By Steve McClellan

Until now, U.S. marketers had been slow to embrace communications planning, a technique developed in Europe a decade ago that helps determine which media channels and messages will work best for a particular brand. But with increasing fragmentation allowing consumers more control over when and where they consume media, the practice is starting to take hold here, and a growing number of U.S. agencies are expanding their communications planning offerings.This week, MindShare will announce the creation of a new unit, the Communications Planning Group, which will expand its current offerings in that area to serve the agency's entire client base. The move comes just three weeks after Universal McCann hired Margaret Lewis away from WPP's Mediaedge:cia to run an expanded communications planning practice at the Interpublic Group media shop. And UM sister shop Initiative is also planning to expand and upgrade its communications planning offering, according to Richard Beaven, CEO of Initiative North America, a planner by background who oversaw strategic planning on MediaVest's Procter & Gamble account before joining Initiative.Agency executives cite various reasons for the slow U.S. response to communications planning, including inertia and over reliance on metrics. "We're so tangible here," said Ernie Simon, president of strategic planning at MindShare. "Everything has to be proven to three decimal points." But the pendulum is swinging back a little, said Simon: "If you look at most of the recent award-winning ad campaigns, whether media or creative, they started with one great insight integrated across all the different channels. So everyone gets it that communications planning is how you get to great advertising." Also credited with making the offering a priority in the U.S. are packaged-goods companies like P&G and Unilever, who in the past four years have put communications planning at the forefront of their thinking about how to better engage consumers.In a sign of just how important the practice has become for U.S. media shops, UM worldwide CEO Nick Brien said communications planning is now the No. 2 priority behind integrating digital throughout the agency. "Clients are demanding it, and it's a global priority," said Brien. The hiring of Lewis to expand its practice in the U.S. signifies the importance of the area going forward, he added. MindShare's Communications Planning Group will be led by Malcolm Russell, senior partner, director of communications strategy and a U.K.-trained communications planning veteran. (He ran communications planning for MindShare's U.K. office before coming to New York in 2004 to help plan its pitch for the global Samsung media business and to spearhead the development of the U.S. communications planning practice.)Russell, who reports to Simon, will lead a team of five newly hired planners that includes Nadine Young, who has relocated from the U.K., where she worked at ZenithOptimedia on Procter & Gamble's hair-care products, the British Army and German telecommunications giant O2. Also joining the team (and relocating from the U.K.) is Ewan Adams, who had been running OMD's strategic planning division, Ignition."I've never worked in a market that has required this type of approach more than the U.S.," said MindShare's Russell. "That's why I came here; it's a fantastic opportunity that brands have in the market given the diversity" of both the population and the media choices. In the U.K., Russell added, MindShare's communications planning offering has been key to winning and retaining clients. "It's absolutely key to MindShare's relationship with Nike," he said, "and was instrumental in winning Nestlé and was a big influence in the Unilever consolidation." While this week's announcement represents a major expansion of its offering, MindShare has already been providing communications planning services to key U.S. clients, most notably British Petroleum and Unilever. And the offering, a blend of analytics, insights and strategy, has been instrumental in recent new-business wins, said Simon. "For Wrigley's it was a very big part of the pitch," he noted, referring to the $200 million media account the agency won following a review earlier this year. MindShare believes its communications planning initiative will help drive integrated marketing plans for clients as well. "It's necessary to achieve an integrated plan, and collaboration is required. This will do that," said Simon.Brien also said communications planning was an area where UM would take the lead in working with McCann on client accounts under the new IPG media/agency realignment. But it's also an area that requires collaboration among all client marketing partners, he said. At Initiative, Beaven, just two months into the job, said it's too early to lay out definitive plans for communications planning. "There is no question that this is one of the priority areas for Initiative," he said. The agency recently brought Robert FitzGerald, who had been running Initiative Japan, to New York, where he is evp and managing director of the East Coast region. A planner by background, FitzGerald is also spearheading the agency's assessment on moving forward in the communications planning area, said Beaven. "It's an opportunity to bring leadership thinking to the table," he said. "If done well, it can be hugely galvanizing" for a client's integrated marketing plan. Other shops have expanded their offerings too, such as Havas' MPG, which now has a team of five core members at its Catalyst unit, led by Coleen Kuehn. "It really puts the strategic piece where it belongs," said Charlie Rutman, CEO, MPG North America. "It's the Velcro that holds everything together."

Brand Marketing

By Steve McClellan

Adweek Staff

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