Marketing Execution workshop

Workshop to help Brand Leaders inspire better
creative advertising and media choices.
How to inspire better
marketing execution

We make brands stronger.
We make brand leaders smarter.
Define
the
Brand
Think
Strategically
Big
Idea
At Beloved Brands, we use a branding approach
Vision Analysis
Key Issues
Strategies
Execution
• Advertising
• In-Store
• Innovation
• Consumers
• Category
• Channels
• Competitors
• Brand
Values, Goals
• Experience
Brand Plan
Create Brand Plans
Inspire
creative
execution
Analyze
performance
Sm
art
Creative
Ideas

Training Workshop 6
Marketing Execution
We show Brand Leaders how to judge and decide on execution options
that break through to consumers and motivates them to take action.
• We provide Brand Leaders with tools and techniques for judging communication
concepts from your agencies, as well as processes for making decisions and
providing effective feedback. We talk about the crucial role of the brand leader in
getting amazing marketing execution for your brand.
• We teach how to make marketing decisions with the ABC’S, so you can choose
great ads and reject bad ads looking at tools such as Attention (A), Branding (B),
Communication (C) and Stickiness (S)
• We teach how to provide copy direction that inspires and challenges the agency to
deliver great execution. We also talk about how to be a better client so you can
motivate and inspire your agency.

We make brands better.
We make brand leaders better.
The role of a Brand is to create a tight bond with
your consumers, that will lead to a power and proﬁt
beyond what the product alone could ever achieve.

LOVE IT
INDIFFERENT
BELOVED
LIKE IT
1 Consumers move along Brand Love Curve
tightening their bond with brands
2 Consumers connect with Big Idea
through 5 supporting touch-points
3 The tight consumer bond creates
brand power with key stakeholders
4 The brand power drives profit through
price, cost, share, market size
Promise Experience
Purchase
Innovation
Story
Consumer
Premium
Prices
Trading
Up
Lower
COGS
Efficient
Spend
Stealing
Share
Users to
use more
New
markets
Find new
uses
Brand
8 ways Marketers can drive more profits
The more loved a brand is by consumers,
the more powerful and profitable that brand will be.
Channels
Competitors
New Entries
Suppliers
Media
Influencers
Employees
Consumers
Brand
Power
Big
Idea

Promise Brand Story Innovation Purchase Moment Experience
Big
Idea
Brand
Positioning
Advertising and
Communication
Product
Development
Selling and
Retail
Operations
and Culture
Consumer
The
Brand
Innovation drives ideas, concepts,
testing, launches through system.Build culture to support
consumer experience
creating a brand credo
with purpose, values,
service behaviors.
2
4
3
1
CREATIVE(BRIEF((
1.""Why(Are(We(Adver3sing(
Drive&trial&of&the&new&Grays&Cookies&as&“The&Healthy&Choice&to&Snacking”&brand&posi>oning.&&&
2.#What’s(the(Consumer(Problem(We(are(Addressing(
I’m&always&watching&what&I&eat.&&And&then&BAM,&I&see&a&cookie&and&I’m&done.&&As&much&as&I&look&aHer&
myself,&I&s>ll&like&to&sneak&a&cookie&now&and&then.&&"
3.((Who(are(you(talking(to?(
“Proac>ve&Preventers”.&Suburban&working&women,&35L40,&&who&are&willing&to&do&whatever&it&takes&to&
stay&healthy.&&They&run,&workout&and&eat&right.&For&many,&Food&can&be&a&bit&of&a&stressLreliever&and&
escape&even&for&people&who&watch&what&they&eat.&&&&"
4.((Consumer(Insights(
L&“I&have&tremendous&willLpower.&&I&work&out&3x&a&week,&watch&what&I&eat&and&maintain&my&figure.&&But&
we&all&have&weaknesses&and&cookies&are&mine.&&I&just&wish&they&were&less&bad&for&you”&
L&&“I&read&labels&of&everything&I&eat.&&I&s>ck&to&1500&calories&per&day,&and&will&find&my&own&ways&to&
achieve&that&balance.&&&If&I&eat&a&400&calorie&cookie,&it&may&mean&giving&something&up.”&
5.(What(does(our(consumer(think(now?(
I’ve&never&heard&of&Grays&Cookies.&&But&I’d&likely&need&to&try&it&and&see&if&I&like&it.&&If&it&really&does&taste&
that&good,&it’s&something&I&might&consider&as&a&snack.&&&
6.((What(do(you(want(your(consumer(to(think/feel/do?((Desired(Response)(
We&want&them&to&try&Grays&and&see&if&they&like&the&great&taste.&&"
7.((What(should(we(tell(them?((S3mulus:((benefit)(
With&Grays&Cookies&you&can&s>ll&have&a&great&tas>ng&cookie&without&the&guilt,&so&you&can&stay&in&
control&of&your&health.&&
8.((Why(should(they(believe(us?(
In&blind&taste&tests,&Grays&Cookies&matched&the&market&leaders&on&taste,&but&only&has&100&calories&and&
2g&of&fat.&&In&a&12&week&study,&consumers&using&Grays&once&a&night&as&a&desert&were&able&to&lose&5lbs.&&&
9.((Brand(Posi3oning(Statement(
For&“Proac>ve&Preventers”,&Women&30L45,&Grays&Cookies&are&the&best&tas>ng&yet&guiltLfree&pleasure#
so&you&can&stay&in&control&of&your&healthy&lifestyle.&&That’s&because&Grays&combines&the&great&taste&in&a&
low&fat&and&calorie&sensible&cookie.&In&blind&taste&tests,&Grays&Cookies&matched&the&market&leaders&on&
taste,&but&only&has&100&calories&and&2g&of&fat.&&In&a&12&week&study,&consumers&using&Grays&once&a&night&
as&a&desert&were&able&to&lose&5lbs.&&&
10.((Tone(and(Manner(
Successful,&Mo>vated,&Reliable,&In&Control,&Natural.&
11.((Media(Op3ons(
Main&crea>ve&will&be&in&specialty&health&magazines,&event&OOH&signage&and&inLstore.&&Want&to&carry&
the&idea&into&digital,&social&media&and&a&microsite.&&&
12.((Mandatories(
The&line:&“best&tas>ng&yet&guiltLfree&pleasure”&is&on&the&packaging.&25%&of&Print&must&carry&the&Whole&
Foods&logo&as&part&of&our&lis>ng&agreement&and&include&the&Legal&disclaimer&on&the&taste&test&and&the&
12&week&study.&&&
Brief focuses creative &
media decisions on
positioning & strategy
5
Influence purchase moment
through channels, e-commerce,
selling and merchandising
At Beloved Brands, we promise to
make your brand stronger and your
brand leaders smarter.
We believe big ideas, focus and
passion matter, because the more
loved a brand is by consumers, the
more powerful and profitable that
brand will be.
We will challenge you to think
different, because the thinking that got
here may not get you to the next level.
Our Credo
Align execution to
focus on moving
consumers
through stages of
the buying system
Consumers connect with Big Idea
through 5 supporting touch-points
Consider
Satisfied
Buy
Search
Fan
Loyal
Repeat
Aware
6
The role of any marketing execution is to tighten the
bond with your consumers to drive brand growth
Marketing
Execution

Brand Leaders should think of marketing
execution as a business investment that further
tightens the brand’s bond with their consumers.
Every execution must have the potential to put
the brand on the pathway to being more
powerful and more proﬁtable.

Creative Execution must amplify your brand story
and brand positioning into the marketplace, to
help connect with your consumers so they will
see, think, act or feel differently about your brand
than before they saw the message.

Media is a business investment that showcases
the creative execution of your brand story, to build
a bond your brand with consumers at the most
impactful and efﬁcient place, where they are most
willing to engage in your brand story. It only pays
back if it puts your brand on a pathway to
becoming more powerful and proﬁtable.

3
1
CREATIVE(BRIEF((
11.((Media(Op3ons(
12.((Mandatories(
12&week&study.&&&
Use our checklist to reach for your
gut instincts that might be
hidden away. Do not over-think.
We will teach you how to make smart decisions
throughout the creative process
Creative Brief
creates the box the
ad must play in.
Focused objective,
tight target, one
beneﬁt, one desired
response.
Process
Graphic
Feedback memo
challenges and
tightens focus, gives
direction, without
giving specific
solutions. Create
new box with
problem for agency
to solve.
Keep team aligned and inspired
throughout complex process. Easy to
group-think out of a great idea or wiggle
away from original strategic intentions.
Ad
Ideas
2
5
The
Creative
Brief
4
Vision
Positioning
Big Idea
Strategy
Brief
Script
Ad
In creative meeting, stay
positive and big picture. Use
instincts to make decisions.
Represent your consumer.
Gut Instincts Check List
Do you love it?
Fits brand strategy
Motivates consumers
Creative idea
Attention
Branding
Communication
Stickiness
2
1
4
3
6
5
7
8

How to get better Marketing Execution
The role of the Brand Leaders in Marketing Execution
How to transform your Brand Communications Strategy
into a Creative Brief
Judging Marketing Execution
Making decisions on Creative Marketing Execution
Managing the Media Decisions
1
2
3
4
5

1
The role of the Brand Leader
in Marketing Execution
The Brand Leader plays the most crucial role in getting
amazing Marketing Execution. An OK agency can do
great work on a great client. But a great agency will fail
with a bad client. The client matters the most.

