Planning for the Best: Pushing It Further With Graham Alvarez-Jarratt
He might have an unusual name, but he’s one of Australia’s most awarded strategists. In his time, Graham has led major pieces of business across Australia and New Zealand, including Suncorp, Diageo, Samsung, Hungry Jack’s, PepsiCo, and the NZ Transport Authority.
He counts amongst his achievements an Innovation Grand Prix at Cannes, a feature in Fast Company’s “World Changing Ideas”, being recognised in AFR’s Most Innovative Company awards, dozens of local and global effectiveness awards wins, a mention in WARC’s “Smartest 100 ideas in the world”, and (many moons ago) winning B&T's 30 Under 30.
Even after the better part of two decades in the industry, Graham is as motivated as ever to pushing it further. He teaches at AdSchool, has sat on multiple awards juries, and is a regular contributor to the industry press.
LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one?
Graham> In the Stephen King (the originator of the discipline, not the author of The Shining) sense, yes, there is a difference. (I started at J. Walter Thompson, and so I still refer to King’s ideas, even today.)
In King’s view, the ‘Strategist’ (or ‘Grand Strategist’, in his parlance) would take a big picture, long-lens view of the brand and business. Thinking in terms of years (if not generations) as opposed to months and quarters.
But where the Grand Strategist would be concerned with ‘the forest’, the planner would concern themselves with ‘the trees’. That is, what is more immediate and current and, at the risk of taking this metaphor too far, what is ‘on the ground’.
LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?
Graham> Both are relevant. Today’s practitioners need to be fluent in each. If you’re not, then you’re limiting your influence.
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?
Graham> When I got my start, I was encouraged to read Jon Steel’s Truth, Lies, and Advertising. That book left its proverbial ink on my fingers in myriad ways. In particular, it’s where I first learned about the origins of the long-running, and much-lauded ‘got milk?’ campaign for the California Milk Processor Board. (Steel had been the strategist on the campaign.)
Oddly enough, the first time I encountered the campaign was not through the advertising itself, but as pop culture hand-me-downs and trinkets, popping up in episodes of The Simpsons and Friends, which speaks to success of the creative and what I think is true, envy-inducing strategic thinking.
In preparing the focus groups for the pitch, Steel asked respondents to eschew milk consumption for a week prior. (This was the early 90s, and thus a time where avoiding dairy milk was akin to not using your smartphone for a week.)
This deprivation study revealed the strong emotional connection people had for milk. “Whatever will I have on my Corn Flakes?!”, was what I imagined many to lament. It also became the strategic logic, for the inevitable creative magic, and the results that flowed.
It’s a remarkable piece of thinking that taught me that, sometimes, the best way to surface the secret sauce of a brand is to imagine a world in which it no longer exists.
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?
Graham> Two things, but both are related to people.
First, talk to the person at the company who knows it the best. This might be the CEO, but it might also be the call centre person that has been there for 15 years. The latter has genuinely helped me multiple times.
Second, chat to the audience the business is trying to win over, but do so with a deliberately wide aperture. That is, if you’re trying to sell Widget X, then look at those who love Widget X, but also those who can’t stand it. Talk to those that prefer Widget Y instead. And speak with those that have historically marginalised and excluded from the Widget category altogether. Then ask why that is.
LBB> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?
Graham> Thinking literally and laterally.
Toggling between the two is what I think defines the modern strategist.
LBB> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful?
Graham> Everything is a function of how curious you are about people. Whether it’s an insight into your target audience, how to pitch a strategy to your creative partners, or understanding why your client seems especially grumpy today.
More formally, Stephen King’s Planning Cycle is legitimately as useful today as it was when it was conceived of a half a century ago.
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?
Graham> Unsurprisingly, I love working with creatives that have a strong strategic leaning. That is, they understand not just that something is important, but why it’s important.
I always want creatives to take a leap from the strategy, not simply to zhuzh it. To take the strategy in new, weird, wonderful, and imaginative directions.
I firmly believe creatives should work from, not to, a brief.
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?
Graham> It’s about having a shared understanding on the ingredients of effectiveness up front.
Is a long-term platform important for success? Is it about connecting with a new audience? Is it about the creation of distinctive assets that will serve the brand for years to come?
These factors should be understood and endorsed by the strategic, creative, and business management leads before any brief is written.
LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent?
Graham> Enthusiasm is its own perpetual motion machine.
Talent that is enthusiastic, that is curious, that wants to learn, that is energised by great work, that wants to discuss ideas, that isn’t scared to ask ‘why?’, that is more concerned with getting better than proving themselves, that wants to be involved in any way possible, is talent you can work with.
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?
Graham> At its best, its shaped a culture of effectiveness and a shared understanding (across agencies and across clients) as to what drives effective outcomes.
At its worst, it’s turned strategists into box-tickers. Less concerned with the development of strategy, less willing to take leaps of imagination, less willing to think laterally, and slaves to frameworks and ‘best practice’.
LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline?
Graham> That we don’t invest enough in nurturing young talent.
LBB> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?
Graham> As a professional, talk to as many strategists as you can as early as you can. You’ll become a strategic magpie, stealing and learning from those around you until you figure how to build your own nest.
This also has the sneaky benefit of opening you up to more opportunities. A CEO I used to work with was fond of talking about how she took the long way around to creative agencies, and how she was better for it. In other words, be open to the detours and distractions.
As an individual, hone your sense of empathy. Doesn’t hurt that it’ll make you a better person too.
