How to Plan Advertising

I bought this book five years ago when I was studying advertising as an undergrad. I knew that I wanted to pursue account planning so I picked up every book I possibly could, and this was one of them. Overall I found it to be a great primer on account planning. Like a lot of planning books its highly UK focused (not surprising considering that is where planning originated, but still discusses a lot of universal issues and processes that are relevant to US planners years after it was first printed. The book covers everything from the planning context to creative briefs to campaign evaluation. It's pretty comprehensive in nature and has a lot of great theory and case study examples. Although I currently do not reference it as often as I used to, I sometimes go to it when I need a process chart or am looking for some verbage to use in a research proposal. I think the greatest asset of this book is it helps an aspiring planner get up to speed on all the aspects of the job and provides a good foundation. Obviously nothing takes the place of doing the job and getting hands on experience but as far as books go this one provides a great understanding of the theory and practices. The main difference between this book and Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning and this book is that the former is more conversationally written, where this one is a little more process-driven and dry. Neither one is necessarily better or worse than another but if you find you more enjoy antidotes and case studies you might like the former more. However, if you are more drawn to process, principles, and theories you'll likely like this book. Overall, it's a great book and one I am considering adding to my course reading for an account planning course I am teaching this fall. Is it the one resource I would recommend every planner not be without, probably not, but it still offers a wealth of information and insight.