Planning For Good
Well, for all the talk of the lack of doing and action at the AAAA Planning Conference, there's the seeds of one good thing happening that was born in San Diego. When we were out on Tuesday night, Ed Cotton pitched an idea to Mark Earls, Piers Fawkes, Jason Oke and myself. We are all excited about it and are going to do all we can to make it happen.
As Ed puts it, the idea is to encourage planners to not just blog, but to do good.
The plan is to use social networks to reach out to planners (and their friends) to solve a specific communication problem for a non-profit. There would be a new brief each month which could be attacked individually or as teams. A collection of this thinking would then be presented back to the non-profit and planners who want to get more involved in helping implement the ideas would be given the opportunity to do so. Think of it as harnessing the collective intelligence of the plannersphere for good.
We're already getting some momentum but success will rely on getting your help. If you have any suggestions please leave a note here, or over at influx or at the plannersphere. And there's a group to join over at facebook.
Hmm this is timely as it happens. I've posted about it here
http://charlesfrith.blogspot.com/2007/08/long-play.html
and I'm presenting on Thursday so I should know a little more.
Client will need to be brave though and there's an agency already on board.
Posted by: Charles Frith | August 12, 2007 at 05:27 PM
Gareth, I meant to introduce myself at the conference but never got to. Enjoyed the 7 Sins breakout.
Anyway, this sounds like a swell idea.
I Joined the facebook group and looking forward to helping out. It will be fun to show that something actually comes of blogging!
Posted by: sean | August 13, 2007 at 01:31 AM
Awesome! Mike Karnj said he talked to you about what we're doing with alldaybuffet
(http://alldaybuffet.org/).
I think a lot of us are tired of selling products we don't care for.
This is a brilliant way to shift the creative & thinking energy of the plannersphere towards the side of Good.
Keep us updated and let us know if there's anyway we can collaborate or help!
Posted by: Adrian Lai | August 13, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Very cool - I actually thought about doing this locally with other friends who work in the industry but I'd love to help on a larger scale. Count me in...
-M
Posted by: Melissa | August 13, 2007 at 04:50 PM
This is the best thing I've heard in a long time. Have joined the Facebook group. What next?
Posted by: Mythili Chandrasekar | August 18, 2007 at 12:34 AM
The first brief is in the pipeline. Keep your eyes on facebook over the next week. It's a great brief.
Posted by: gareth | August 18, 2007 at 10:36 AM