Are brand planner’s heads always up in the clouds? Are they trying to solve the world’s ills though advertising and marketing? In the last year alone, I’ve figured out how to fix education and correct the obesity problem. I’ve spoken to experts in both fields, immersed myself in data and tools of the trade, studied the science and landed upon rough strategies for positively, demonstratively impacting both. Will it take time and lots of money? Oh yeah. Will systemic change and cultural change be required? Absolutely.
Now, does someone interested is getting 100,000 hits to a website care about the ills of the world? Does someone trying to fill up Salesforce.com with leads care about the global big picture? Probably not. But when brand planners are allowed to do their “cloud work” first, and apply that learning, positioning and organizing principle to the tactics required to move the sales dial (the micro measures), that’s when great brands are built. Start with the micro tasks first and it makes the job much more difficult. Go big first and you have a chance. This is the word of the planner. Peace.