Before we figure out what makes someone
good at Marketing Execution, let’s figure out
what makes some brand leaders SUCK…
so we can work to eliminate these factors.

Reasons why you might suck at Marketing Execution
You blame Yourself You blame the Agency You blame your brand
• You never find your comfort zone:
Convinced you are not good at marketing
execution, you show up skeptical, uptight,
too tough or too easy and you seem
easily annoyed.
• You don’t know if it is really your place
to say something: You figure the agency
is the expert—that’s why we pay them—
so you give them no direction. Or worse,
you give them the chance to mess up and
blame them later.
• You settle for something you hate,
because of time pressure: The agency
says if we don’t go for it now, we will miss
our air date and have to give up our
media to another brand. So you cave in to
the pressure and go with the Ad you hate.
• You can’t sell it in to management: You
are not sure if it is the right thing to do,
making you hesitant and unable to sell the
idea in to your boss.
• Agency writes a brief you don’t like or
you box them into a strategy they don’t
like: If either of you force a brief on each
other, then you are off to a bad start. Be
collaborative with your agency.
• Creative team over sells you and you
get hood-winked: You are not sure what
you want, so you settle for an OK ad in
front of you—the best of what you saw.
Tell your agency you have to love the
work and then if you don’t love it, you
have to reject it.
• You lose connection with the agency:
Keep your agency motivated, challenged
and engaged. Be the client they want to
make great work on, rather than have to
work on.
• You lose traction through the
production and edit: Talent, lighting,
directors and edits—if the tone changes
from the board to edit, so does your ad.
• The “I work on a boring brand”
argument: You think only cool brands like
Nike or Apple would be so much easier to
work on. However, boring brands have
more room to creativity, that while it is a
challenge, it should be even easier to
work on a boring brand.
• You are too careful: Good ads either go
left or right, not in the middle of the road.
You have to take smart creative risks.
• Advertising roulette: Where brand
managers have not done the depth of
thinking or testing, brieﬁng is like a game
of chance. You have to do the homework
to know the strategy is right, making the
execution easier to nail.
• Your strategy sucks: You ﬁgure we don’t
have a great strategy, so maybe a good
Ad can help. A great strategy can make an
ad, but an Ad by itself will never make a
great strategy.
Being good at Marketing Execution takes experience, practice, leadership
and a willingness to adjust. You can learn how to be a good client.

If you knew that being a better client
would make your execution better,
could you actually show up better?

“Clients get the
advertising they
deserve”
David Ogilvy

8 ways to show up better on Marketing Execution
1. Everything you do has to start and end with the consumer in mind.
2. Figure out the desired consumer behavior, then decide out what to say.
3. Focus your brief with 1 objective, 1 target, 1 big idea and 1 benefit.
4. Control the strategy, yet give the agency freedom on creative.
5. Inspire the creative team, yet be unafraid to challenge to ask for better.
6. Take creative risks to stand out, not stay safe to try to fit in.
7. Fight for great work, even with your boss, never settle for OK.
8. See big ideas that leave a legacy, not just make an ad to make the year.
The best Brand Leaders inspire, challenge, enable,
rarely settle and fight for great Marketing Execution.

Find the magic in the execution of a brand
All of our work is done through other people. Our greatness as a Brand Leader has to
come from the experts we engage, so they will be inspired to reach for their own
greatness and apply it on our brand. Brand Management has been built on a hub-and-
spoke system, with a team of experts surrounding the generalist Brand Leader. When
I see Brand Managers of today doing stuff, I feel sorry for them. They are lost. Brand
Leaders are not designed to be experts in marketing communications, experts in
product innovation and experts in selling the product. You are trained to be a
generalist, knowing enough to make decisions, but not enough to actually do the work.
Find strength being the least knowledgeable person in every room you enter.

Time to step back and let the creativity unfold
It is okay to know exactly what you want, but you should never know until the
moment you see it. As the client, I like to think of marketing execution like the
perfect gift that you never thought to buy yourself. How we engage our experts can
either inspire greatness or crush the spirit of creativity. Experts would prefer to be
pushed than held back. The last thing experts want is to be asked for their expertise
and then told exactly what to do. There is a fine line between rolling up the sleeves
to work alongside the experts and pushing the experts out of the way. It is time to
step back and assume your true role as the Brand Leader. It is a unique skill to be
able to inspire, challenge, question, direct and decide, without any expertise at all.
Brand Leaders need to rediscover the lost art of doing nothing.

• We don’t make the products.
• We don’t make the packaging.
• We don’t make the ads.
• We don’t buy the media.
• We don’t hire the front-line staff.
• We don’t sell the products.
• We don’t do the accounting.
• We don’t really do anything.
• But we do touch everything.
• And yet, we make every decision.
Rediscover the lost art of doing nothing
As Marketers, our only greatness comes from inspiring experts
to reach for their own greatness, and to apply it on our brand.

Managing Creative development process
Focused Brief
Brief creates the box the
ad must play. Need
objective, insights, desired
response, benefit, RTB.
Strategy Pre Work
Build Insights, create Big
Idea and lay out a Brand
Concept, Advertising
Communications Plan.
Tissue Session
Use when you don’t have
a campaign. Be open to
new ways of looking at
your brand. Focus on big
ideas, push for better.
Creative
Expectations
Meet creative team
to convey your
vision, strategy,
inspire and focus.
Creative Meeting
Be positive, focus only on big
picture, give direction, make
decisions. No solutions. No
Details. Are you inspiring?
Feedback Memo
Details, challenges but
without giving specific
solutions. Use feedback
to create a new box.
Management Check In:
Keep your boss aware,
sell-in where needed.
Ad Testing
Use testing to confirm
your pick, not make
your decision.
Gain Approval
Sell in the Ad. Be
ready to fight resisters
to make it happen.
Production
Manage the Tone to fit
the brand. Always, get
more than you need
Post Production
Talk directly with and
leverage every expert
The biggest challenge for most Brand Leaders
is to stay focused on your vision at every
stage, always inspire and yet challenge
1
6
7
4
5
3
2
8
9
10
Process
Graphic

Focused Brief
Brief creates the box the ad
must play. Need objective,
insights, desired response,
benefit, RTB.
Strategy Pre Work
Build Insights, create Big
Idea and lay out a Brand
Concept, Advertising
Communications Plan.
Tissue Session
Use when you don’t have
a campaign. Be open to
new ways of looking at
your brand. Focus on big
ideas, push for better.
Creative
Expectations
Meet creative team
to convey your
vision, strategy,
inspire and focus.
Creative Meeting
Be positive, focus only on
big picture, give direction,
make decisions. No
solutions. No Details. Are
you inspiring?
Feedback Memo
Details, challenges but
without giving specific
solutions. Use feedback
to create a new box.
Management Check In:
Keep your boss aware,
sell-in where needed.
Ad Testing
Use testing to confirm
your pick, not make
your decision.
Gain Approval
Sell in the Ad. Be
ready to fight resisters
to make it happen.
Production
Manage the Tone
to fit the brand.
Always, get more
than you need
Post Production
Talk directly with and
leverage every expert
1
6
7
4
5
3
2
8
9
10
Media decisions should flow throughout the
Creative process—so that you’re not too stiff
on options, nor off strategy with a wacky idea
Media Range
Final Media Decisions
Media Guidelines
A
B
C
How the media Planning fits inProcess
Graphic

Process
Graphic
Vision/Purpose
Positioning
Big Idea
Brand Concept
Objectives/Strategies/Tactics
Advertising Strategy
Creative Brief
Creative Expectations
Advertising Big Idea
Script
Tone/Feel
Production
Execution
Planning
(Brand Plan)
Communicating
(Briefing)
Execution
(Aligning w/strategy)
It is one thing to come up with strategy, but another
to consistently stay on strategy through execution
Market Feedback
(Brand Review)

