Saatchi's planning experiment failed, but it's a good idea.(Saatchi and Saatchi Company PLC)(Brief Article)

It's almost a year since Saatchi & Saatchi was beating its big ugly chest over winning the the Cannes Media Lions. Despite my cynicism about whether the winning entry -- for the Multiple Sclerosis Society -- was a pure media idea, there's no doubt that it was the product of a media-savvy team with the balls to drive the idea through with the media owners. As such is was an increasingly rare example of media and creative working harmoniously together.

Twelve months on and instead of champagne on Le Croisette, Saatchis' media planners have a more grim prospect: looking for new jobs or being shoe-horned into Zenith. Saatchis' decision to disband its planning department may be as big a surprise as Labour leading the polls, but the result is sad nevertheless.

Yes, Saatchis has looked more and more like a bloody-minded obstinate in the face of the inevitable. But the agency's insistence on retaining a media planning function was both brave and foolhardy. Brave because it potentially offered a real point of difference in the marketplace, which was worth exploring. Foolhardy because it was obvious to even the media illiterate that the world order was going in the opposite direction. So slowly, but predictably, Saatchis' grip on its media planning business has slipped until the entire department became financially unviable. It's no surprise that Zenith, Saatchis' media buying agency, has gnawed away at the agency's planning business. And since ...