art Director (AD), and Copy Writer (CW) are all imperatively part of the mix. Most Planners have an AD or CW dominate gene– very rarely do you find both AD talents and CD talents in a Planner (and if you do you should get to know that person pronto because they are an extremely rare breed). Interestingly enough, the very talented ADs and CWs are innately Planner-y.

If you’re building a creative team and want to better understand your potential planner’s talent gene, you could use a creative exercise where you ask the candidate to provide a sample of originality on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of blank white paper. It’s always interesting (and insightful) to see what the person puts on the piece of paper.