Vision/Purpose
Positioning
Big Idea
Brand Concept
Objectives/Strategies/Tactics
Advertising Strategy
Creative Brief
Creative Expectations
Advertising Big Idea
Script
Tone/Feel
Production
Execution
Planning
(Brand Plan)
Communicating
(Briefing)
Execution
(Aligning w/strategy)
It is one thing to come up with strategy, but another
to consistently stay on strategy through execution
As you move from planning to execution, there are 3 key media check ins:
1. At the strategy level, work with media guidelines to pick a lead media based on
what you need to accomplish with the media.
2. Agency should be present Big Ideas, across a media range including 30-second
TV, simple billboard and long print, to see how it could work almost every medium.
TV, theatre, OOH, magazine, print, on-line, digital, viral, search, social, in-store.
3. Final media decisions should get made as you see the application of the creative
within each media choice.
Media Range
Final Media Decisions
Media Guidelines
Process
Graphic

Long Copy
Print
Ask to see the creative idea expressed as a 30 second video, a long
copy print and billboard versions for each of the creative ideas.
When you ask for…
Billboard
• TV (15s, 30s, 60s)
• Movie Theatre Ads
30/60 second
video
It can be re-purposed to…
• Newspaper/magazine
• Social Media content
• Outdoor Billboard
• Digital Billboard
Seeing how each creative idea plays out in the 3 core media options
allows you to see which media might fit best for that creative idea.
• Viral Video
• Website video
• Website information
• PR/website, brochure
• In-store display sign
• Magazine back cover

1. Determine if the strategy can be executed. Develop a brand concept you know is
motivating to consumers, with rational and emotional benefits, plus support points.
2. Tighten your brief as much as you can. Narrow the target, add engaging insights
that tell their story. Focus on the desired consumer response before deciding what
your brand should say. Focus on one message.
3. Make it personal. Meet the creative team before the first creative meeting to connect,
align them with your vision and inspire them to push for great work.
4. Lower the pressure. Hold casual tissue sessions to narrow solutions before going
to scripts. Work off line or behind the scenes.
5. Stay big picture at creative meetings. Avoid getting into little details. Do that after
the meeting. When giving direction, avoid giving your own solutions and but rather
try to create a “new box” for the creative team to figure out the solutions.
6. Take creative risks. Build your career by being the one willing to stand out by being
different. Make the ad you want to look back on with pride.
7. Manage your boss at every stage. Early on, sell them, on your vision what you want.
Then be willing to fight for great work at every step of the process.
8. Be your agency’s favorite client. Be the client they “want to” work on instead of
being the one they “have to” work on your business. It really matters.
8 little secrets to get better execution

2
How to transform your Brand
Communications Strategy
into a Creative Brief

Brand Leaders need do their strategic
homework before going to execution
Don’t use the creative execution
process to find your positioning.

Give more
freedom on
execution
Control
the brand
strategy
Brand leaders always want options, so
they write a big wide brief with many
“strategic” options. But really, you want
“creative” options, not strategic options.
You should write a very tight brief, based
on the strategy you decided on, before
you even wrote the brief. Slow down and
let your strategic thinking prevail.
Brand leaders try to control the outcome of
the creative process so they write a long list
of mandatories in the brief, they try to steer
the type of advertising they want to see, or
don’t want to see. You should allow the
creative process to unfold, as you always
hold the power of decision. Go faster with
your instincts to not over-think great ideas.

Advertising people are more “in
the box” problem solvers, than
they are blue sky thinkers.
• Creative people are motivated by the
challenge of the problem, more than
the execution of a simple solution.
Give them a problem.
• The role of the brief is to create the
right box, enough room to move, but
enough direction that defines the
problem.
THE BOX
The role of a creative brief is to “create the right box”
The smaller the brief, the bigger the idea.

1. Your Solutions: They find it demotivating to be
asked for their expertise (solving problems) and
then not utilized (given the answer)
2. A blank canvas: They prefer a problem to solve,
not a wide open request for options.
3. An unclear problem: They need focus in order to
deliver great work for you.
4. Long list of Mandatories: A tangled weave of
mandatories that almost write the ad itself, yet trap
the creative team from doing anything
breakthrough, surprising or spectacular.
What creative people don’t want from their client
Don’t be the over-directive type of brand leader

A good brief should be brief, not long!
Good briefs should have:
• one objective
• one desired consumer response
• one target tightly defined
• one main benefit
• two main reasons to believe
Avoid the “Just in Case” List
Take your pen and stroke a few
things off your creative brief!

Stop thinking that Advertising is like a bulletin
board where you can pin up one more message
Works
Fast
Longer
lasting
Taste
great
Savesmoney
All natural
ingredients
Guaranteedor yourmoney back
Provenscience
• Somehow Marketers have
convinced themselves that they
can keep jamming one more
message into their ad.
• The consumer’s brain does not
work that way. They see 7,000
brand messages a day. They may
engage in 5-10 a day. When they
see your cluttered messy bulletin
board, their brain naturally rejects
and moves on.
• Not only are you not getting your
last message through, you are not
getting any messages through.
Think of Advertising like standing on top of a
mountain and just yelling one thing.

Who is in the consumer target?
(Who is the most motivated to buy what you do?)
What are we are selling?
(What is your main benefit (rational/emotional)?)
Why should they believe us?
(Support points to back up what you say)
What is your organizing Big Idea?
(What is the Soul or DNA for the brand?)
What do we need the advertising to do?
(Strategic Choices)
What do want people to think, feel or do?
(Desired Response)
Where will you deliver the message?
(Media Plan)
1
Positioning
Brand Plan
The 7 questions of a Brand Communications Strategy
2
3
4
5
6
7

Creative Brief
1. Why are we Advertising?
2. What’s the consumer problem we
are addressing?
3. Who are you talking to?
4. Consumer Insights
5. What does our consumer think now?
6. What do you want your consumer to
see/think/feel/do?
7. What should we tell them?
8. Why should they believe us?
9. Brand Positioning Statement
10.Tone and Manner
11.Media Options
12.Mandatories
1
6
2
3
4
5
7
1
1
1
5
5
2
1 4
4
4
31 2
7
3
5
6
6
4
6
Transforming your work in to a Creative Brief
Process
Graphic
Who is in the consumer target?
(Who is the most motivated to buy what you do?)
What are we are selling?
(What is your main benefit (rational/emotional)?)
Why should they believe us?
(Support points to back up what you say)
What is your organizing Big Idea?
(What is the Soul or DNA for the brand?)
What do we need the advertising to do?
(Strategic Choices)
What do want people to think, feel or do?
(Desired Response)
Where will you deliver the message?
(Media Plan)
Brand Communications Strategy

When doing your Creative Brief, you should think about the
desired response before planning what stimulus you will use.
Too many Brand Leaders start with the stimulus and focus on what they
want to say. But, you should start with the desired consumer response
and then let that guide what you are going to tell them.
Start with “what
do we want our
consumer to see,
think, do, feel or
influence?”
Only after you know
what you expect from
consumers can you
answer “What should
we tell them?”
Consumer 1
2

CREATIVE(BRIEF((
11.((Media(Op3ons(
12.((Mandatories(
12&week&study.&&&
A well written creative brief takes
everything you know about the brand
and strategically desire, and distills it
down to 1 page.
And the main brief should drive every
other brief within your brand, giving
you consistency from the core of the
Marketing Execution strategy.
A good brief should be…
BRIEF!

We look at every element of
the Creative Brief, outlining
the common mistakes and
how to ﬁx them.
Stop writing ugly
creative briefs

Smart briefs have one very clear objective.
Ugly briefs try to do too many things in one brief.
• Too many briefs try to do both penetration and usage frequency in one brief. You will
just confuse and muddy the creative development process. This means two targets,
two objectives, two messages and likely two different media options. It really should be
two separate briefs and two separate projects.
• When you have two objectives your agency will come back with one ad that does
penetration and one for frequency. This means the creative then picks the strategy and
that’s a weak position for a Brand Leader to take.
Advertising
Objective
Ugly unfocused Brief Smart focused Brief
Why are we advertising?
• Drive trial of Grays Cookies
AND get current users to use
Gray’s more often.
Why are we advertising?
• Drive trial of Grays Cookies by
positioning it as “The good
tasting Healthy cookie”

Strategic flaw of most creative briefs
is trying to drive penetration and
usage frequency at the same time.
Penetration Strategy gets
someone with very little
experience with your brand to
likely consider dropping their
current brand to try you once
and see if they like it.
Usage Frequency Strategy
gets someone who knows
your brand to change their
behavior in relationship to
your brand, either changing
their current life routine or
substituting your brand into a
higher share of the occasions.

• We recommend that you start with the consumers enemy as the pain point for the
consumer. While most products started by solving a problem, every brand should fight
off an enemy in the consumers life.
• Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and look at how the brand fights off what
might be bugging the consumer every day. Just like an insight, it is usually below the
surface level.
Consumer
Problem
Smart briefs start with the consumer.
Ugly briefs start with the product.
Ugly product driven Brief Smart consumer driven Brief
What’s the consumer problem we
are addressing?
• Gray’s market share is still relatively
small. It is held back by low
awareness and trial and the product
usage is not on par with the category.
What’s the consumer problem we
are addressing?
• I’m always watching what I eat. And
then BAM, I see a cookie and I’m lost.
As much as I look after myself, I still
like to sneak a cookie now and then.

