Craft Media London has launched The Anti-Ultra-Processed Planning Cookbook, a new industry guide to media planning, developed in collaboration with AnalogFolk, LoopMe, and IMS.
In a world where comms thinking is being served up like fast food – quickly, cheaply and with an absence of nutrition – the book proposes an industry shift.
Anti-Ultra-Processed Planning Cookbook
The authors argue that while performance metrics and algorithmic tools have brought rigour and accountability to media investment, they have also encouraged a drift toward sameness, with campaigns increasingly built from familiar category codes, short-term efficiency targets and templated playbooks.
These additives can provide a short term hit for a big business with big budgets, but for fast growth challengers there needs to be a better way to build memory structures and develop competitive advantage over time.
Jen Jones (Co-Founder) at Craft Media London, said: “Efficiency is essential. But when every brand is optimising toward the same benchmarks, optimisation simply accelerates parity.
“Planning should be about deliberate and unique choices – how a brand shows up, where it invests attention, and what kind of presence it builds over time. Ultimately it should be nutritious for long term growth, not just a short-term sugar rush.”
The cookbook combines strategic principles with practical tools, aimed at helping marketers balance short-term accountability with long-term brand growth.
The launch comes as AI-driven planning tools increasingly shape how campaigns are built, bought and optimised, raising new questions about whether automation is enhancing effectiveness or quietly narrowing the industry’s strategic imagination.
Craft Media London is offering digital copies of The Anti-Ultra-Processed Planning Cookbook for free download here.
Physical copies will be available to buy, with a percentage of profits being put aside to train up and coming strategists on the recently announced Media Planning Group (part of the APG).