CAREERS: APG to educate Greater China planners

<p>Regional planning executives John Woodward and Gavin Heron have set </p><p>up Greater China's first Account Planning Group with the support of </p><p>London's APG to address the lack of planning knowledge in the </p><p>region. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Woodward, regional planning director at Leo Burnett, and Heron, regional </p><p>strategic planning director at TBWA, warned there was a danger that </p><p>advertising in the region was becoming "irrelevant", with expatriate </p><p>agency planners lacking an understanding of local culture and </p><p>habits. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"If you look at some of the work being done in Hong Kong, not all the </p><p>best creative work has powerful strategies to support it," said </p><p>Woodward. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Particularly in times of recession, all clients and agencies need to </p><p>ensure money spent results in advertising that is relevant and </p><p>insightful. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>A lot of the agencies here work largely with expat planners that have </p><p>been trained or have learnt planning elsewhere. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"This is not a long-term solution for the agency. It is important that </p><p>you train as many people as possible locally so that they understand the </p><p>local culture and habits in the region." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Heron added that it was "high time planning starts to get the attention </p><p>it needs" and stressed that successful campaigns needed planning from </p><p>the start. "Unless you can link it to strategy, creativity will simply </p><p>become more and more of a commodity," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The group is backed by London's APG, which aims to educate local </p><p>planners on what planning actually involves. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Woodward said planning provided individuals with the tools that would </p><p>ultimately enable them to bring a distinct and crucial set of </p><p>capabilities to an agency. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"With a limited history of planning in Hong Kong and China, the need is </p><p>great and the APG will exist to fill the gap in training resources in </p><p>many agencies," he added. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The APG, which will launch in Australia, China and Singapore, will run </p><p>its first training session on 'Creative Briefing' on December 12 and 13 </p><p>in Hong Kong, with UK planning heavyweight Merry Baskin. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Woodward said the first training session had received a positive </p><p>response, with all but one place in the course booked. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"As for the future, we will be looking to set up in early December a </p><p>meeting to bring together a broader number of planning directors for </p><p>long term training," he added. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The group has set up a website at </p><p>www.theonecentre.com/apgasiapacrego/default.html for registration. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>