• Avoid trying to target everyone. The great Marketing myth is to think that the pathway to
getting bigger is to target a bigger audience. Having a 30+ year age gap is far too wide.
Your agency will give you one ad for 25-year-olds and one for 50-year-olds. This means
that you will be picking your strategy based on which of the two ads you like best.
• Brand Leaders want CREATIVE options, not STRATEGIC options. We recommend a very
tight target market. For instance a maximum 5 year age gap will give your ad tremendous
focus. Also, you must decide whether it is current or new users. You can’t do both.
Consumer
Target
Ugly “everyone” Brief Smart highly targeted Brief
Who are we talking to?
• 18-50 year olds, current
customers, new customers and
employees. They shop at
Grocery, Drug and some Mass.
They use 24.7 cookies a month.
Who are we talking to?
• “Proactive Preventers”. Suburban working
women, 35-40, who are willing to do
whatever it takes to stay healthy. They run,
workout and eat right. For many, Food can
be a bit of a stress-reliever and escape
even for people who watch what they eat.
Good briefs have a highly focused target market.
Ugly briefs try to target everyone just in case.

Ugly “stats driven” Brief Smart “Insights Driven” Brief
Consumer Insights
• Gray’s product taste drives high
trial to purchase (50%) compared
to other new launches (32%)
Consumers only use Gray’s 9.8
cookies per month compared to the
Category Leader at 18.3 cookies.
Consumer Insights
• “I have tremendous will-power. I work
out 3x a week, watch what I eat and
maintain my figure. But we all have
weaknesses and cookies are mine. I
just wish they were less bad for you”
• The best ads are rooted in consumer insights as the connection point that enables
you to move the consumer in a way that benefits your brand. Bring insights into the
brief as ways to tell the story to help inspire the creative team, so they can build
stories that connect with your consumer. The best ads are those where you can
almost see the insight shining through the work.
Smart briefs use insights to bring the consumer to life.
Ugly briefs jam a bunch of stats into the brief.
Consumer
Insights

Ugly convoluted Brief Smart focused Brief
What is the Desired Consumer Response?
• We want them to THINK that Grays Cookies
are unique. We want them to FEEL they can
stay in control with Grays and it will keep
them feeling successful in living their healthy
lifestyle. And we want them to TRY Grays
and see if they like the great taste.
What is the Desired
Consumer Response?
• We want them to THINK
they can stay in control
with Grays.
• You should choose only ONE of see, think, feel or act, not a combination of any of the
two. We like to say that good advertising can only move one body part at a time—the
eyes, mind, heart or feet. Very few ads in history have directly moved two at once.
• You have to decide on which response you want, or else your agency will show you
creative options for each of these strategies and the best ad will decide your brand
strategy. If you keep pushing the agency to jam them all into one ad, you have a
severe mess on your hands.
Smart briefs get the consumer to do one thing.
Ugly briefs hope the consumer does a lot of things
Desired
Response

Ugly feature-oriented Brief Smart beneﬁt-focused Brief
What should we tell them?
(Main Message)
• Grays Cookies are the perfect
modern cookie, only 100 calories
and less than 2g of Fat. For those
looking to lose weight, the American
Dietician Society recommends
adding Gray’s to your diet. You can
find Gray’s at all leading grocery
stores.
What should we tell them?
(Main Message)
• With Grays Cookies you can still
have a great tasting cookie without
the guilt.
• The ugly example here takes the features and puts them into the main message. They are
basically the support points. The best ads speak in terms of benefits, not features. Focus
your main message stimulus on what consumers get (rational benefit) or how consumers
feel (emotional). Also, narrow down what you TELL consumers to ONE THING, not a
laundry list of things. One great Marketing Myth is that if we tell the consumer a lot of
things, at least they will hear something. False, if you tell them too much, they will hear
NOTHING but a mess and shut you out.
Smart briefs focus on the consumer benefits.
Ugly briefs focus on the product features.
Main
Message

Mathematical argument for
your brand’s BIG IDEA to
be a single message
The probability of success (P) is directly linked to
the inverse of the number of messages (M) you have
in your brand communication.
P =
1
2m
_

Ugly “prescriptive brief” tries
to control the creative
Smart “open minded” brief
gives freedom to creative
Mandatories
• Avoid humor, as a sarcastic tone will
not work with our target market.
• Preference is for real customer
testimonials supported by before/after
with our 90 day guarantee tagged on.
• Ensure brand shown in first 7
seconds.
• Use Snookie, as our spokesperson.
• Ad setting in pharmacy will add
credibility.
Mandatories
• The line: “best tasting yet guilt-free
pleasure” is on our packaging
• 25% of Print must carry the Whole
Foods logo as part of our listing
agreement
• Include the Legal disclaimer on the
taste test and the 12 week study
• If you think the first list is fictional, it’s not. I’ve seen every one of those mandatories in
creative briefs. With the second list, you’ll notice that none of them steer the creative
advertising ideas. I have seen Brand Leaders write long mandatories lists, that makes it so
prescriptive that the creative agency ends up backed into a creative corner. To tick off
each mandatory, it creates a messy, ugly “frankenstein” ad that pieces everything together.
Smart briefs have few mandatories.
Ugly briefs use mandatories to try to steer creative.
Mandatories

• Target competitive users most desirable
to us, while maintaining our base
• Tell what we do, so that it makes us appear
the best in the category
• Get new users to buy and current users to
use more at the same time.
• Make sure we get all our key messages
into the creative
• Use efficient media options that provides us
with the highest ROI
What looks like a smarter Creative Brief to you?
• Target the people most motivated
by what you do best
• Use what we stand for to show consumers
what they get from us
• Focus on getting consumers to do only one
thing at a time: think, feel or do
• Use the creative work to tell the brand
story in a way we love and believe in
• Connect with our target where they are
most likely to engage with our brand story
• Make sure you have a tight target: Spreading your resources against a target so broad, everyone
will think your message is for someone else. Make it feel specific and personal.
• Feed the benefit: Consumers don’t care what you do, they selfishly and rightfully so care about
what they get. Always talk about what they get or how they will feel.
• Drive one objective at a time: To drive trial and usage at the same time will leave consumers
confused as to what to see, think, do or feel.
• Drive one main message at a time: With so many messages, people won’t know what you stand
for, and you’ll never get a reputation for anything. Use your big idea to organize everything.
Trying to be everything to anyone, makes you nothing to everyone
A B
Smart Consumer Centric Brief Ugly Product Centric Brief

When you don’t have much time, it doesn’t mean you
avoid writing a brief. It just means using The Mini Brief
The Mini Brief
Objective
Launch new Facebook page to drive trial among
a younger audience.
Target
“Proactive Preventers”, women 35-40, live a
healthy lifestyle but still cheat once in a while.
Consumer Insights
“Cookies are my weakness, the enemy of my
diet, but I love them”
Desired Response
We want consumers to try Grays and experience
the unbelievable taste.
What We’ll Tell Them
Grays Cookies are the best tasting yet guilt-free
pleasure so you can stay in control of your health.
You have to try it to believe it.
Never do the “phone call brief”
because when you try to cut
corners and go too fast, it
actually takes longer.

3
How to judge Marketing
Execution

Smart but
not different
Solid strategy, but no creativity
Will do OK, but won’t break through
clutter to make a difference.
Smart and
different
Sweet spot, unique helps break
through and solid strategy motivates
consumers to take action
Not smart and
not different
Brand is lost and floundering.
Conservative creative against
a weak strategy.
Different but
not smart
While creative, it misses the
strategy, wrong target, message,
desired response or activities.
Smart
Not Smart
The same Different
Strategic
Creativity
Brand Leaders tense up when the creative gets “too different”
yet they should be scared when it seems “too familiar”

Great Marketing Execution breaks through and motivates
consumers to think, feel or act differently
MotivationtoBuytheBrand
Consideration of the BrandLow High
High

Main Message connects with
consumers and motivates
them to think, feel or act
differently about the brand.
Breaks through to connect
with consumers, while linking
brand closely to the story.
“Motivating Messaging”
(WHAT you say)
“Branded Breakthrough”
(HOW you say it)
Attention and Branding
Communication and
Stickiness
Great Marketing Execution breaks through and motivates
consumers to think, feel or act differently
MotivationtoBuytheBrand
Consideration of the Brand

Attention Branding Communication Stickiness
The Best Ads
• Break through the clutter (Attention)
• Links closely to the brand name (Branding)
• Communicates main message (Communication)
• Makes brand seem different (Stickiness)
How to judge the “Branded Breakthrough” and
“Moveable Messaging”
“Motivating Message”
(WHAT you say)
“Branded Breakthrough”
(HOW you say it)

Stickiness
Build a consistent experience over time to drive a consistent
reputation in the minds and hearts of the consumer.
Communication
Tap into the insights of the consumer helps tell the brand’s life
story. Keep your story easy to understand, not just about what
you say, but how you say it.
Branding
Tell the story of the relationship between the consumer and the
brand will link best. Even more powerful are ads that are from
the consumers view of the brand. It’s not how much branding
there is, but how close the brand fits to the climax of the ad.
Attention
Get noticed in a crowded media world where consumers see
7000 ads per day. If your brand doesn’t draw attention
naturally, then you’ll have to force it into the limelight.A
B
C
S
Motivating
Message
(what you say)
Branded
Breakthrough
(how you say it)
The ABC’S of Advertising

It garners
breakthrough
ATTENTION
COMMUNICATES
consumer benefits
through the story
It puts the
spotlight on
BRAND
It is memorable
and STICKS
over time
Big
IdeaA
B
C
S
The Creative Idea has to
express the Big Idea
through the ABC’S
Creative
Idea
How the Creative Idea draws the attention, tells brand
story, communicates benefit and sticks.

