The Planning Lab

Rethinking brand consultants

Strategy is often a misused word, but strategy simply answers the question: how? So in today's world of communications clarity of thought and execution is more important than ever.

In the 90s ago brand strategy used to be the domain of the "full-service" agency, but when agencies became more disintegrated and specialised into creative shops, the ownership of strategy fell into the brand consultants (the same thing happened with the media planning). 

Twenty years later, I really doubt whether the client has gotten a better solution with several marketing partners instead of one. Cheaper? Probably. But having separate units for branding, media and communications cannot result in effective end-products (also known as the advertising).

In the best interest of both the client and the advertising agency, we as planners must challenge brand consultants when their solutions don't cut it.

Rethinking brand consultants

Strategy is often a misused word, but strategy simply answers the question: how? So in today's world of communications clarity of thought and execution is more important than ever.

In the 90s ago brand strategy used to be the domain of the "full-service" agency, but when agencies became more disintegrated and specialised into creative shops, the ownership of strategy fell into the brand consultants (the same thing happened with the media planning). 

Twenty years later, I really doubt whether the client has gotten a better solution with several marketing partners instead of one. Cheaper? Probably. But having separate units for branding, media and communications cannot result in effective end-products (also known as the advertising).

In the best interest of both the client and the advertising agency, we as planners must challenge brand consultants when their solutions don't cut it.

Ideas for 2009: Innovation planning

Cool milk on the go.

An innovative product beats innovative advertising, so maybe it's time for advertising planners to explore the domain of product development. 

The market of today requries a balance of fast thinking, cost efficiency and above all creativity. This is where the modern advertising agency can excel compared to brand consultants and design agencies - not exactly known to be fast or cheap. Working with service delivery has also been an area where digital agencies have been successful. 

Product/service innovation doesn't have to be complicated either. It's just a matter of shifting perspectives: from promise to delivery. In other words, spend time on innovating a product or service instead of spending time on innovating advertising message. 

The milk bottles above is a simple example of identifying a new area of usage and target group behaviour with a repackaging as a result – without reinventing the wheel. Other ways and examples are:

1. Clustering of products and services into new offerings – Modernash IKEA service

2. New sales channels and customised offerings for – Dominos Pizza Builder

3. Develop new features – Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

4. New segmentation of target group – Penguin Books Dating

5. Develop accessories – Monocle Shop co-developed luggage

6. Knowledge services – Apple Store Genius Bar

7. Providing extra information – Dominos Pizza Tracker

8. Adding to the assumed lifetime – Filippa K second-hand store

9. Improving customers’ skills – Nikon School 

10. Setting up extra or better contacts – Comme des Carçons Pocket Shops

11. Friendly delivery systems –  Insinger private bank Shoebox

The important thing about innovation planning is to improve customer value rather than persuasion. Positive side-effects include full accountability (results on sales rather than ad effectiveness) and inherent PR value if done correctly. 

Ideas for 2009: Innovation planning

Cool milk on the go.

An innovative product beats innovative advertising, so maybe it's time for advertising planners to explore the domain of product development. 

The market of today requries a balance of fast thinking, cost efficiency and above all creativity. This is where the modern advertising agency can excel compared to brand consultants and design agencies - not exactly known to be fast or cheap. Working with service delivery has also been an area where digital agencies have been successful. 

Product/service innovation doesn't have to be complicated either. It's just a matter of shifting perspectives: from promise to delivery. In other words, spend time on innovating a product or service instead of spending time on innovating advertising message. 

The milk bottles above is a simple example of identifying a new area of usage and target group behaviour with a repackaging as a result – without reinventing the wheel. Other ways and examples are:

1. Clustering of products and services into new offerings – Modernash IKEA service

2. New sales channels and customised offerings for – Dominos Pizza Builder

3. Develop new features – Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

4. New segmentation of target group – Penguin Books Dating

5. Develop accessories – Monocle Shop co-developed luggage

6. Knowledge services – Apple Store Genius Bar

7. Providing extra information – Dominos Pizza Tracker

8. Adding to the assumed lifetime – Filippa K second-hand store

9. Improving customers’ skills – Nikon School 

10. Setting up extra or better contacts – Comme des Carçons Pocket Shops

11. Friendly delivery systems –  Insinger private bank Shoebox

The important thing about innovation planning is to improve customer value rather than persuasion. Positive side-effects include full accountability (results on sales rather than ad effectiveness) and inherent PR value if done correctly. 

