How to write a strategy
Some rules you will never follow
2
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
3
What is a good strategy?
It’s a cultural logic
Something that lives in society
where your brand can play a (leading) role
in.
4
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.
4
5
The role of a tagline
6
The role of a tagline
7
The role of a tagline
7
8
8
The overall intention:
To lift the category from problem-solutionto enriching discovery
9
The role of a tagline
9
The overall intention:
To lift a category
from solving a problem
to enriching one’s life.
10
How do i get there?
11
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
12
And now some tips & tricks
A random list of entrances towards
a strategic idea and how to bring it to life.
13
1. Find the problem
Ex: IKEA and swedish design in UK
14
2. Find the 3rd way
Ex: weekendesk / Bongo
15
3. Find a bigger market
Ex: Playstation isn’t a game console, it’s home entertainment
16
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
17
5. Find the brand’s DNA
Aka: is this really us?
Bad ex: Harley Davidson perfume
18
6. Revive the brand’s history
Aka: this is where we’re based upon
Ex: Puma, VW Beetle, Levi’s
19
7. Look for ‘the other side’
Aka: what is surprisingly uncommon?
Ex: Dove – real women, Ebay – unwanted presents
20
8. Define what’s missing
AKA: invent the unexisting need
Ex: mobile phones, …
21
9. Make your strategy a story
Ex: The Book of Dreams by Honda
22
10. Tell us what we know
AKA: 10 billion flies can’t be wrong
Ex: Mercator – women die older
23
11. Tell us your mission
AKA: « I have a dream »
!: take on real challenges that will bring society forward
Ex: Proximus – bringing people closer
24
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
25
13. Use a distant parallel
AKA: steal great ideas
« the Rolls Royce of beers », …
Ex: IKEA – shopwalk based on MoMA New York
26
14. Prove! Prove! Prove!
AKA: illustrate your strategy in all possible ways
Ex: pictures, newsflashes, research, Wikipedia, Google, Flickr, street interviews, …
27
15. Deconstruct, reconstruct
AKA: the question battery
What, who, where, why, who else, why not, what if, when, how, whatever?
28
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
29
17. Do the Post-It board
AKA: stick every tiny little idea to a blackboard. Then start clustering.
30
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
31
19. Cherish the ‘account idea’
AKA: « Maybe I’m stupid, but isn’t it something like X? »
32
20. Share & Check
AKA: jee, that sounded better in my head…
AKA: kill your darlings
Recommended