A
The best way to grab ATTENTION is to take a
risk and do something creatively different

1. Be incongruent: get noticed by being different from what they are watching.
Different type of creative can help drive a high score on “made the brand seem
different”. A lot of brand leaders are afraid of this, because they feel it exposes them.
2. Resonate: Leverage consumer insights to connect with the consumer, in a true way
they see themselves or interact with the brand.
3. Entertain them: Make them laugh, make them cry, or make them tingle. Consumers
interact with media to be entertained.
4. The evolution of the art of being different: As much as movies, TV, music
continue evolve, so do ads. Reflect the entertainment to capture consumer attention.
5. Location based: Be where your consumers are most open and willing to listen.
Make sure your creative makes the most of that media choice.
6. Be part of the content: As much as consumers are engaged in the content, not the
advertising, then having your brand front and center and part of the story.
7. Be Sharable: Amazing story-telling ads getting passed around on social media
vehicles. These long videos are great for engaging the consumer emotionally.
How do we earn the consumer’s attention?Attention

Attention
Connect and
resonate with your
consumer

The best BRANDING comes when you
connect the Brand to the Climax of the ad.
B

There is an old Advertising saying: “Half of all
advertising is wasted, but we aren’t sure which half.”
Coincidently, the average brand link is usually around
50%. Your goal should be to get past that mark.
1. Make your brand a central part of the story: It is
not how much branding you use, but rather how
closely connected the brand to the climax of your ad.
2. Is it the Truth: It sounds funny, but if there is a
disconnect between what you say, and what you
really are, then the brand link won’t be there.
3. Own the Idea: Be a bit different—make sure that
what you do sets you apart from anyone else.
4. Repeat: Simplest way to get stronger branding is to
repeat and repeat and repeat.
Put your brand at the maximum involvement spotBranding

Maximize the brand involvement
• Avoid cutting away to a white screen. My pet peeve in advertising is when I hear
creatives say “and then we cut to the pack shot”. When I hear that, I wonder why
people are afraid of the brand? That’s the “gag and tag” approach where
consumers will think it’s funny and they say they like that ad, but then “can’t
remember what brand its for”. The way to get maximum involvement is to force your
creatives to make your brand part of the story.
• People remember stories. If that story involves the brand, then naturally we would
have more branding. A powerful story can capture the consumer, and hold them, but
also leave them with a little magic. It’s the brand’s life story, the purpose or the
reason for being and that will make the brand much more memorable. Make the
brand part of the story.
Make the brand a central part of the storyBranding

The best way to COMMUNICATE is through
Story Telling that involves the brand.
C

Communicating is about selling. Keep in mind, communication
is not what is said, but what is heard.
1. Start a dialogue: If you can do a good job in connecting
with the consumer, the branding idea can be a catalyst that
enables you to converse with your consumer.
2. What are you selling? You have to keep it simple—you
only have 29 seconds to sell the truth. Focus on one
message…keep asking yourself “what are we selling”.
3. Powerful expression: Find one key visual that can
express what you are selling and stand behind it over time.
4. Find your “More Cheese”: This is where the benefit is so
obvious what people want, we need to scream it or find
ways to demonstrate it.
5. Sell the solution—not the problem: Brands get so
wrapped up in demonstrating the problem, when really it is
the solution consumers want to buy.
6. Diminishing returns of messages: Tracking studies
show that the more messages you put in an ad, the less
the consumer can retain.
What are you selling? Then sell it!!!Communicate

The best way to stick is to have an
idea that is big enough.
S

1. Dominant Characteristic: Things that are memorable to
the senses (visual, sounds, smells, etc) and have
something that dominates your mind
2. How big Is the Idea? Its proven that a gold fish will get
bigger with a bigger bowl. The same for ideas.
3. Telling Stories: While visuals are key to communicating,
people remember stories—that’s how we are brought up
—with ideas and morals designed to stick.
4. Always add a penny: With each execution, you have a
chance to add something to the branding idea.
5. Know your assets: Build creative and brand assets into
your ad so that it sticks. Keep using in new executions or
in other parts of the marketing mix.
How do you get your idea to stick?Stickiness

Nike built the “Just Do It” creative idea

Nike pushes your
athletic boundaries
beyond what you
thought was
possible, so you
can win on your
own terms.
Nike’s creative idea of“Just Do It”reflects
the brand’s strategic Big Idea
Strategic Big Idea Creative Big Idea

Building around your assets helps your ads stickStickiness
Two types of assets to build behind:
1. Brand assets: Look at the image scores or main
messaging scores in your brand tracking and then
continue to build through the campaign over time.
These become the heart of the brand’s truth.
2. Creative assets: Those images, icons or parts of
the ads that are remembered and internalized. You
want to understand what’s breaking through and
continue to use those creative assets in future
executions. This starts to give your brand a sense
of consistency in execution.

1. It must set your brand apart from the competition. The more different the execution, the more
different it will make the brand seem.
2. Keep the idea and communication focused and very simple. Focused target, focused message,
focused strategy and a focused media. If you try to shout too many messages, consumer just ends
up hearing a confusing mess
3. Need a good Big Idea. Big Ideas drive consistency aligning your thinking over time, across
mediums (paid, earned, social, store) and across the entire brand line up.
4. Drive engagement: To gain attention among the 7,000 ads consumers see each day, you have to
make what you do interesting enough to get noticed.
5. Let the visuals do the talking. Need a visual to capture attention, link to your brand and
communicate your message. 'See-say' advertising helps the consumers brain to engage, follow
along and remember.
6. Sell the benefit, not the problem or your product. Focus more on the solution than the problem,
what consumers get, and how it makes them feel.
7. Connect using consumer Insight. Insights enable consumers to see themselves in the situation
and once you do that, the consumers will see that the brand must be for them. Focus on mattering
the most to those consumers who care the most.
8. Tell the story behind the brand. Talk about your brand's purpose and your story about why you
started this brand, what do you hope the brand really does to help people.
8 things that Marketing Execution must do for your brand

4
Making Decisions on
Creative
Making decisions and providing direction to inspire
and challenge the Agency to reach for greatness,
never settling for OK.

The style and tone in which you give
feedback to an agency can make an ad
better, or destroy it before it’s ever made
Be a passionate brand leader, open with your feelings,
challenge the work to be better, take chances, reward
effort and celebrate successes together.

For many Brand Leaders, being on the hot seat in the
creative meeting feels like your brain is spinning.
Why did they choose
purple? I’m going to
recommend Red.
I have to finish
my forecast
Will this hit our
trial targets
We did this spot 3 years ago on
a beach. I hate that spot but I
guess I get to go to Hawaii.
Is there enough
branding?
Where is our
new claim?
I’m not sure this
humor is appropriate
Is this all they have?
What will my boss say?
Do you think these
people know I have
only made one ad?
This ad might get
me promoted
It looks like our
competitor did this
I like this spot, but I
might switch the lead
to a female, and older.
This agency does
Budweiser. Where are
those creative guys?
I never liked the brief
Too many thoughts in your head
will get in the way of smart thinking.

