STRATEGY
MATE
INTRO
Strategy Mate is your mate with the answers to all your
strategy questions. It’s a collection of tips from the readers
of Planning Dirty.
Enjoy,
-JC
Subscribe to the Planning Dirty newsletter for more
strategy tools, tips, and resources.
CREATED BY
Erin Core, Tom Jones, Alex Wilson, Rob Estreitinho, Caroline Olechowski, Marc Oldenburg, Ged Carroll , Kjord Marguellas,
Mahesh Devrani, Dan Holt, Shane O'Leary, Amy Sandiford-Watts, Christina Aventi, Michael, Lauren Crichton, Rob, Callum
McCahon, Dan Deeks-Osburn, Daniel Gizo, Juliana Siqueira Vivolo, Liz Medina, Trixie Ferguson Gray, Adam Pierno, Bill
Abel, Honza Marcinek, Lissa, Abigail Fisher, Lee Cerier, Mario Luis Suárez, Michael Goldstein, Stefan Mancevski, Jon
Crowley, Luke Divita, Chrissie Graboski, Debra Wolf, Lauren Joyce, Paweł Jasiski, Nicky, Anneke van den Hof, Lukasz
Golacki, Greg Calacouris, Jorik Houweling, Alex Ashby, Chris Huebner, Mark Pollard, Max Heilbron, Ed Scrivens, Mathilde
Yvert Rankin, Gui Tonon, Emilie Gautier-Gander, Danny Schotthoefer, Rebecca Brown, Beatriz Bulhões, Ilya Petrov, Edwin
Rager, and Pérez-García Pinto
STARTER PACK
WHERE
WHERE DO
DO II START?
START?
4 KEY THINGS TO ADD TO YOUR
READING LIST
● Planning Guide by JWT London
● Truth, Lies, and Advertising by Jon Steel
● How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
● The Long and Short of It by IPA
HOW TO TRANSITION INTO STR THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE
ATEGY IN 9 MONTHS
HOW TO DO ACCOUNT PLANNING B DAY 1 ADVICE FOR NEW PLANNERS
Y MARK POLLARD
RESEARCHING
WHAT’S
WHAT’S YOUR
YOUR RESEARCH
RESEARCH
SECRET
SECRET WEAPON?
WEAPON?
CONSUMER RESEARCH
● Answer the Public - Shows what
queries people are searching for on a
topic
● Ask a Test - Quick and dirty testing
(paid)
CULTURE RESEARCH
● Archive.Is - Beat the paywalls and
paste the URL
● Slow Culture Project
CATEGORY RESEARCH
● Mintel - Best tool for category
research (paid)
● Strategy Deck Trends - List of trend
sites
COMPETITOR RESEARCH
● Brand Actions Library - 200+
examples of innovative advertising by
category
● Cassies - Canadian Award Case Study
library
FREE TOOL
Digital Strategy Toolbox
BRAINSTORMING
HOW
HOW CAN
CAN II GET
GET IDEAS?
IDEAS?
BRAINSTORMING
● HyperIsland Toolbox for Creative Colla
boration
(broken down by group size, time
frame)
● Deck of Brilliance (52 tools to get to
ideas in a short time with examples
● The Three Hour Brand Sprint by Jake
Knapp
BRIEFING
HOW
HOW DO
DO II WRITE
WRITE A
A BRIEF?
BRIEF?
BRIEFING
● Background on briefs by Edward
Boches
● GET/TO/BY Brief and
10 Examples of the GTB
● 9 examples of a briefing template by
Edward Boches
● Info for your client and how to brief yo
u
by the IPA
PRESENTATIONS
HOW
HOW CAN
CAN II IMPROVE
IMPROVE MY
MY
DECK?
DECK?
PRESENTATIONS
● Free course on storytelling by Pixar
● Read this book on writing well
● You could use the Planner’s Template
(paid)
BEHAVIORAL
ECONOMICS
WHAT
WHAT IS
IS IT?
IT?
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
● Here’s a cheatsheet to get you up to date on
the cognitive biases
● Copy, Copy, Copy Cards (paid) - helps you
apply Behavioral Economics to Advertising
● Three key reads on how to apply it to
advertising:
○ Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
○ The Advertising Effect by Adam Ferrie
○ Decoded by Phil Barden
JOB
JOB
DESCRIPTION
WHAT
WHAT THE
THE HELL
HELL DO
DO II DO?
DO?
JOB DESCRIPTION
● Pam Carr’s Creative Strategy Matrix -
let’s you know where you need to
improve
● The original
Digital Strategy Job Matrix by Clay
Parker Jones
● Planner’s Survey gives you a rough
indication of money, last updated 2016
AWARDS
HOW
HOW DO
DO II WIN?
WIN?
AWARDS
● Bluffer’s
guide to writing an award’s paper
● 10 award-winning strategy papers
COMMUNITY
WHERE’S
WHERE’S MY
MY MATES?
MATES?
COMMUNITY
● Sweathead FB Group - Mark Pollard’s
community of Planners
● Account Planners FB Group (6,000+)
I WANT MORE
WHAT
WHAT DO
DO II READ?
READ?
WHAT TO READ
● Planning Dirty Academy - Library of
strategy courses
● Heather LeFevre BrainSurfing follows her
global travels looking at planning
● Paul Feldwick’s Anatomy of Humbug talks
about the history of advertising effectiveness
● Adam Pierno just came out with a book last
year on strategy Under Think It
● Article on the first
10 books to read as a planner
WHERE TO READ
● Neil Perkin does a round up every month of
the best planner posts
● Newsletter’s Jordan Weil’s
This Week In Strategy, Rosie and Faris,
Salmon Theory by Rob Estreinho, Sparkin
by Stuart Parkin, Axios Media Trends
● Strategy Deck comes in an app format with a
number of great links, also in Russian
● Spanish speakers looking for a similar
version of this check out
Crowdsourcing de links
OTHER
OTHER PLANNING
PLANNING DIRTY
DIRTY DECKS
DECKS
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100 ideas on Tiny Budgets
Strategy Mate
Planning Hype
Brand Actions Library 2018
Day 1 Advice for New Planners
Day 1 Advice for New Heads of Strategy
What Clients Want
Data Sources Cheatsheet
Planners Template
10 Best Strategy Papers
Creative Feedback Model
What is Comms Planning/Digital Strategy
