Introduction
I still remember the day my boss dropped a 200-page Nielsen deck on my desk and said, “Find the insight by Monday.” I was a junior planner at a NYC agency, armed with nothing more than a caffeine addiction and a vague notion that “insight” sounded important. That weekend I Googled every permutation of “how to write a killer creative brief,” stumbled across Julian Cole’s newsletter, and discovered the Julian Cole – Planning Dirty Academy. Two years later I’m leading strategy on a global account, my briefs get complimented by creative directors, and I actually know what to do with a mountain of data. If you’re tired of winging it and want a proven system used by strategists at BBDO, BBH, Google and Nike, keep reading—because this deep-dive review is the only one you’ll need before investing in your brain.
Course Description
The Julian Cole – Planning Dirty Academy is a membership-based training hub that distills 15+ years of award-winning communications planning experience into bite-sized video lessons, downloadable templates and live coaching. Built around three pillars—Skills, Career, and Resources—the academy hands you the exact frameworks Julian used to build planning departments at BBDO New York and BBH New York. From writing single-minded propositions to managing a team of strategists, every module is designed to be immediately usable in your day-to-day job.
Unlike generic marketing courses, the curriculum is ruthlessly focused on strategic planning: how to uncover human truths, size a market, map a customer journey and sell your thinking to skeptical clients. You also get career coaching (salary negotiation scripts, promotion road-maps, interview prep) and a library of 120+ ready-made decks that save you hours on Excel and PowerPoint. Whether you’re a junior strategist hunting for your first insight or a planning director scaling a department, the academy is built to level you up fast.
Ideal Student
- Junior to mid-level brand strategists who want a repeatable process instead of starting every brief from scratch.
- Account managers, creatives and UX researchers making the pivot into communications planning.
- Freelance consultants who need agency-grade templates to impress clients and justify higher day-rates.
- Strategy directors tasked with training juniors but lack the time to build a curriculum.
- Startup founders who wear the strategy hat and need to extract insights from messy data—fast.
Learning Outcomes
- Write single-minded propositions that creative teams actually thank you for.
- Run quantitative and qual research without blowing the budget.
- Build customer-journey maps that reveal untapped communication territories.
- Present strategic decks with confidence—handle every curve-ball question clients throw.
- Negotiate a 20-30 % salary bump using Julian’s exact scripts and benchmarks.
Course Modules
The academy is updated every month, but the core library contains 10 sequential modules plus 30+ mini-masterclasses. Below I break down each module, highlighting the exact templates and “aha” moments you’ll walk away with.
Module 1: Strategy Fundamentals & The Dirty Process
Before you can run you need to walk. Module 1 installs the Dirty Process—Julian’s five-step framework that moves from business problem → customer insight → communication task → proposition → creative territory. You’ll get a 23-minute walkthrough video, a cheat-sheet PDF and the original deck Julian used on Snickers global. Key take-aways:
• The difference between a business objective, marketing objective and communication objective (with examples).
• How to write a “problem statement” that aligns client, account and creative teams on day one.
• A Notion board template you can clone for every new project—no more blank-page anxiety.
Module 2: Finding Insights with Reddit, Amazon Reviews & TikTok
Traditional focus groups are expensive and slow. In Module 2 you learn “social listening hacks” that surface raw human truths in under 30 minutes. Julian screenshares his exact Boolean strings for Reddit, shows you how to scrape Amazon reviews into Excel and reveals the “TikTok comment ladder” technique. By the end you’ll have:
• A repeatable 7-step insight mining checklist.
• A swipe file of 50 real insights discovered by alumni (with permission).
• A one-page insight statement template that sells your finding to creatives.
Module 3: Quant Skills for Strategists Who Hate Numbers
You don’t need a statistics degree—just the 20 % of Excel that delivers 80 % of the insight. Module 3 demystifies TGI, YouGov and Mintel data sets, teaches you how to build a two-variable index and spot “white space” in under 15 minutes. Julian also includes his “size-of-the-prize” calculator (Google Sheet) that auto-generates market-size slides clients love. Deliverables:
• 12-minute video on building a penetration vs frequency chart.