How you give feedback can make an ad great
or destroy the relationship
• Be in the moment, relax and smile: I always find that the room gets
so tense, stiff and serious: we forget to laugh, smile and be real. The
creative meeting should be fun. Take the attitude that If we are
having fun, then so is the consumer.
• We recommend that you provide feedback in three ways:
1. First Impressions: During the presentation, showing you are
fully engaged enough to say “I like that” or ask a quick question.
2. Give Direction: Focus more on the work you like first and then
speak to what‘s working about it, and if any, what challenges
that need fixing to make it better. Move to the ones you don’t
like with less detailed feedback, but giving the overall big
picture reason why you are rejecting it.
3. Leave the detailed direction on how to make it better for the
day after. Move the details (copy points, placement, colors) to
the next day, helping focus the immediate comments on big
picture reaction Take 24 hours to digest all the little details
• Speak on behalf of the consumer you represent and then think slowly
as the brand you run.
Strategy
Instincts

Think slowly
with strategy.
Think quickly
with instincts.
Marketing decisions need both slow strategic
thinking and fast instinctual thinking

Do you love the ad? Do you want this to be your legacy? (Your Passion)
Does the ad express what you wrote in your brand strategy? (Fit with plan)
Will the ad motivate consumers to do what you want them to do? (See, Think, Feel, Act)
Is the Big Idea the driving force behind all the creative elements? (Express Big Idea)
Is the ad interesting enough to break through the clutter? (Gain Attention)
Is the brand central to the story of the ad? (High on Branding)
Does the ad communicate your brand’s main benefit? (Communication)
How campaign-able is the ad? Does it work across various mediums, with all products?
Will it last over time? (Stickiness)
1
Gut Instincts Check List
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

When you first see new Marketing Execution ideas, think quickly
reaching for your instincts, while representing your consumer
If you don’t love it, how do you expect your
consumer to love it? If you “sorta like” it, then it will
be “sorta ok” in the end. But if you love it, you’ll go the
extra mile and make it amazing. Ask if you would you
be proud of this as your legacy.
Do you love the work?
At the early stage, you
are not doing anyone
a favor in keeping
work alive that you
don’t love and that
isn’t working for the
brand or consumer.
Think fast
with instincts
First
Reaction
Gut
Check Does it work?
What is your immediate reaction when you reach
for your instincts? Many times, instincts get hidden
away because of the job. Relax, be yourself in the
zone, so you can soak it in, right in the meeting. Be
careful that you don’t quickly reject out of fear.

As you digest the Marketing Execution ideas, you want to take time
to use your strategic thinking, while representing your brand
Does the work express what you wrote in your
strategy documents? For new products, use the
Venn diagram to figure out success potential. For
Marketing, use the ABC’S (Attention, Branding,
Communication, Stickiness) method to help you
evaluate work past your instincts.
Is it on strategy?
At the decision point,
you have to decide to
go or provide a
modified challenge
back to the team to put
them in a “new box”
for them to solve.
First
Test
Long
view Is it big enough to last?
Is the work big enough to last 5-10 years? Can it
last in the Market for 5+ years and will it work across
various mediums (paid, earned, social) across all
distribution and across the entire product line. Think
of being proud in leaving a legacy for your
successor, to force your brain into the longer term.
Think slowly
with strategy

As Brand Leaders we never make anything, we just make
decisions on which way to go. We only have 3 choices.
Approve
the work
Reject
the work
Change
the work
Brand Leaders rarely APPROVE creative execution out right.
They seem reluctant or afraid to REJECT execution ideas.
So they mistakenly assume their role is to CHANGE the work.

Agree on a clear decision making process
• Decision making: Team leader in the creative meeting room provides the direction to make
the work as good as it can be before selling it in. This gives the brand manager the full
ownership over the project.
• Pre testing can help: Narrow the creative concepts down to 1-3, put into animatic format
and test to determine success potential in the market. Instincts are great, but having them
confirmed by consumer feedback is even better.
• Selling the work in to the Organization: The team leader accompanied by the senior
account person (plus Creative Director if needed) should jointly sell it in the organization.
• Make sure you leave enough time: While everything is a rush these days, a well run
project, with adequate breathing space for creative ideas, 2-3 rounds of creative, potential
testing and adequate time for development.
Own it enough to live in it. It is your creative Execution, make
sure you are leading it. Be decisive, clear and communicate.

Old school process for giving feedback is not working
For decades, brand management teams have been using an archaic process that is no longer
work. You have likely seen it in play.
1. The Account Manager re-reads the brief, then they do a set up of each board, explaining the
technique/process. The problem is the agency set up taints the client’s view of a spot. (e.g. this
is funny) Since your consumer never gets a set up, and you want to see through the eyes of
your consumer, we should eliminate the set ups. These big set ups just allow the agency to
control your mind.
2. The Agency presents 3 scripts, and says which one is the agency’s favorite. This is a potential
de-motivator if you ask for their favorite and then dismiss it.
3. The client feedback starts with the most junior person going first, then all the way up to the
senior person in the room. This allows each senior people to over-rule the other person and
allows the most senior person in the room to control the final answer. This feels very 1950s
humiliation and de-motivating to the junior people on the team.
While everyone feels wonderful, the agency walks away with a confused
message, with various people liking various elements. This process
gives power to agency as they can cherry pick things they heard.
The opinions of the most senior client matters the most.

1. Following the creative, take a 30 minute huddle
for a client-only meeting. This allows the brand
team to have a very open discussion, freely hearing
out everyone’s thoughts, giving the junior people
easier input the final opinion. The Brand Manager
hears everyone’s views, then consolidates one
message to the agency.
2. Agency gets one piece of feedback. The break
helps to slow down process so the client can think
things through and get the story straight.
3. This process gives ownership to the brand
leader, who should do all the speaking on behalf of
the team, not the most senior person in the room.
The “huddle” process gets full alignment on the client side and the
agency with ONE direction. This process gives the Brand Manager
the power and a sense of ownership.
New School: Use a client huddle to provide one
aligned client response to the agency.

As a Marketer, if you are not talented enough to
come up with amazing creative execution in the
first place, why do you think you are talented
enough to do something even harder:  
Change the work!
Wouldn’t it just be easier to modify the problem
for your team of experts to figure out.

Creative people are
problem solvers.
They want your
problems not your
solutions.
…Then use your feedback at creative meetings to
create a new “box” for them figure out a new solution.
THE BOX
If the creative brief is a “box” for the Creative
execution team to figure out the solution to…

Creative people are problem solvers.
They need your problems not your solutions.

It should be a complete surprise, but as soon as you see
it for the first time, you know it is just perfect.
As a Brand Leader, you should think of Advertising like
the perfect gift that you never thought to get yourself

Managing the Creative Process is like designing your kitchen. If you
hired a designer to re-do your kitchen, you need to leverage their
expertise, be open to new ideas, but make sure you can live in it.

Agency relationships matter. Earn the best work.
• Communication goes both ways: Exhibit the leadership style that welcomes feedback, and
gives it. Each side brings an expertise, the agency has advertising and communication
expertise and the client brings consumer/brand expertise. Leverage each others’ expertise.
• Seek advice beyond advertising: Good account people know what it takes to be a good
marketer. They can help you on the side. And many times, their superior people skills can help
a client that might be lacking in that area.
• Build a relationship with the creative team: The creative teams want to engage with the
client and will respect your attempts to get closer to them. Like anyone, they will do a better job
for those they know, respect and even admire. Being the best client, will attract the best
creative people on a given team. They’ll want to work on your brand.
Agency people are more emotionally driven. Be one of the
favorite clients of your agency and your work will get better.

1. If you realized that how you show up as a client was the biggest factor
in getting better advertising, do you think you would actually show up
differently? If so, then show up right.
2. Are you one of the favorite clients of your agency? You should inspire
everyone to want to work on your brand, never treat them like they have
to work on your business.
3. Do you stay focused on one target, one strategy, one benefit behind one
big idea? Avoid the “just in case list” where you add “one more thing”
4. Are you the Brand Leader that is willing to fight anyone in the way of
great work? When you do, you will start to see everyone fight for you.
5. Do you resist temptation in approving advertising that is “just OK” and
“safe”? What signal do you think it sends everyone involved? You have
to LOVE your advertising, and never settle for OK.
5 questions to challenge Brand Leaders to get
better creative execution on their brands

4
Making Media Decisions
How to strategically leverage your Media Investment
to help build a stronger, more powerful Brand

“Half the money I spend
on advertising is wasted.
The trouble is I don’t
know which half.” 
John Wanamaker

How to judge the media options beyond efficiency
1. Efficiency of the Media Math
• Reach: number or percent of different homes or persons exposed at least once to an
advertising schedule over a specific period of time. Reach, then, excludes duplication..
• Frequency: number of times that the average household or person is exposed to the
schedule among those persons reached in the specific period of time.
2. Quality of Media
• Each medium may have a different measure of quality: Prime vs. Day Time, # of top
10s or top 20s, placement etc. Balance the efficiency against the quality. Depending
where you are on the Brand Love Curve might impact how much emphasis you place
on quality of media.
3. Media impact of the Media
• I’ve always tried to balance the efficiency and quality but then taking 10-20% of the
budget—depending on the strategy—push for high impact or high innovation media
that helps drive early attention for a campaign.
• In the new media world, you have to leverage social media conversations, leveraging
both the balance of traditional and digital media. Understand sequencing of media.
4. Fit with the consumer’s life
• Modern media options allow you to map out the entire consumer buying system to
manage the purchase moment of your consumer. Identify where to impact.

