Open Customers
Open Planning begins with developing Open Customers. Open customers are those willing to receive communication, with communication then aiming to create open customers with open wallets. MNP puts the customer at the centre of the process, providing a consumer - brand - discipline - media dynamic to create guidelines for the creative output, not the other way round.
Open Customers matters to media neutral planning not just for ethical and good citizenship reasons but also because only the communication that has any value to the recipient benefits the brand. The value may be entertainment, a good idea, helpful information, or social equity, but without being appreciated or winning approval it won't build brand or customer equity, indeed it may even destroy it. MNP begins with the person to whom communication is going to develop appropriate content, style and media, including how and when communication is delivered.
Open Customers also includes asking who the "customers" are. Open Planning applies to all stakeholder groups, including for example employees, journalists and influencers, with the same truth operating: unwelcome means not working.