A Master Class in Brand Planning: The Timeless Works of Stephen King

9

JWT’s Debt to Stephen King

By Guy Murphy

 

 

It should come as no surprise that Stephen King’s work remains relevant to us today. Stephen described his original construction of the account planner as “the combination of the Media man and the Marketing man”. In a stroke he mirrors two of the keenest problems that face brands in the noughties: how can brands truly help build a business and how should the money be spent to support them?

As this book demonstrates, Stephen wrote prolifically throughout his career. But, perhaps his most valuable contribution is the JWT Manual of Tools of the Trade for Advertising Planners or Toolkit for short. He worked on the Toolkit for a number of years and the papers in this collection could be thought of as “works in progresses towards this end”. The full Toolkit was actually published as a manual in 1987, distributed throughout the network and formed the basis of JWT seminars and training around the world. Many offices produced their own versions with their own local examples.

The book contained 12 chapters, each devoted to a particular aspect of the entire brand planning process from start to finish:

• Planning Cycle

• Consumer Buying System

• Brand Objectives

• Unique Brand Personality

• Advertising Expenditure

• Role for Advertising

• Target Group

• Target Responses

• Choice of Media

• Creative Brief as Stimulus

• Advertising Idea

• Tailor-made Research

So the JWT Toolkit, published some 20 years ago, still represents a very valuable resource for the media ...