• Pre-built Excel formulas for index scores, share of voice and growth vectors.
• A color-coded deck template you can drop charts into—ready for the C-suite.
Module 4: Writing Propositions That Creative Teams Love
Module 4 is the academy’s crown jewel. You get Julian’s “ proposition prism ”—a three-layer filter that ensures every proposition is single-minded, inspirational and ownable. The lesson includes a live teardown of 60 real propositions from Cannes-winning campaigns. You’ll also receive:
• A 25-word proposition worksheet (printable).
• A score-card creatives use to rate your brief—so you can pre-empt objections.
• A Loom video of Julian rewriting a weak proposition in real time—watch him cut fluff and inject tension in 7 minutes.
Module 5: Journey Mapping & Channel Planning
Here you learn how to turn a proposition into a channel plan. Julian shares his “4A journey” (Awareness, Attraction, Ask, Advocate) and shows how to overlay paid, owned and earned touchpoints. The module includes a Miro board template pre-loaded with 120 channel icons plus budget allocation formulas. Highlights:
• How to pick a hero channel when budgets get cut by 50 %.
• A case study of the “Old Town Road” campaign—broken down into journey stages.
• A 15-slide deck template you can hand to media teams—no more duplicate work.
Module 6: Selling Strategy & Handling Client Pushback
Great thinking dies in bad presentations. Module 6 gives you the “Strategy Sell Grid” : a 9-box matrix that matches stakeholder personality types to storytelling tactics. You also get Julian’s folder of 40 real client feedback emails and his exact reply templates. Outcomes:
• How to re-frame “I don’t like this insight” into a productive conversation.
• A 5-minute breathing technique to reduce presentation jitters (recorded with an ex-Googler psychologist).
• A post-meeting follow-up email script that secures buy-in within 24 hours.
Module 7: Managing & Mentoring Other Strategists
Once you hit Senior Planner level your job becomes teaching. Module 7 provides a plug-and-play onboarding plan for new hires, a 30-60-90 day skill checklist and a spreadsheet to track their progress. Julian also shares his “feedback burger” script for difficult conversations. Resources:
• A Notion wiki template you can clone for your department.
• 10 one-hour workshop lesson plans (PDF) covering insight, proposition, journey mapping.
• A salary benchmarking sheet with 2024 data from 600+ strategists worldwide.
Module 8: Freelance & Side-Hustle Playbook
Thinking of going solo? Module 8 walks you through pricing psychology, proposal writing and scope creep defence. Julian shares the exact 9-slide pitch deck that landed him a $75 k Nike freelance gig. You also get:
• A rate-card calculator (Google Sheet) that shows day-rate vs project-fee trade-offs.
• A red-flag client checklist—spot nightmare briefs before you sign.
• A clause-by-clause contract template approved by an IP lawyer.
Module 9: Strategy Tools & Generative AI
Released in 2024, this module shows how to use ChatGPT, Claude and Midjourney to accelerate—not replace—strategic thinking. Julian demonstrates his “ insight prompt stack ” that turns a 2-hour Reddit trawl into a 15-minute exercise. Deliverables:
• 30 copy-paste prompts for insight, persona and competitive analysis.
• A guide to building a private Slack bot trained on your brand’s past campaigns.
• Ethics checklist so you stay compliant with IPA guidelines.
Module 10: Mastermind & Monthly Hot Seats
Learning doesn’t stop at videos. Every month Julian hosts a live Zoom mastermind where three members present a live brief and get real-time feedback. Recordings are archived, searchable and tagged by industry. Benefits:
• Access to a private Slack community of 1 400+ strategists across 28 countries.
• Monthly “Template Drop” —new decks, canvases and checklists.
• Quarterly in-person meet-ups in NYC, London and Sydney (free for annual members).
