Strategy Without the B.S.

Strategy
without the BS
Hillary Miller
2.22.13

Welcome!

Logistics
&
Introductions

About me
•  Only child
•  Moved 10 times before 8th grade
•  Went to college to be Medieval/
Renaissance History Professor
•  6 jobs before Wunderman
•  Been to all 50 states and their
capitals by 17 (OK, all the
Canadian Provinces too)
•  I’ve been described as:
–  “Doggedly optimistic”
–  “Broadband”
–  “Iron fist, velvet glove”

Introductions
§ Me
§ You

– Format:
–  name (duh)
– What you do (e.g. company, role)
– Fun fact

Shared Context
§ How would you define the term
Strategy?

Today
1.  Introductions
2.  Why we need Strategy (don’t we?)
3.  Definitions: Strategy, Insight
4.  Guest Speaker: Creative & Strategy
5.  Tools for Finding Insights
6.  Making Strategy Actionable
7.  Flavors of Strategy

What you’ll get out of today
(hopefully)
§ How do define a Strategy
– How to generate them
§ How to define an Insight
– How to find them
§ How to use these in the real world
§ A little networking on the side

Strategy in context:
§  Objective: what you are trying to accomplish
§  Strategy: an evidence-based approach to achieving your
objective that is based on an understanding of
opportunities and obstacles (social, attitudinal, systems-
based)
§  Tactics: the activities to be undertaken that are a
manifestation of the strategy

§  Outputs: measurable accomplishment of tactics
§  Outcomes: measurable accomplishment of your
objective

Another way of framing
Objective Goal Strategy Tactic
A marketing A marketing goal is A marketing strategy Tactics are defined
objective is a defined as a desired is defined as your as specific and
mission or purpose result or specific game plan to discrete actions
in which all and measurable achieve your (implementation
marketing plans will achievement objectives steps) that will be
be based upon, taken in support of
broader in scope the strategies
than goals

Why do we need
strategy in the first
place?
2.

Did you ever notice…
§ There is no antonym for Strategy

There are many strategies to get your
destination

Translate
complexity
into
simplicity

Defining Strategy
and Insights
3.

Origin of Strategy
"στρατηγία" (strategia)
office of general, command, generalship

“στρατηγός" (strategos)
leader or commander of an army, general

"στρατός" (stratos) + "ἀγός" (agos)
army, host leader, chief

What is strategy?

"All men can see
these tactics
whereby I conquer,
but what none can see
is the strategy
out of which victory
is evolved."

Sun Tzu, ‘The Art of War’

In military usage
§ Strategy is the utilization of all of a nation's
forces through large-scale, long-range
planning and development, to ensure
security or victory.

Therefore…
§ Tactics deal with the use and deployment
of troops in actual combat.

War
§  Goal:
–  Win the war.
§  Strategy:
–  “Divide and conquer.” (vs. “Nuke ‘Em.”)
§  Tactics:
–  CIA spies gather intelligence.
–  Navy Seals knock out enemy communications while paratroopers
secure the airports.
–  Armored Divisions race in and divide the opposing army’s forces.
–  Drone attacks take out the enemy leadership.
–  An overwhelming force of infantry invade.

Source: http://www.brandinsightblog.com/2009/11/01/marketing-strategy-vs-tactics/

Think of it this way
§ A strategy is an idea… A
conceptualization of how the goal
could be achieved.
§ Therefore a strategy is conceptual.
– A tactic isn’t. Usually.

Another way to think of it
§ Strategy is
– WHAT you are going to do
§ Tactics are
– HOW you are going to do it

An example
§  Goal: Increase lagging Baking Soda sales.
§  Strategy: Devise new reasons for their current customers
to pick up that yellow box at the supermarket. Specifically,
sell Arm & Hammer as a deodorizer for the fridge, use it in
your cat litter, and my favorite – dump it down the sink to
‘sweeten the drain’ after it’s been in the fridge.
§  Tactics: TV advertising. Magazine ads. Infomercials.
Retail promotions. Website and user-generated content.

strategy & goals
are not synonymous
§ Here are a few examples of misguided
strategies:
– “Create awareness”
– “Overcome objections”
– “Boost consumer confidence”
§ These are NOT strategies, they’re goals.
(And not even very good goals.)
Remember, it’s not a strategy unless
there’s an idea behind it.

Strategy should come from
Strategies
§ There is always more than one right
answer
§ HBR:“Bringing Science to the Art of
Strategy”:
– “generate possibilities”
– Status quo can be one of those
– Three to five distinct choices

In short…
§ A tactic is an action you take to
execute the strategy.

What is our definition of a
Strategy?

“Our Game Plan to achieve
our Objectives”

Strategy in context:
§  Objective: what you are trying to accomplish
§  Strategy: an evidence-based approach to achieving your
objective that is based on an understanding of
opportunities and obstacles (social, attitudinal, systems-
based)
§  Tactics: the activities to be undertaken that are a
manifestation of the strategy
§  Outputs: measurable accomplishment of tactics
§  Outcomes: measurable accomplishment of objective

Where Strategy fits
than goals

T-Mobile example…
than goals

Improve customer Improve perception of Establish a new • Create a coverage
perception of T-Mobile T-Mobile’s network conversation by hub on website
coverage as measured sidestepping the map • Communicate network
in customer satisfaction and statistics wars, updates via email
tracking by 2 focusing on newsletter
percentage points continuous network • Dropped call
innovation and value submission tool

How do I know it’s a strategy?
§ Litmus test
– Go back to definitions
– Is it a goal, objective or tactic
disguised as a Strategy?