Consumer
Social Media Home PageEarned Media SearchPaid Media Retail MediaExperiential
Make brand
newsworthy
to help
decisions.
Enlist lovers
as advocates
to influence
others.
Tell brand story
in own-able,
breakthrough,
moving way.
Help
consumers
make smarter
decisions.
Knowledge,
influence to
close the sale
or sell brand.
Bring brand to
life to replicate
ideal brand
experience
Manage
consumer
through entire
purchase cycle.
Big
Idea
How the Big Idea can organizes the media choices
The
Brand

Big
Idea
For B2B, follow Big Idea but different Media choices
Customer Company
B2B
Social MediaHome Page Earned MediaSearchSales story Sales Material Trade Show
Make
company
newsworthy to
influence
customers
Enlist brand
lovers as
advocates to
influence
others.
Tell company
story in an
own-able,
breakthrough,
moving way.
Bring company
to life to
replicate ideal
brand
experience
Manage
customer
through entire
purchase cycle.
Help
customers
make smarter,
informed
decisions.
Knowledge,
influence to
close the sale
of products/
services.

BIG IDEA should guide
CREATIVE IDEA that sets up
the Master Brand as well as
sub brands or sub
messages…
…the MEDIA PLAN should also
leverage BIG IDEA to balance
how to execute the Master Brand
and sub brands or other
mediums.
Creative Big Idea
Sub Brand
Campaign
Sub Brand
Campaign
Sub Brand
Campaign
J F M A M J J A S O N D
TV TV TV
Facebook
Event Event Sampling
Digital Twitter
In Store Displays
PR PR
Facebook FacebookWeather Twitter YouTube
Big
Idea
Master Brand
Anthemic
Campaign
How the Big Idea organizes a consistent delivery of the brand
advertising with a big creative idea and media execution

Where your brand sits on the Brand Love Curve focuses
your brand strategy and guides your next move
Unknown
Indifferent
Love It
Like It
Beloved
Stand out so
consumers see
brand in the crowd
Establish brand
positioning in the
consumer’s mind
Magical experiences
inspire brand fans
to inﬂuence others
Tighten bond
with most loyal
brand lovers
Motivate
consumers to
buy and build a
bigger following

Get Consumers
to THINK differently
about your brand
Drive ACTION to
get consumers to
buy and create a
following.
Get Current Loyal
users to connect
emotionally and
LOVE you more
Create outspoken
loyal fans to whisper
to their friends on
your behalf
Stand out so
consumers NOTICE
the brand in a
crowd market place
Where your brand sits on the Brand Love Curve
should focus your team’s marketing execution focus
Think Do InfluenceSee Feel
Marketing
Execution
Head Feet Heart SharingEyes
BelovedIndifferent Like It Love ItUnknown

Media choices should help drive awareness and to
establish your brand in the consumer’s mind
Brand Strategies
• Both unknown and indifferent brands are trying to gain traction into the market. For unknown brands, it is
about setting up of the brand and launching. Then, you need to build a core message and find early brand
lovers. For indifferent brands, you need to establish your brand in the consumer’s mind, to separate your
brand from others. Use a mind shift with a new story or a mind share to dominate the consumer’s brain.
Media Choices
The media choices will vary based on what type of brand you are: product, story, experience or price.
• Product brands need to stand out with early adopters using an interruptive and visual medium such as TV,
magazine and on-line video that can help show and explain what makes your brand better or different.
Balance the lead medium with visual demonstrations on your own brand’s website, invest in search to help
the consumer go deeper and then use expert influencers to help move the early adopters along to the
purchase stage.
• For story-led brands, you need to project your point of difference to capture involvement to create a small
movement with potential early brand lovers, who connect with your brand’s purpose, story or unique concept.
Use story-telling mediums such as TV or long copy print, then support with digital and social media to
enhance the following.
• For brands where the consumer experience is the most important element, the awareness build will be
slower. Use word of mouth, key influencers, expert reviews (e.g. restaurant critics) and on-line customer
review sites (Yelp, Trip Advisor) to entice other consumers to want to try the experience. These influencers
can make or break the brand early on.
• For price driven brands, you need early volume to cover the lower margins. Invest in call to action mediums
such as 15 second TV or radio ads. Support traditional and on-line price tools, such as flyers or on-line
coupon sites, then price promotions at the point of purchase.
Unknown or
Indifferent

Media choices should help separate your brand from
the pack to move consumers to create a following
Brand Strategies
• For Like It brands, it’s about separating your brand from others. Options focus on either driving penetration
or driving usage frequency. Avoid trying to do both at once. You can also consolidate the consumers usage
occasions or try to cross sell so consumers use other products within your brand.
Media Choices
• For a penetration strategy, the media should showcase the creative to a larger audience to help convince
potential new users to consider trying your brand. To reach a larger audience, consider efﬁcient mass
media options such as TV or digital. To convince new consumers to try, you should leverage search,
website information and expert testimonial to point out the differences between your brand and current
choices as a way to help trigger that initial sale.
• To drive usage frequency, you will need to understand whether it will be a displacement of other brands in
the competitive set or instilling the brand into more of life’s moments. To help displace usage of other
brands, the media plan will be similar to the penetration media option. You can supplement with media at
the point most used by a competitor. For instilling your brand into more life moments, you should map out
the day in the life of your consumer and place ads at the points in the day where the consumers are most
most likely to resonate.
• With both options, you need to use media as a way to own the path to purchase. You will want to
dominate search, in-store and e-commerce options. Your focus here is triggering the sale, believing the
usage of the product will help the consumer understand and appreciate the difference. The added following
gives your brand added clout in the market, and a revenue stream that can help fuel further investment into
the brand.
Like It
Brands

Love It
and Beloved
Media choices should tighten and solidify the bond
with your consumer
Brand Strategies
• For Love It brands, it’s about shifting into an emotional connection. Here the focus is moving from a
simple product that is used to a brand that is experienced. You need to maintain the love, find ways to
deepen the love or give new reasons to love. For Beloved brands, you want to continue the magic to
surprise and delight loyalists and use loyalists to whisper with influence to their network.
Media Choices
• For a product led and story led brands, you should consider a maintenance strategy with mass media in
order to maintain your leadership presence and perception. However, you should begin shifting your
resources to driving the love with those consumers who love you the most and building an army of
followers that you can leverage at the lunchroom table and in the social media world.
• Look to own one of the social media vehicles that best fits your brand strategy and provides the
opportunity for your loyal brand fans to attach their voice in sharing to their network. The options should
match up to how the consumer uses the internet and the emotional zone that you wish to dominate.
• At this stage, you will also be turning usage frequency into a routine or ritual that becomes one of the
consumers favorite parts of the day. You can use the day-in-the-life analysis to help embed your brand
messaging into those little life moments. The brand message should be engaging with a highly personal
and emotional media choice. This could include social, digital and out of home media choices.
• When you wish to expand your brand with a new product category, leverage your army of brand fans to
be the first consumers to try the new offering. Place your brand message on pack or near the current ritual.

How the brand funnels shows how to help move
consumers through to the purchase moment
nd funnels to look beneath the surface
and see the health of the brand
Ratio
Scores
First take a look at the absolute
brand funnel scores, compare
them to last year, compare to
93%
87%
82%
63%
16%
2%
Awareness
Familiar
Consider
Purchase
Repeat
Loyal
91%
94%
77%
25%
12%
Absolute
Scores
Analytical Process
We m
We make br
Consider
Aware
Fan
Loyal
Repeat
Satisﬁed
Buy
Search
Assess how consumer’s shop, to know potential triggers
them along the Consumer Buying System
Consumer
• Brand funnels becomes thicker as the brand becomes more loved. It’s not just about driving particular
numbers but about moving them from one stage to the next.
• To drive TRIAL you need to gain CONSIDERATION first (the brain) and then you need to move the
consumer towards purchase and through the experience. To drive LOYALTY (the heart) you need to
create experiences that deliver the promise and use tools to create an emotional bond with the consumer.
• AWARENESS is never enough, anyone can get that. But consideration is the point you start to see that
your brand idea starts to connect and move the consumer.

