How to write a strategy

How to write a strategy

Some rules you will never follow

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How to write a strategy

This deck was made to share with junior planners and planning

trainees at our agency to give them some sort of structure to what

appears to be a hard nut to crack: writing The Strategy.

I don’t know what it’s worth, who and how it can help, but if at some

point in time somewhere in the world one of these slides helps to

prevent someone lying awake at night like I did so many times, I will

be a happy man.

Tom TheysHead of strategy, Publicis Brussels

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What is a good strategy?

It’s a cultural logic

Something that lives in society

where your brand can play a (leading) role

in.

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The role of a tagline

The true success of a brand lies within its ability

to add higher emotional value to a true rational value.

It’s lifting a rational benefit up to a higher level.

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The role of a tagline

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The role of a tagline

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The role of a tagline

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The overall intention:

To lift the category from problem-solutionto enriching discovery

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The role of a tagline

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The overall intention:

To lift a category

from solving a problem

to enriching one’s life.

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How do i get there?

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Some general rules

and then throw it away

and then throw it away

and then throw them away

and then hold on to it

and then hold on to those words

and then live up to that

Use a model

Come up with a briefing line

Look at the research averages

Find the exception

Tell your idea to your partner

Look for the high ambition

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And now some tips & tricks

A random list of entrances towards

a strategic idea and how to bring it to life.

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1. Find the problem

Ex: IKEA and swedish design in UK

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2. Find the 3rd way

Ex: weekendesk / Bongo

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3. Find a bigger market

Ex: Playstation isn’t a game console, it’s home entertainment

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4. Find a bigger meaning

Aka: what does this say about me?

Ex: Olive oil isn’t about oil, it’s about a healthy ‘ceasing life’-style

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5. Find the brand’s DNA

Aka: is this really us?

Bad ex: Harley Davidson perfume

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6. Revive the brand’s history

Aka: this is where we’re based upon

Ex: Puma, VW Beetle, Levi’s

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7. Look for ‘the other side’

Aka: what is surprisingly uncommon?

Ex: Dove – real women, Ebay – unwanted presents

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8. Define what’s missing

AKA: invent the unexisting need

Ex: mobile phones, …

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9. Make your strategy a story

Ex: The Book of Dreams by Honda

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10. Tell us what we know

AKA: 10 billion flies can’t be wrong

Ex: Mercator – women die older

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11. Tell us your mission

AKA: « I have a dream »

!: take on real challenges that will bring society forward

Ex: Proximus – bringing people closer

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12. Solve the market tradeoff

AKA: are you the first to bring a breakthrough solution

Ex: Honda GRRR – the first quiet and ecological diesel

IKEA – design furniture now affordable

Ryanair – airline flights for almost nothing

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13. Use a distant parallel

AKA: steal great ideas

« the Rolls Royce of beers », …

Ex: IKEA – shopwalk based on MoMA New York

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14. Prove! Prove! Prove!

AKA: illustrate your strategy in all possible ways

Ex: pictures, newsflashes, research, Wikipedia, Google, Flickr, street interviews, …

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15. Deconstruct, reconstruct

AKA: the question battery

What, who, where, why, who else, why not, what if, when, how, whatever?

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16. Be curious. All the time.

AKA: what happens to the light when the fridge is closed?

Ex: My 2004 Christmas dinner after winning the Marie-Jo lingerie pitch

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17. Do the Post-It board

AKA: stick every tiny little idea to a blackboard. Then start clustering.

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18. Bring it down to a point of focus.

AKA: In two words, what’s it about?

Ex: Douwe Egberts is all about profound conversations

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19. Cherish the ‘account idea’

AKA: « Maybe I’m stupid, but isn’t it something like X? »

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20. Share & Check

AKA: jee, that sounded better in my head…

AKA: kill your darlings

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tom.theys@publicis.betwitter: @tomtheys