Brand Strategy in an Age of Chaos and Cynicism

Sun Tzu said amp8220Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeatamp8221McKinsey said amp822070 of CEOs say they want yearoveryear brand sales dollar growthamp8221David Ogilvy said amp8220It is the total personality of a brand rather than any trivial product difference which decides its ultimate position in the marketamp8221 And amp8220Unless your campaign is built around a great idea it will flopamp8221What should a brandamp8217s strategy be in this time of great distrust and insecurity How should a brand make the decision about strategyDavid Ogilvy also said amp8220The trouble with market researchamp160is that peopleamp160don39t think whatamp160theyamp160feelamp160theyamp160don39tamp160sayamp160whatamp160theyamp160think andamp160theyamp160don39tamp160doamp160whatamp160they sayamp8221 He knew that observing andamp160understanding theamp160psychologicalamp160andamp160unconsciousamp160drivers of human behavior is more valuable than gathering direct verbal feedbackamp160Brands ought to set their strategy based on the total personality of the brand and on the psychological and unconscious drivers of the brandamp8217s current and most likely future customersA strategy based on reasoning which does not reach to the core of why that brand exists and what it represents will not be a Big Idea strategyThe process for setting a brand strategy therefore ought to include stuffing the minds of the strategic team with information about the brand going all the way back and up to the minute its greatest advertising successes in history and the observed behaviors of its customers and target customers Then as Ogilvy said amp8220Big ideas come from the unconscious This is true in art in science and in advertising But your unconscious has to be well informed or your idea will be irrelevant Stuff your conscious mind with information then unhook your rational thought processamp8221How does the brand strategic team know who the likely future customers will be It will be people whoHave had some personal past experience with the brand amp8211 this is as Joel Rubinson has named them The Moveable Middle They are probably identifiable from records showing them to be occasional buyers of the brand The company I sold to TiVo TRA called them Swing Purchasers but Joelamp8217s name for them has captured the hearts and minds of todayamp8217s practitionersHave many of the same unconscious motivations as the current customers This is what my company RMT is all aboutHereamp8217s an example of how a strategy might be set in terms of the expansion target audienceIn Canada Vividata shows the following about the shampoo marketNotice that there are 21 million consumers who switch back and forth between Lamp8217Oreal and Pantene or use them both all the time They are the Moveable Middle for each of the two brands They might be a sensible strategic target for both brands Who are they and what are their motivations What media reach them these consumers in the middle Vividata supplies these answers with the motivation data coming from RMT The RMT system has been proven able to extract motivations from media content consumption behavior and to turn this into creative and media tactics which increase incremental sales and longterm brand loveHere is a more granular analysis at the RMT Need States level From the point of view of the science of psychology Motivational Drivers are traits amp8211 long lasting and stable characteristics which do change but very slowly amp8211 while Need States are transient states which are stable for shorter phases of a personamp8217s lifeThis is the way brand strategists ought to determine brand strategy and provide initial clues to agencies for creative development and media planning tactics Inmarket testing as early as possible is worthwhile which means sneak testing in outoftheway places The latter recommendation is pure OgilvyStrategy as Dave Morgan says has been overwritten by tactics All we can think about nowadays is tactics because we suddenly have such an abundance of miraculous tactical tools including AI big data interactive media addressable media neuroscience and biometrics cameras in the smartphones of 8 billion people surveillance technology known as the Internet brilliant mathematical inferencing techniques computer vision and millions of media choices measured by Nielsen ONERemember what Sun Tzu and David Ogilvy saidDave Morgan Writes Think of brand building like equity investing Online trading platforms now give everyone access to analytics realtime buying and selling tools previously available only to stock brokers and fund managers These tactical tools are powerful and launched the world of amp8220day tradingamp8221 buying and selling depending on market momentum a thesis for the day realtime news all the while glued to dashboard and with real time metricsAre they building businesses or wealth over time No Study after study shows that the majority of daytrading is unprofitable certainly when you account for fees and taxes And while daytrading has been an onramp for some fund managers to begin their careers virtually no large and highperformance fund has been driven by day trading Because it is just a tacticWarren Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway with a strategy not the mass execution of tactics and marketers need to build brands the same way It takes discipline and discernment in setting the strategy and confidence and commitment in its execution Throwing things against the wall and trying to optimize for amp8220stick rateamp8221 versus amp8220bounce backamp8221 might sound logicalamp8230Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeatCover Image by rawpixelcom on FreepikBuilding HighPerforming TeamsOur new podcast explores the topic of Being in the Inbetween Phase a liminal stage of growth when we can feel disoriented lonelyamp160or frustrated and why itamp8217s also a powerful indicator that real growth is happeningamp160Rather than rushing to amp8220fixamp8221 the discomfort this episode invites listeners to slow down listen more deeply to themselves and learn how to navigate uncertainty with trust patience and selfawarenessThis monthamp8217s podcast length is amp877646 minutes Watch the VideoPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Brand Strategy in an Age of Chaos and Cynicism

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