Strategy Is A Direction, Not A Shopping List …
November 19, 2019, 6:15 am
Filed under:
A Bit Of Inspiration,
Advertising,
Attitude & Aptitude,
Authenticity,
Brand,
Comment,
Communication Strategy,
Confidence,
Content,
Context,
Craft,
Creative Brief,
Creative Development,
Creativity,
Design,
Differentiation,
Digital,
Emotion,
Empathy,
Experience,
Innocence,
Innovation,
Insight,
Marketing,
Planners,
Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless,
Planning,
Point Of View,
Positioning,
Relevance,
Resonance 
I am getting fed up of hearing strategy talked about in terms of a process.
Of course, there is one, but it seems people seem to value the process more than what it is supposed to deliver.
Which is clarity and direction.
Something that will change the behaviour of the brand/business from the very next day.
Something that will help create a clear position in culture, not just in the category.
Something that will contribute value, loyalty and appeal to the audience that will move them forward.
Something that is focused on the long-term, not just the next quarter.
That’s it.
That’s all strategy is.
And yet, I am meeting so many people who are getting lost in the process or worse, getting lost in the word ‘strategy’ … saying nothing can be done without it being deeply involved at every step – and I mean ‘every’ step – of the process.
Now don’t get me wrong, thinking and expertise is important – but to imply that only someone with the word ‘strategy’ in their title can do it, is wrong.
Actually, it’s insulting … especially when you consider that so much of the magic happens when you invite people who see the World differently to the party.
But it’s happening.
I’m seeing it everywhere.
And what it’s doing is creating so many strands to the strategy discipline, they’re getting in the way of each other.
That might be good for the agency fee, but not great for the work.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these strands of strategy don’t have value – of course they do – but in many areas, it’s not actually strategy … it’s not delivering on any of the 4 areas listed above … it’s simply helping push along the process of the output to get to a [allegedly] more effective result.
In other words, it’s short-term tuning rather than long term creating.
Adding obstacles rather than taking them away.
Or said more cynically, it’s more tactics than strategy.
Doesn’t have to be.
Not everyone is doing that.
Not everyone thinks like that.
But my god, it seems there is a lot of it about … and when you look at the amount of work that is being produced because of it, you have to admit that while there’s a lot of optimization, there’s not a lot of distinctive, magnetic energy.
Nothing Makes You Feel Old Like This Chart …
Given my age, I remember when the internet went from a university thing to a public thing.
Because of that, I remember when so many of these companies launched.
What’s slightly concerning is that I worked on many of them and in the main, they’ve either disappeared or just fallen away which means the biggest threat to these companies is not data breaches or government interference, but me.
The human virus.
Now that’s an accolade. Or so I keep telling myself.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Craft, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Design, Differentiation, Digital, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Innocence, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relevance, Resonance
I am getting fed up of hearing strategy talked about in terms of a process.
Of course, there is one, but it seems people seem to value the process more than what it is supposed to deliver.
Which is clarity and direction.
Something that will change the behaviour of the brand/business from the very next day.
Something that will help create a clear position in culture, not just in the category.
Something that will contribute value, loyalty and appeal to the audience that will move them forward.
Something that is focused on the long-term, not just the next quarter.
That’s it.
That’s all strategy is.
And yet, I am meeting so many people who are getting lost in the process or worse, getting lost in the word ‘strategy’ … saying nothing can be done without it being deeply involved at every step – and I mean ‘every’ step – of the process.
Now don’t get me wrong, thinking and expertise is important – but to imply that only someone with the word ‘strategy’ in their title can do it, is wrong.
Actually, it’s insulting … especially when you consider that so much of the magic happens when you invite people who see the World differently to the party.
But it’s happening.
I’m seeing it everywhere.
And what it’s doing is creating so many strands to the strategy discipline, they’re getting in the way of each other.
That might be good for the agency fee, but not great for the work.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these strands of strategy don’t have value – of course they do – but in many areas, it’s not actually strategy … it’s not delivering on any of the 4 areas listed above … it’s simply helping push along the process of the output to get to a [allegedly] more effective result.
In other words, it’s short-term tuning rather than long term creating.
Adding obstacles rather than taking them away.
Or said more cynically, it’s more tactics than strategy.
Doesn’t have to be.
Not everyone is doing that.
Not everyone thinks like that.
But my god, it seems there is a lot of it about … and when you look at the amount of work that is being produced because of it, you have to admit that while there’s a lot of optimization, there’s not a lot of distinctive, magnetic energy.