One the fallacies of the brand planning business is that everything will change when the engagement is over. I’ve presented and sold brand strategy (an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging) to numerous clients, only to see it used to launch a tagline, logo, new website or ad campaign. And then little else.
In those cases it simply became stim for a top drawer tactic, not a strategy to work by. Not a strategy to build a brand.
I’m beginning to rethink my offering. I’m beginning to see the value of packaging a 3-month on-prem implementation phase. One whereby I supervise the marketing department and help to fit any and all marketing activities and outputs to the newly purchased brand strategy. It’s only when marketing stuff is made that the strategy takes hold. Brand strategy is not some ephemeral, cultural construct of the marketing department. It’s an activity guide.
When you have a brand claim and three proof planks to guide the work, everything has a purpose. Everything is either on or off.
(By the end of the day, I expect to be the owner of a little red house in Asheville, NC.)
Peace.