Consider
Aware
Fan
Loyal
Repeat
Satisfied
Buy
Search
Awareness Ads
Invest in mass media to
establish position in
consumer’s mind
PR/Content/SEO
Use information to teach
those seeking to learn more
pre decisions
Retail/Home Page
Close the deal by separating
your brand from the
competitors at the last minute
during purchase moment.
Post Purchase Help
Create experience to re-enforce
promise, after sales help for new
users to get the most from the brand.
Love those who
love you most
Surprise & delight rewards
to drive ritual among your
most loyal users
Use emotions to
build frequency
Using reasons for usage
to turn into routine.
Leverage emotional bond
Drive repeat
Turn trial into an experience,
reward happy customers,
emotionally re-enforce reasons
purchase makes sense
Outspoken Army
Create club, leverage loyalists to
influence friends, especially
through social media
Use media choices to move consumers to see, think, do,
feel or influence as they move through the brand funnel
Consumer
Unknown
Indifferent
Love It Like It
Beloved

Consider
Aware
Fan
Loyal
Repeat
Satisﬁed
Buy
Search
What behavior do you wish to illicit within your consumer?
Consumer
Think
Do
Influence See
Feel

Consider
Aware
Fan
Loyal
Repeat
Satisﬁed
Buy
Search
How media moves consumers through the brand funnel
Consumer

New school media planning allows brand leaders to use
their most loyal fans to influence their network
Instead of
YELLING at all
consumers,
brands should
WHISPER to your
most loyal brand
fans, hoping they
drive AWARENESS
with INFLUENCE
all their friends.
Aware
Loyal
Aware
Purchase
Loyal
Purchase
Old School Marketing New School Marketing

Evolution of where consumers are with their use of media
Traditional Media: Prior to 2003
• Consumers relied on traditional media
sources: TV, radio, Newspaper. Very
linear media planning.
• Embryonic Ineffective search, some on-
line specialty forums. No social media.
Badly designed simplistic brand
websites.
• AOL launched in mid 90s with potential
to dominate but could not keep pace with
growth and crashed.
• P&G announced they were devoting 1%
of their media spend to the internet. The
world thought they were either crazy or
knew something.
Traditional + Digital: 2003-2012
• After a decade on line, advertising began
catching up with digital ads, websites, viral
videos and growth of internet search.
• Early social media with MySpace for early
adaptors, but exploded to masses with
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter dominating.
• Media plans looked at digital as an
additive part. Brands struggled to
understand how to fit in with social media.
• Early stages of E-commerce took form,
with Amazon moving from infancy to
potential global dominance.
Ubiquitous Media 2012-
• Mainstream brands adopting
digital as a normal ad vehicle, and
trying to move to social media.
• Just as brands gain comfort with
digital and social, consumers shift
to mobile. Brands now struggling
with how to fit their brand
messages into a mobile world.

The 8 need states as to why consumers use the internet
Consumer
I want to
escape
I want to
connect with
others
I want to be
smarter
I want to
express
myself
I want to
buy things
I want to
stay aware
I want to do
things
I want to go
somewhere

The 8 need states match up to the 8 emotional zones
Consumer
I want to
escape
I want to
connect with
others
I want to be
smarter
I want to
express
myself
I want to
buy things
I want to do
things
I want to go
somewhere
I want to
stay aware
Sense of
optimism
Stay in
control
Feel
comfortable
Feel
myself
Feel liked
Feel
free
Get
noticed
Knowledge

How social media choices deliver the 8 internet need states
I want to
escape
I want to
connect with
others
I want to be
smarter
I want to
express
myself
I want to
buy things
I want to go
somewhere
I want to
stay aware
Consumer
I want to do
things

In the space you play in, how involved is your consumer and
how important is it to their lives, impacts your strategy
Importance
Involvement
High
Low
HighLow
Indulgence Brands
Impulse items, lots of switching and
variety within consideration set.
Confectionary, fast food, perfume,
beer, music. Drive importance by
connecting to emotions in their lives.
High Proﬁle
Badge product, favorite part of
everyday life. Fashion, cell phones,
restaurants, entertainment, sports,
coffee and cars. Need to stay
relevant and in the spotlight.
Commodities
Everyday household items, staples or
commodities with marginal
differentiation. Many CPG brands.
Need to use differentiation to help drive
importance or make higher involvement.
Essentials
Necessities such as healthcare,
banking, insurance, supplies or
software. Need to drive involvement
to peak interest during problems.
Drive routine to counter low compliance.

In the space you play in, how involved is your consumer and
how important is it to their lives, impacts your strategy
Importance
Involvement
High
Low
HighLow
Indulgence Brands
• Drive consumer importance.
• Drive importance by connecting to emotions
in their lives. Become a favorite part of your
consumer’s day.
• Stay involved, mass media, social presence,
selective targets, fit to lifestyle. Be where
they are type media approach.
High Proﬁle
• Maintain both importance and
involvement.
• Motivate engaged advocates to spread their
influence to their network.
• Invest to stay top of mind, continuously
innovative and emotionally engaged.
• If you are competing in the high profile
category, but have a gap, you must work to
close it to compete
Commodities
• Drive both importance and involvement.
• With a low involvement, brands must work
harder to interrupt consumers with highly
creative and engaging brand communication.
• With low importance, brands should leverage
key influencers or the most loyal users to
influence their social network.
• Need to stay top of mind with users to
ensure steady brand usage.
Essentials
• Drive consumer involvement.
• With a low involvement, consumers tend to
forget about these brands, even if they are
important to them.
• Drive involvement by leveraging key
influencers and public relations. Explore
motivational messaging and routine-based
messages that help the consumer stay
engaged with the brand.

Marketing to the “many moments of me” during the day.
Match up your media choice to the moment in your consumer’s day where they are most likely to engage
“You are where you are at”
The consumer’s mindset
changes during the course of
the day, based on where they
are or what they are doing.
7am
9am
Noon
9pm
7pm
11pm
3pm
5pm

Marketing to the “many moments of me” through the week
Match up your media choice to the moment in your consumer’s week where they are most likely to engage
The consumer’s mindset changes during the week. Families on weekend, back to it on
Mondays, both work and gym. Tired mid week. Plan weekend on Thursday, party on
Friday. How do you fit your brand message into the consumer’s week?
Sunday Monday Tues Wed Thurs Friday Saturday

Smart media choices should be less about
where the media is going, and more about
where the consumer is right now.

Media options
Strengths and weaknesses of each

Strengths
• TV continues to be the most efficient media, with the highest reach and frequency opportunities. TV also gives the
quickest awareness—especially against a mass audience. With high efficiency, TV is also a good tool for continuity.
• TV has an opportunity to target specific broad consumer segments via specialty channels or selective “appointment” TV. TV
offers opportunities for integration into the programming with product placement and show sponsorship. Consumers
watching and on-line at the same time, gives advertisers options to capture consumers and move them on line for more
information. Viewership of sports is up dramatically, to a loyal fan base on a weekly basis or to reaching a broad audience
for big events (Super Bowl or Olympics)
• Creatively, because it has sight/sound/motion, TV is the easiest medium to get a complex idea to the consumer. TV has
high breakthrough, can easily demonstrate or explain and can demonstrate emotions better than other mediums.
Television
Weaknesses
• While TV is efficient, the high production costs make it cost prohibitive to smaller brands, a high cost of entry for
any brand and a high cost of continuity. For many clients, you have to watch the potential escalation of production
costs so that you can afford enough media to pay off the high fixed cost. As TV production is a complex, big project,
the decisions you make along the way need to be scrutinized carefully.
• Long lead times makes TV less flexible and less capable to react to changing market dynamics. The most efficient
TV schedules require long lead times (3-4 months ahead of time, depending on the market) and the average TV
production from briefing to on air is about 4-6 months, depending on the complexity of the task.
• TV has a lot of clutter, and people have a love/hate with TV ads. On-line pre-roll style TV ads (youTube) are hated by
most consumers.

In North America, TV has been going through a major change
with the best dramatic shows now on non-traditional TV stations
More passion than ever for TV dramas, just none of them are on the Big 4 stations.
Will they bounce back to compete or just become “fast food” type filler TV?

Strengths
• Drive time radio still fairly strong with commuting consumers fully captured and engaged.
• Can use specific radio formats (e.g. Country) for reaching specific consumer segments.
• Radio is an ideal call-to-action medium, ideal for retail promotions or impulse driven products.
• Radio has much shorter lead times than TV, shorter in purchasing spots and production times. Significantly lower
production costs help when you are a smaller budget brand or looking to support a promotion. With lower production
costs, if you have a lot of information, consider leveraging a 60-second radio spot.
Radio
Weaknesses
• Radio is a less Intrusive medium. People tend to have it on as a background medium (non-participatory) when they
are driving, or at home, or outside. Radio is a low involvement medium: yes the audience is captive, but are they
really listening?
• In many markets, radio is still bought on a local basis, making it less efficient. In some markets like the US or UK,
there is growing national radio network.
• Lack of good creative: With many clients using radio to support a promotion or very heavy on call-to-action style
messages, the creative in general lacks creativity. This can be a positive in that good radio can stand out.
• Significant growth of subscription commercial-free options (Sirius) podcasts and blue-tooth music options
means lower chances to reach consumers.

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