The Guardian reimagines the world of media planning as children's bed-time story

OLIVER Group has collaborated with The Guardian, to launch “Learn about the world of The Media Planner,” a vibrant, vintage, tongue-in-cheek guide that details a humorous and surprisingly accurate account of life in a media agency. The B2B initiative is being sent to media planners across London, and aims to cut through the noise and explain the value and effectiveness of the Guardian’s platforms and audiences when planning campaigns. On-site specialist OLIVER’s dedicated, in-house team at Guardian News & Media collaborated with Hoot Comedy to create the campaign. Boasting a playful, nostalgic design harking back to vintage children’s books, The Media Planner’s striking presentation and content aims to stand out from the endless streams of letters, emails and cold-calls.

Following two fictional campaigns of wildly varying success, The Media Planner’s story concentrates on the ‘adventures’ of Claire, David, Toby and Julian. The first two succeed by planning their campaign with the Guardian, while the latter pair run a poorly devised promotion into the ground amid a flurry of expletives, budgetary mishaps and questionable hashtags. The Media Planner is part of the Guardian’s ongoing Platform for Action campaign and highlights the power of the brand to inspire readers into action through a whole range of creative solutions.

Hamish Nicklin, chief revenue officer at Guardian News & Media, said: “The media industry is a vibrant, noisy space and we wanted to find a fun way to draw attention to the Guardian’s impressive credentials. As a quality, legacy publisher we have a trusted relationship with our readers – this means we can help brands reach people effectively and positively. The grown-up guide is a playful look at the world we live in and a reminder that the Guardian’s quality delivers results.”

Brian Cooper, chief creative officer at OLIVER, added: “The Guardian wanted something different, because it knows that media planners are busy and needed something to catch their attention, and was willing to let us try something new. Developed by our bespoke team housed in the Guardian’s offices, The Media Planner is a prime example of OLIVER’s creative and strategic capabilities being used to their full potential and landing the key objectives for our client.”