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Planning for the Best: Why Amy Ratcliffe Is Getting Involved with All Types of Strategy

08/12/2022
Advertising Agency
Christchurch, UK
69
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CHS' planner on celebrating collaborations, effectiveness awards and trusting the process


Amy joined CHS in 2013 to bolster the client services team - but soon moved into a planner role, helping to build CHS’ first in-house strategy department. Today, Amy is growing and shaping the strategy team, whilst leading the creative strategy for household brands, including award-winning campaigns for the likes of HSBC UK.


At the age of 28, Amy was promoted to one of six individuals that make up the senior leadership team at CHS, with a role in growing the agency and the creative work being won. One of her most recent achievements includes making Performance Marketing World’s 30 under 30 list for 2022.




LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one?

Amy> This gets debated so much! And, this may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think there is really a difference, and I certainly use the terms interchangeably.


LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?

Amy> I like to think of myself as a bit of a traditional planner. I get involved with all types of strategy, and focus on being the consumer champion in the agency.

 
LBB> We’re used to hearing about the best creative advertising campaigns, but what’s your favourite historic campaign from a strategic perspective? One that you feel demonstrates great strategy? 

Amy> This might sound like a cop out, but I’m going to go for an obvious answer - with Guinness. I’ll blame my uni lecturers for that, who were the biggest fans of Guinness campaigns! But it’s such a brilliant example of taking tension (how long it takes to pour a pint of Guinness), and using it to your advantage (good things come to those who wait). It’s a strong strategy as it’s completely single minded, yet offers such a rich creative playing field - just look at all the amazing campaigns rooted in this one thought. I particularly loved the “Back in Time” TV campaign (the three Guinness drinkers moving backwards through evolution, to the track “Rhythm of Life”) - it’s so creative, but you can only get to that sort of creativity with solid strategy.

 
LBB> 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? 

Amy> Of course, data plays a big part - but aside from those resources, I think the most important one to draw upon is other people. It’s all too easy to interpret information in a particular way and form a narrative based on your own personal experiences. So for me, it’s so important to check in with different members of the team and get their perspective.

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

Amy> My favourite discipline is brand planning - and specifically, helping brands (new and old) arrive at a new proposition. For me, there is nothing better than that moment of everything coming together - the consumer insight, the market insight, the brand insight - and landing on one key, powerful thought. But it’s definitely a case of ‘trusting the process’. You never really know where you’re going to end up until you walk through those steps, gather all those insights. At times that can be quite overwhelming - I still ask myself at the start of the process, will I get to the right answer? But, we always do. Trust the process, follow the process - and then you’ll always get that penny drop moment. That’s the bit I love.

 

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

Amy> The “get, to, by” briefing framework is something we use at our agency every single day. It’s been a game changer in keeping our briefs focused and powerful. But it’s also fantastic to keep coming back to when developing and reviewing ideas. So we’ve instilled the framework beyond the strategy department, and it’s now a commonly used framework amongst our accounts and creative teams, too.

 

LBB> What sort of creatives do you like to work with? As a strategist, what do you want them to do with the information you give them? 

Amy> I love working with all the creatives at CHS, and I’m always completely in awe of what they can do. My favourite collaboration process however is exploring how a strategic proposition can translate into a creative big idea. Seeing how a strategy can start to spark seedlings of concepts, and then working closely together to develop it into a credible route for the client… that’s got to be the best part of the job. At this stage of the process, it is a bit of a juggling act - I want the creative team to feel completely comfortable with the territory we’re working within, and stay within it. However, they should still feel confident in exploring the boundaries of that territory, so that we can achieve lateral thinking.

 

LBB> There’s a negative stereotype about strategy being used to validate creative ideas, rather than as a resource to inform them and make sure they’re effective. How do you make sure the agency gets this the right way round? 

Amy> It’s making sure everyone working on a project is involved at the right times - there shouldn’t be a ‘handover’ moment between the strategy and creative teams. And everyone needs to feel comfortable with sharing unfinished thoughts and ideas. Strategists should share their work in progress thinking with creatives, just as much as creatives should share their work in progress ideas with strategists. When we work in this way, we see the teams aligning throughout a project.

 

LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent?

Amy> This links to the previous answer, but what I’m finding most important when nurturing strategic talent is getting those more junior members of the team comfortable with sharing their ‘work in progress’ thinking. I think most planners feel the immense pressure to get to a perfectly articulated answer the first time, every time. That just shouldn’t be the case - especially when we’re surrounded by amazing creative minds who can help refine and develop ideas. In recent years it seems like effectiveness awards have grown in prestige and agencies have paid more attention to them.


LBB> How do you think this has impacted on how strategists work and the way they are perceived?

Amy> The performance of a campaign is just as important to CHS as how creative an idea is - so it’s second nature for me to be thinking about effectiveness right from the briefing process. That has meant that we’re able to enter many of our campaigns into effectiveness awards - and win, too! It’s always fantastic to celebrate our brilliant collaborations with our clients, celebrate the success of our talented team and help raise the profile of our agency.

 

LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline?

Amy> It’s not so much a frustration - but it can be hard to get your confidence in the role. It’s not something you tend to study for three years - you have to do a lot of ‘learning on the job’ and ‘listening to your gut’. That’s why imposter syndrome is so high amongst planners - which is a shame.


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

Amy> Fall in love with the industry, and it’ll come easier to you - study every panel on the tube. Talk your friends’ ears off on new TV ads that you love. Try to reverse engineer the original brief when you see a billboard. Reading the recommended books, having a passion for the end result will not only make you a stronger planner, but it will help you stand out in interviews as well.

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