Real-World Applications and Success Stories
Take Priya Shah, a mid-weight planner at an independent Chicago shop. After implementing the proposition prism on a pro-bono asthma-awareness brief, her team’s work was picked up by the state health department—earning her a promotion and a 25 % raise in the same quarter. Or Ben McLeod, a Melbourne freelancer who used the freelance playbook to jump from AUD $550 day-rate to AUD $1 200 within six months, landing projects with Airbnb and a national bank. These aren’t cherry-picked outliers; the Slack community celebrates weekly wins—everything from “my brief got approved without amends” to “I finally moved from account management to strategy.” The common thread? They all applied the Julian Cole – Planning Dirty Academy system, not just hoarded videos.
On the brand side, a Fortune 500 fintech company licensed Module 7 to onboard 15 new hires across three markets, cutting ramp-up time from 90 to 45 days. Meanwhile, a London creative agency white-labelled the journey-mapping template to win a $3 million pitch—citing “channel insight rigor” as the deciding factor. The material is agency-agnostic; whether you work in health, pharma, tech or FMCG, the frameworks flex to your category.
Pricing
The academy keeps it simple: one annual fee that unlocks everything—no nickel-and-diming for new modules.
- One-Time Annual Payment: $799 (best value, equals $66 per month—less than one billable hour).
Your subscription includes all existing and future modules, live masterminds, private Slack, plus a 14-day no-questions-asked refund. If you’re agency-side, most employers will reimburse the full amount under professional development budgets—Julian provides a one-page justification memo you can forward to finance.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Battle-tested by ex-BBDO and BBH veterans—this is the same IP used on global pitches.
- Templates save 5–10 hours per week; copy-paste rather than start from scratch.
- Private Slack is gold—crowdsourced feedback within minutes, not days.
- Monthly masterminds force accountability; you’ll actually finish the work, not just watch.
- 14-day refund removes risk—you can binge half the library and still bail if it’s not for you.
- Adds future modules free; your brain keeps getting upgraded without extra cost.
Cons
- Steep annual price if you’re a freelancer between gigs—though ROI stories suggest you’ll recoup within a month.
- US-centric salary benchmarks; emerging-market strategists may find figures less relevant.
- No lifetime option—some users prefer to pay once and forget.
- Video style is talking-head plus slides; if you need fancy production value you’ll be underwhelmed.
- Community is noisy; 1 400+ members means Slack pings can pile up if you don’t mute channels.
- Advanced data-science topics (Bayesian modeling, R coding) aren’t covered—this is practical planning, not econometrics.
FAQs
Is the academy useful if I already have 10+ years strategy experience?
Yes. Directors use Module 7 to train departments and Module 8 to price high-ticket freelance work.
Can I cancel after the 14-day window?
You can cancel future renewals anytime, but payments already made are non-refundable after day 14.
How often is new content added?
Minimum one new masterclass plus 3–5 templates every month; bigger modules drop quarterly.
Does Julian review my actual briefs?
Live hot-seat members get real-time feedback; otherwise post in Slack for peer and Julian commentary.
Is there a certification?
You get a LinkedIn badge plus a printable certificate, but the real currency is the portfolio-quality thinking you produce.
What if my agency won’t reimburse?
Julian provides a ROI calculator showing how one saved pitch or salary bump recoups the fee—most managers approve within 48 h.
Final Verdict
If you’re looking for another bloated marketing course that drowns you in theory, look elsewhere. The Julian Cole – Planning Dirty Academy is a tactical weapon for strategists who want to ship better briefs, faster decks and move up the pay-scale without burning midnight oil. At $799 the price feels steep until you realize one retained pitch or negotiated raise recoups the investment 3–5×. The templates alone saved me 15 hours in month one; the Slack community gave me feedback that turned a shaky insight into Cannes-shortlisted work. Yes, it’s US-centric and yes, the videos aren’t Netflix-level glossy—but the ROI is brutal and fast. I’ve taken StrategyFest, BrandMaster and a shelf-load of Udemy classes; nothing comes close to the real-world applicability of Planning Dirty. If you’re serious about strategy as a craft and a career, enroll before the next price bump—your future self (and your bank balance) will thank you.
