Stuart Smith writes:

What’s the collective noun for planners? A procrastination of planners, perhaps? Thoughts appreciated.

Anyway, the planning directors from each W+K office met in Mumbai last week, to discuss and research all things Nike, Starbucks, Nokia and planneresque.

So here we see Nick (Shanghai new boy), DJ Dave (Amsterdam), Sudeep (Portland) and Stuart (London):

Sadly, Leslie (New York) and Toru (Tokyo) had last minute clienty things that ruled them out of the trip.

We were there at the same time as Jade Goody, on her definitely-not-for-PR charity trip to India (no cameras please… oh go on then, just a quick one).

And we just missed Liz Hurley’s understated nuptuals (lots of cameras please… if you’re from Hello).

From an advertising point of view, Mumbai is billboard city:

A businessman in a suit saving a football, then scoring a goal (the company saves for you, and scores for you, you see).

It’s also an insanely cricket mad place. DJ Dave wasn’t a bad player in his day:

Though that day was 12th June 1985.

There’s a piece here on Digit magazine’s blog about the ‘under construction’ symbols currently displayed on the hoarding on our building. (Above.)

They write that after spending a while trying to work out what it was advertising they realised, "It’s not an ad as such. The building behind is actually
the agency’s London offices and the symbols are just there to cover up
the chipboard, turning every studio’s nightmare when trying to pitch to
clients – the noise and ugliness of building work – into a showcase for
the company… Ignoring the fact that it’s commissioned by W+K as essentially an promo
for itself, this is a piece of art not advertising — though after
years of guerrilla advertising and viral marketing, your first instinct
is to wonder what it’s selling. How long before we start regarding all
street art from graffiti to pavement chalk paintings in this way?"

Brilliant – so we may have inadvertently created a whole new sub-genre of urban spam.