What brand consultants should be doing

Change the inside.

Any agency planner who has worked with big companies know one thing: they are built for efficiency, not for dynamic change. This means the biggest obstacle for innovative thinking in marketing and communications are created by themselves. Paradoxically, it has never been more important for a company to differentiate itself. 

The problem is not about what to do, because coming up with clever brand strategies isn't that difficult – most advertising agencies can perform this. What’s really hard in the marketing world is getting it done, because for every brilliant idea there are a hundred executional bottlenecks – usually manifested by rigid internal structures and processes of companies. 

What’s needed: radical marketing thinking plus organisational change without compromising operational efficiency. Hardcore consultancies like McKinsey do some of the stuff already, but I believe they lack the creative edge that’s necessary for marketing innovation. This is where brand consultancies could play a very useful role and create true value. Turning companies up-side-down will indeed require some muscle, but in my world, it's the only real task for the brand consultancy that wants to achieve real change and not only talk about it in a nice PowerPoint.

What brand consultants should be doing

Change the inside.

Any agency planner who has worked with big companies know one thing: they are built for efficiency, not for dynamic change. This means the biggest obstacle for innovative thinking in marketing and communications are created by themselves. Paradoxically, it has never been more important for a company to differentiate itself. 

The problem is not about what to do, because coming up with clever brand strategies isn't that difficult – most advertising agencies can perform this. What’s really hard in the marketing world is getting it done, because for every brilliant idea there are a hundred executional bottlenecks – usually manifested by rigid internal structures and processes of companies. 

What’s needed: radical marketing thinking plus organisational change without compromising operational efficiency. Hardcore consultancies like McKinsey do some of the stuff already, but I believe they lack the creative edge that’s necessary for marketing innovation. This is where brand consultancies could play a very useful role and create true value. Turning companies up-side-down will indeed require some muscle, but in my world, it's the only real task for the brand consultancy that wants to achieve real change and not only talk about it in a nice PowerPoint.

Creativity and behaviour in the advertising agency

Creativity is probably the most important asset to any ad agency. So it would be stupid of one to not dig deeper into an agency's creative processes and try to improve these. There are of course many aspects of creativity and ways of improving things. One way of looking at creativity is from a behavioural perspective. That is, looking at things that are not in the human mind, but rather at things can be observable. This perspective is interesting from two respects. First, cognitive psychology has a strong scientific foundation. Second, its tools are well-suited for real-life application.

Here are some slides (in Swedish) from a seminar that my psychologist friend Samuel Hugosson held a couple of weeks ago. The brief was simple: How can we improve the conditions under which creative work takes place?

| View | Upload your own

The slideshow does of course not tell the whole story, but there are some interesting bits in there. If you're interested in hearing more about creativity at the workplace, let me know!

Creativity and behaviour in the advertising agency

Creativity is probably the most important asset to any ad agency. So it would be stupid of one to not dig deeper into an agency's creative processes and try to improve these. There are of course many aspects of creativity and ways of improving things. One way of looking at creativity is from a behavioural perspective. That is, looking at things that are not in the human mind, but rather at things can be observable. This perspective is interesting from two respects. First, cognitive psychology has a strong scientific foundation. Second, its tools are well-suited for real-life application.

Here are some slides (in Swedish) from a seminar that my psychologist friend Samuel Hugosson held a couple of weeks ago. The brief was simple: How can we improve the conditions under which creative work takes place?

| View | Upload your own

The slideshow does of course not tell the whole story, but there are some interesting bits in there. If you're interested in hearing more about creativity at the workplace, let me know!

Planning models are now free

Information is supposed to be open-source, and that includes all those boxes, pyramids and arrows we use in every day work. That's why I've created Open Planning Ware, a place where you'll find branding and communication models I've been using or come across. There are only a few models uploaded so far, but this is a long-term project so it will take a while to grow the collection. So keep visiting.

OpenPlanningWare @Flickr

Planning models are now free

Information is supposed to be open-source, and that includes all those boxes, pyramids and arrows we use in every day work. That's why I've created Open Planning Ware, a place where you'll find branding and communication models I've been using or come across. There are only a few models uploaded so far, but this is a long-term project so it will take a while to grow the collection. So keep visiting.

OpenPlanningWare @Flickr