I don’t know how I missed this fascinating article from Cathy Clift. It was published in December 2005; I came across it today while reviewing a friend’s del.icio.us bookmarks.

Ms. Clift is the Chief Planning Officer for Rapp Collins Worldwide. In her article, “Account Planning in the New Age of Customer Centricity”, she thoughtfully considers how account planning has evolved and identifies new challenges that the practice faces. Most notably, she highlights that planning is now more about guiding the brand experience across the customer lifecycle.

I think she’s hit the nail on the head. The internet completely blows up our conceptions of mental models and purchase funnels for customers. Focus groups aren’t going to uncover the customer insight and unmet customer needs required to create brand experiences that resonate with consumers and deliver value for clients. Like Ms. Clift says in her article, we’ll need to embrace methodologies found in the fields of anthropology and psychology in order to expand our thinking here.