WHY HAVING NO PLAN HELPS OUR CLIENTS

14/9/2022

Controversial idea, but... have you ever allowed for the possibility that not having a plan could be a low risk/high return strategy?

Here at ICONS & MACHINES, every month, we put our pride and self esteem on the line by immersing ourselves in what we affectionately call 'PROJECT PLANLESS'.

Intended to sharpen our ability to deliver exceptional work quickly, PROJECT PLANLESS is where we pick one of our key disciplines (copywriting, content production, PR, design or branding) and spend between one and four hours exploring, ideating and creating within it. Critically, during those hours, we have no plan. None. Zero.

Why?

Because despite the compelling arguments in favour of planning, there's a lesser explored point of view that suggests:

"You don't always need a plan. Sometimes, you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens."
- Mandy Hale, Author

As an agency founded by a content creator who made his name by creating spontaneous social experiments, micro docs and short films, Mandy's quote speaks to us a deep, primal level. And let's face it, on instances like this, when a client needs to create a headline-grabbing impact fast, we must be unflappable in our readiness and impeccable in our response.

PROJECT PLANLESS is, essentially, how we exercise our creative excellence.

You recently saw the output of PROJECT PLANLESS when we gave ourselves one hour to design ads for B&Q, Uber & McDonald's.

This month, the selected discipline was content creation — so we grabbed a camera, a gimbal and rang former British Karate champion Grace.

Grace // model, champion, friend // PROJECT PLANLESS, Sept 2022

Truthfully, as proud creatives, it's very, very uncomfortable pressing 'record' on a camera when your objective is to not have an objective. Uncomfortable, but exhilarating.

Sitting here now, having generated three micro films and dozens of stills from the two-hour exercise, we remain unflinching in our commitment to Mandy's beautiful wisdom.

'... breathe, trust, let go and see what happens."

Click on the below previews to watch each micro film. Inspired by some of our favourite brands including AllSaints and YSL, each has a running time of just 10-15 seconds (perfect instagram/TikTok territory)

Finally, thank you for indulging us, Grace! Please explain how/why you always look so iconic...