The “What-if We”Test
§ “What if we came up with a bunch of new
uses for baking soda?”
– That’s a strategy.
§ “What if we search engine” doesn’t make
sense.
– Must be a tactic.
§ “What if we increase market share?”
– No idea, must be a goal.

Exercise!
§ Practice makes better
– (nobody’s perfect)
§ Deconstruct these ads
– What’s the:
– Objective
– Goal
– Strategy
– Tactic

Discuss
§ Hard?
§ What was obvious?
§ What surprised you?

Where Insights fit

Facts

Observations
INSIGHT IDEA

Opinions

Where did ‘Insight’ come from?
§ c.1200
– innsihht
– “sight with the eyes of the
mind”
§ "mental vision"
– Get it? in + sight
§ By 1580s:
– "penetrating understanding
into character or hidden
nature"

What is our definition of an
Insight?

“A truth hiding in plain sight”

Examples of Insights
§ Old Spice –body wash is a product
women buy for men but never discuss
with them
§ Folgers – coffee’s smell (not taste)
wakes people up first
§ Jif – moms worry they’re inadequate
§ Milk – no one appreciates milk until
there’s none around

Insights can be based on:
§ Real or perceived weakness in
competitive product performance or
value
§ Attitudinal or perceived barrier in the
minds of customers
§ Untapped or compelling belief or
practice

Insights are most effective
when they are:
§ Unexpected
§ Create a disequilibrium
§ Change momentum
§ Exploited via a benefit or point of
difference that your brand can deliver

How to judge an Insight
IS ISN’T
§ Based on a § Obvious
simple human § Universal
truth § Complicated
§ Specific to an § Something a
Audience consumer would
§ Simple say (too obvious)
§ Evocative § Arbitrary
§ Inextricable

Judging your Insight
Will people ‘get it’?

Is it something new?

Is it simple enough?

Can you support it?

Will it effect change?

Exercise (again)!
§ Practice makes better
– (again)
§ Deconstruct this ad
– What was the insight?

Discuss
§ Was there more than one insight?
§ No insight, just tactics?

Chris Elliott
4. Guest Speaker

Why Strategy Matters to
Creatives

Insights – how to
find them
5. Tools that don’t cost six figures

How do you find Insights?
1.  Research Roadmap
2.  Qualitative Tools & Methods
3.  Quantitative Tools

Start at the beginning

Facts

Observations
INSIGHT IDEA

Opinions

Decide – which is it?

MUST KNOW NICE TO KNOW

What kind of research
should you do?

What’s the difference?
Qualitative Quantitative
•  Deals with descriptions •  Deals with numbers
•  Data can be observed •  Data which can be measured
but not measured •  Length, height, area, volume,
•  Colors, textures, smells, weight, speed, time,
tastes, appearance, temperature, humidity, sound
beauty levels, cost, members, ages
•  Qualitative → Quality •  Quantitative → Quantity

Example: UW freshmen class
Qualitative Quantitative
§  friendly demeanors §  672 students
§  civic minded §  394 women, 278 men
§  Environmentalists §  68% on honor roll
§  positive school spirit §  150 students accelerated
mathematics

Typical Qualitative Methods
§ In-Depth-Interviews (IDIs)
§ Man on the Street
§ Focus Groups

Qualitative
§ Imagine a free tool that you could talk
to hundreds of your target audience –
any target!
– and either observe them without
interference or interact with them!

Summary: The best insights
§ Come from a mix of both
§ Typically Quantitative first
– Know who, what, how many?
§ Fine tune with Qualitative
– Why?

Strategic Tools
1.  60 Minute Strategic Plan
2.  Input Brief

The 60 Minute Strategic Plan
§ One way of putting plan to paper
§ Can be distilled in one hour on one
page
§ Works for any size of project
§ ‘Franchise-able’ – teachable &
scalable

The 60 Minute Strategic Plan

Strategic Tactical

1.  Issue 7.  Obstacles
2.  Assumptions 8.  Vital Signs
3.  Values 9.  SWO(t)
4.  Vision 10. Strategies
5.  Customer 11. Actions
Benefits 12. Name it
6.  Beneficiaries

1) Identify the Issue
§ An opportunity for, or obstacle to,
growth
– Choose the issue of highest priority
or where you will see the most
impact.

Issue thought-starters:
§  If I were a competitor, how would I put myself out of business?
§  What changes would obsolete our products/services?
§  If a good customer were to leave, what would be their reasons?
§  How would we cope with losing several key employees?
§  How could we double industry financial norms?
§  If I had a magic wand and could change something in my
organization, what would it be?
§  Where am I personally holding the company back?

