“Tell me about your brand strategy framework?”, is the single best question you can ask brand planners when evaluating whether to hire them.

If they can’t answer the question in less than 30 seconds or write it on the back of a business card (ageism alert!), ask them to. Don’t get caught up in the gobbledy.

I’ll be first to say developing brand strategy is not a simple process.  Love-at-first-sight, it’s not. It requires lots of study.  Lots of time. And lots of thinking.  But the delivery of that thinking — the packaging of that thinking needs to be understandable. Specific. Thorough. And memorable.  (Current brand-o-babble theory asserts it should also be “differentiated” or “distinctive.” To that I will say, the product should be differentiated and distinctive but that’s a story for another post.)

If brand strategy were a science, it would fail. You can’t measure the value of voice and personality against sales. Ah, the ephemora. Strategy, by its very nature is measurable. It works or it doesn’t. But not if it can’t be articulated. And that requires a tight framework.

Ask your brand strategist about their framework. Have them show you the formula.

Peace.

Steve@WhatstheIdea