Planning for the Best: Neil Tamzali on Why the Brief Is the Most Powerful Tool a Strategist Has
Neil Tamzali, a French and Algerian binational, earned his master in management at ESCP Europe before beginning his career in digital strategic planning and business development for agencies such as BETC and McCann Worldgroup, then at Publicis Conseil where he was the strategic lead for Renault worldwide, as well as the director for the Publicis Loft, a proprietary content sprint methodology sold across the Publicis Worldwide network (L'Oréal, BNP Paribas, Orange...). He then created his own consulting studio, specialized in brand strategy and identity, digital transformation and production, counting among its clients, adidas, Salto, Michelin, Amazon Prime Video, Peugeot Invest, Pernod Ricard, RATP Dev, the CFDT (major French union) and even the UK Home Office.
In his new role at Haigo, Neil is working with clients such as AXA, Club Med or Catawiki to help them frame and solve their business problems thanks to Design & Tech
LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one?
Neil> Strategy informs business decisions when planning informs the creative. A strategist’s work is closer to a consultant’s or a business designer than from a planner/creative strategist. In my opinion, they work at two different levels and with different stakes and counterparts. A strategist can talk to more people in the company and has a wider toolbox. However, a strategist is more bound to working on best practices when a planner has often to get rid of those to dig into differentiation. Therefore, two different jobs.
LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?
Neil> I am totally agnostic and I have had the great honour to start as a creative strategist in the best agencies in Paris. But I have often been frustrated by the scope of our work, resulting in communications objects only, and not being transformation starters for our clients’ business model, talent intelligence, product design, innovation… I’m thankful for the many years that I’ve spent in creative agencies because they’ve taught me a lot about pursuing ideas, working collaboratively with amazing and talented people, adapting on the go while becoming a specialist, and on top, being able to handle a tremendous amount of work. However, I like people more than I like ideas, so for a few years, I’ve enjoyed branding/creation as a tool in my toolbox. I use it to solve some problems, not all of them.
LBB> When you’re turning a business brief into something that can inform an inspiring creative campaign, how do you find the most useful resource to draw on?
Neil> The brief is the most powerful tool a strategist has. A good brief is one page long. A great brief is so good it can be used to inspire creatives and to tell the story to the client. Being thorough saves you time in the end. Besides framing the problem, turning a recommendation into a brief is all about what we call in France “creative angles”. It’s the creative springboard that steers your creatives in the right direction. I’ve focused on mastering that part of the brief for 2 years at Publicis, because it’s what turns you from middle-experienced to a true senior planner. It’s how to create inception. The seed of an idea without it being already one.
LBB> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?
Neil> Creating something new that will work.
LBB> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful?
Neil> Brand archetypes, because they’ve gained their relevance back with the acceleration of newcomers (tech brands and startups, new industries…) and also with the return of CSR and Employer branding among urgent strategic topics.
The simplest Brand platform canvas Vision/Mission/Signature/Reasons to believe, because the rest is superfluous. Also, it looks like a House, which is cool.
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?
Neil> I can work with any kind of creative (and I have). I ask them only one thing, which is to care.
LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent?
Neil> The best strategists/planners are the ones that didn’t intend to do strategy as a career. They’ve done other stuff. Creation, architecture, even art or politics or project management. I believe strategy is acquired as a skill through direct experience of different realities and not by being in an ivory tower since your first day of internship.
LBB> In recent years it seems like effectiveness awards have grown in prestige and agencies have paid more attention to them. How do you think this has impacted on how strategists work and the way they are perceived?
Neil> It has made strategy more prestigious in the agency world. However, I don’t think it attracts the right people or makes strategists better. If we are one type of people, it’s the one that never gets credited, never gets awards (except for the Effies, maybe). And it’s good because this award mindset can taint a strategy far deeper than creative.
LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline?
Neil> Not getting proper briefs from clients. Working on topics that sometimes are just “for show” (token innovation, greenwashing) or positionings that have no meaning. Being sometimes framed by our own frameworks.
LBB> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?
Neil> It’s one of the most interesting times to work in strategy. Take interest in everything, it’s your curiosity that will shape your progression, alongside your rigour. Don’t think linearly, the best planners I know have been something else before that.
