Planning for the Best: Josh Simpson on Why Advertising Needs Planners Who Love Creative

Josh joined Intermark in 2013 after 20 years of Minneapolis agency experience in senior strategic planning roles with Carmichael Lynch and BBDO. His major brand experience includes Delta Airlines, Harley-Davidson, U.S. Bank, Walgreens, Hormel Foods, Jennie-O, Target, OfficeMax, Caribou Coffee and Blue Cross.

He’s always considered himself a creative groupie and a student of the business spending his early career in account management and business development roles. At Intermark Josh leads strategic planning and a team of behavioral psychologists across all clients including Physicians Mutual, Alabama Tourism, Bona, Troy University and others.  

Q> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one? - And which description do you think suits the way you work best?

Josh> I reckon I cheat by calling it strategic planning, but I believe no one person can claim cross-discipline strategic prowess. Planners imply forward brand vision and that includes working with media strategists, social strategists, digital strategists etc. and that’s how informed visions are conjured and how I personally like to work. 

Q> When you’re turning a business brief into something that can inform an inspiring creative campaign, do you find the most useful resource to draw on?

Josh> When I joined Intermark, we set out to enhance the authenticity of our psychology-focused marketing agency position by hiring actual PhD behavioural psychologists rather than regurgitating pop-culture psych theories. It took me a bit of time to realise I shouldn’t try to turn these folks into junior planners but rather embrace the unique lens they put on understanding audiences. I find the psychological profiling and empirical frame of reference consistently elevates not only our audience insights but also identifies the principles we can apply to impacting behaviour.

Q> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?

Josh> Always – seeing the impact of insight within creative concepts and helping to support client decision making for bold creative ideas.

Q> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful? 

Josh> Starting my career at Carmichael Lynch provided a few nuggets I cherish that still resonate with creative development and decision making.

“Speak to the core, and let others listen in” – Work that thumps the enthusiasts draw other people into brands.

“Don’t build a tar paper shack on prime real estate” – media space is expensive. Don’t fill this property with distinctly marginal work.

“Form follows function, but both report to emotion”– Willie G. Davidson said this about designing Harley motorcycles. It’s my favourite quip about the importance of creativity.

Q> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?

Josh> Before stepping into this gig you must genuinely love creative advertising so much you’re willing to stay at the office until you hear the vacuums. Never look at a brief as paperwork. Sweat each element. Remember how hard a team will work on an assignment. Don’t be content with content. Consume the ad award shows. Imagine the insights that possibly sparked the ideas. Know other agencies and the writers and art directors behind the ads. Get jealous. Help make and sell work you want to show off at Thanksgiving.

There are plenty of jobs for smarty pants. Advertising needs planners who love creative.