If I ask a marketing person their ad strategy is, likely answers would be “Increase sales.” Or “increase customer base.” Maybe “generate customer activation.” And were I to ask that marketer to articulate their brand strategy, they’d probably also default to generic functional answers. Say things like “maintain our graphic standards,” or “design signage, packaging and graphics to clearly convey a unified message.” Possibly “maintain a consistent voice in the marketplace.” When, actually, the question “What is your brand strategy” is not a structural question at all. It’s meant to elicit the idea or value that propels the brand to success – a business-winning claim in the minds of consumers.
If I ask your name, you’d say Joann or Edward, not “It’s the descriptor people use to identify me.” But many people either don’t think of a brand strategy as their specific claim for building business — or they just don’t have one. In the latter case they probably rely on their ad campaigns for brand strategy.
Either way marketers are not reaping the rewards of brand strategy. It’s a crying shame.
Peace.
PS. The definition of brand strategy, here at What’s The Idea? is an organizing principle for product, experience and messaging.
