Brand problems? I’ve seen a few…
Like what do you do when being a single malt whisky with a deeply authentic, hundred-plus-year-old story of craft and tradition isn’t enough of a reason to buy in an ocean of whisky with deeply authentic, hundred-plus-year-old stories of craft and tradition?
Read MoreLike how do you bid farewell to your most successful and arguably most valuable driver in a way that sets the team and its fans up for the next chapter once he leaves?
That was the challenge facing the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.
Read MoreLike what do you do when your business and brand has become so addicted to chasing short-term innovation uplifts that it’s allowed its core business to be eroded?
Read MoreLike what do you do when a group of refugee ballet dancers in Amsterdam form a dance company and want to use their platform to highlight the horrors unfolding back home, while still selling tickets? Oh, and when it’s not an agency assignment, and the budget is virtually zero?
Read MoreLike what do you do when you have a fractured global brand, communications, and marketing organisation, and are needing to support premium pricing while you aggressively expand distribution?
Read MoreLike what do you do when you are disproportionately reliant on paid search and find that your customers are booking accomodation but have no memory that it was through you?
Read MoreObservation, curiosity, empathy - these are vital. Dieter Rams said "Indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design”. His words apply to the development of brands and advertising too. But the idea that ‘insight’ is and must always be the starting point and first hurdle to overcome is deeply flawed. The strategist’s real job isn’t to find truth - it’s to create traction, and create change. Insight may be helpful in that endeavour. But it is not holy.
Read MoreThere is much that is problematic with the theology of ‘insight’ as presented by the self-appointed members of its Inquisition. But even if one were to reject the various articles and tests of faith they demand and think more simply (heresy!) in terms of useful understanding, I have come to believe that as a way of thinking about our intended audience, it is still not quite enough.
Read MorePatience and timing, curiosity and exploration, improvisation and adaptability in new environments, economy of effort, presence and focus, independence, not conformity, play as necessary preparation, sensing beyond the obvious, rest as renewal… I was going to close by suggesting that cats can teach us so much about the straegic mindset. But as I type this I find myself reflecting that cats can teach us so much about the art of living.
Read MoreIn the development of strategy we must stay alert for drift and bloat - and work to inoculate strategy against thoughtless (if well-intentioned) meddling. Surrendering the integrity and fidelity of our strategy is not an acceptable price to pay for playing nicely and allowing for input and collaboration. So be open to high quality input but make the price of mere meddling steep. And enlist in advance the support of somebody able to drop the hammer should the need arise. Honestly it’s not complicated. It just needs some clear-sighted intentionality.
Read MoreWe should aspire to the standard that Bono spoke of - brands that talk, like they walk, like they perform, in which everything adds up. Want to find your brand’s true, compelling superpower, the true source of its value and magnetism in the world? Then strip it all back to just that, and that alone. Be the heartless truncator, the merciless editor, and take a scythe to the unwanted and unnecessary acres of fluff and bullshit.
Read MoreAll of which is to say that I’ve chosen to work differently and focus my efforts not on inputs, hours, costs, and activities but on what client organisations really want and buy, which is solutions to business problems. Exciting conversations about value as opposed to dreary conversations about time are where real relationships and partnerships - and transformations - are forged. I mean, there really didn’t see much point advising client organisations to adapt, evolve, think different, innovate, create meaningful and lasting value in the world, lean into the future, or grab a seat at the front of the bus while there still is one if I wasn’t going to do the same.
Read MoreWe say that it’s all about “the work” as if clients are merely shopping for outputs and assets. And then complain about squeezed revenue and margins.
But it becomes ever more clear to me. Point to what you are proudest of, and you’ll find the scope of your value.
Read MoreThen he’s tasked with polishing forks. Fucking forks. And Richie’s ego begins to learn the most valuable lesson of all - it’s not about feeling important in the eyes of others, but about taking pride in oneself for the time and effort one puts into the details.
He then finds Chef Terry (exquisitely played by Olivia Colman) peeling a pile of mushrooms. Fucking mushrooms. He’s baffled. She quietly tells Richie that mushrooms do not, strictly speaking, need to be peeled: “It’s just a nice little fun detail so that when the diners see it, they know that someone spent a lot of time on their dish.” And now he gets it. Be of service. And care. Really fucking care.
Read MoreStrategy begins with a leap - not inching forward methodically, but jumping into an imagined future that's better, more valuable, more desirable. But this imaginative leap is only the beginning. The real work lies in determining how to make that future real: What conditions must we create? What must we start or stop doing? What resources must we gather? What politics must we navigate? What collaborators do we need? How will we finance it all? Strategy is ultimately a practical, pragmatic undertaking concerned with change in the real world. While imagination is essential, it's only the first step. After that comes the hard yards of implementation - or as Kornfield might say, after imagination comes the laundry.
Read MoreTaste then isn’t merely about unaccountable subjective preference. Taste involves making judgments about quality - which is why it should matter a very great deal to marketers, brand-builders, and communicators.
Read MoreTo do its work strategy needs be coherent - it is the art of deploying finite resources for maximum effect after all. It needs to be persuasive if it is to engage the belief, enthusiasm, and resources of others to make it a reality. It should have as few moving parts as possible to reduce the risk of failure. And it needs to be compressed and memorable so people do not have to work out what it means or what to do, and there is no room for misunderstanding or subjective interpretation. David Gelernter, the professor of computer science at Yale University, talked about ‘machine beauty’ as the key to deveoping powerful software. We should be seeking ‘strategic elegance’. Because elegance makes strategy more powerful.
Read MoreThe fact of the matter is whether as a human being, business, or brand, conviction born of self-knowldege is the thing that gets us through uncertainty, adversity, and turbulence. It is the root of agency, because it clarifies choices and decisions. Being deliberate and decisive, having real intention and doing things on purpose is impossible without self-knowledge, self-belief, self-respect and the resultant conviction. Without it, we’re just a victim of circumstances, responding and adapting to events as they happen, to bad advice, or to other people’s opinions, agendas, and actions without ever asking whether this is valuable, healthy, sustainable, desirable, meaningful for us.
Read MoreWhen we are able to truly and accurately name things we are able exercise some form of control and dominion over them. And when we are able to name things we have the ability to share and embed that ordering and meaning of things in the minds of others. And thus we govern, predict causes and effect, make things happen. Thus we do strategy.
Read More