2) Create Assumptions
Reasons why the issue is important
§  Every strategic plan is built on a set of assumptions:
those things you believe to be true.
§  Worst-and best-case scenarios if issue is unsolved or
solved.
§  Declare your reasons to finish regardless of obstacles.
§  Also need to make an assumption about how the issue
will impact your revenue to rationalize ROI for plan.

3) Identify Values
Beliefs/behaviors that drive success
§  Specific to your issue. Not all your values.
§  Pick the one that can be relied upon to successfully
implement your strategy.
§  Don’t attempt something that is counter to culture.

§  Examples: integrity, adaptability, initiative, accountability
or teamwork.
§  Test: what are the values your people will need to resolve
this particular issue?

4) Define a Vision
Best imaginable outcome for issue
§  Establishes frame of reference for entire plan.
§  Create AB FAB BHAGS (Absolutely Fabulous Big Hairy
Audacious Goals) with no thought as to how you will
accomplish them.
§  ‘the best imaginable outcomes for the issue selected’
§  A good vision creates ‘strategic tension’
§  Attach metrics
–  quantification clarifies the interpretation of your
visionary intentions

A Vague Vision is a Weak
Vision
Specific &
Vague Quantifiable
1.  Have happy 1.  Reduce employee turnover
employees by 50% within two years
2.  Reduce fixed costs by 15%
in one year and reduce
2.  Reduce expenses
variable costs 20% in two
years
3.  Increase revenue 3.  Double sales force
productivity in three years
from $200K to $400K, gross
margin no lower than 50%

5) Identify Customer Benefits
Payoff from the vision
§  You do not make money, you provide products and
services; the customer supplies the money.
§  In effect, the customer is the venture capitalist for your
vision.
§  Your vision must address customers’ needs.
§  Quantify the benefit
–  Examples:
– Internet ordering saves 15% in customers’ admin
costs
– Just in time delivery saves an average of $25K in
customers’ inventory cost

Customer Benefit thought-
starters
§  How do my customers make and lose money and how do
we contribute to both sides of that equation?
§  What aspect of my customers’ lives will be improved by
my product or service?
§  How do the outcomes measurably contribute to my
customers’ success?

6) Identify Beneficiaries
Others who will benefit from your vision
§  You will need help from others to implement your vision.
§  Could include employees, vendors, alliance partners,
family, elves.
§  Think ‘WII-FM’ – What’s In It For Me?
§  List either by name, department or category.
§  Quantify how they will benefit.

Beneficiaries examples
§  Employees will add one new verifiable skill within 18
months qualifying them for a 10% bonus
§  Shareholders will see their financial equity increased by
20%
§  Vendors will increase the volume of business they do
with us on average 35% per year at 50% higher margins

7) Identify Obstacles
Obstructions to the vision
§  By definition, vision is currently impossible; otherwise,
you’d be doing it.
§  When you created your vision, you created a
performance gap. The gap is the distance from current
reality to the vision and is full of obstacles.
§  You must identify and examine all of your obstacles so
you know what is facing you and what is needed to
overcome these obstacles.
§  Phrase obstacles in “How to” (or H2) statements to make
them challenges instead of problems.

The power of H2
Obstacle H2

§ Lack of § H2 create a
urgency sense of
urgency
§ Risk averse § H2 reduce fear
of failure
§ Inadequate § H2 stimulate
sales & customer
marketing demand

8) Create Vital Signs
Measurements to track and adjust your
plan
§  This step is about identifying what key indicators you will
measure.
§  Measure two each from Values, Vision, Customer
Benefits, and Other Beneficiaries (steps 3, 4, 5, and 6).
§  The measurements that matter most are those that
reinforce the accomplishment of the vision for the issue.

9) Identify S, W & O
What you have going for and against the
issue

§  Strengths you can build on.
§  Weaknesses you need to correct or finesse.
§  Opportunities you can leverage.

10) Create your Strategies
Performance gaps that need to be closed
§  Here is where you decide which performance gaps to
attack with strategy.
§  Select up to three gaps to close from Obstacles and
Weaknesses.
§  For each gap, describe strategic transition from current
state to desired state (that is, from “as-is” to “want to
be.”)

11) List the Actions
Activities necessary to close the
performance gaps
§  Describe all of the actions needed to accomplish your
vision to go from current status (From) to desired status
(To).
§  Prioritize actions.

12) Name that Plan
Distill the Vision into 3 to 5 words
§  Gives the project identity.
§  Makes it easier to communicate about the plan.
§  Is a rallying cry.

§  Examples:
–  Acquired in 2 years
–  6 million sq. ft. by 2014
–  Same-day turnaround

Why Strategic Plans Fail
§ Tactics trump strategy
§ The tyranny of the urgent
§ Just not getting it done
– Inaction
– Indecision
– Infighting

Why we need an Input Brief

We love paperwork? We like to add to your We need to cover
workload? our asses?

Why we need an Input Brief

Better work Save time and money Judge the
work
easier

• Ensures alignment with • Lack of a brief or incomplete • Removes subjectivity
objectives briefs are faster, but only in the
• More effective short term
• More “creative”

What the brief is

§  The brief is a working document
– For the marketing owner to define his needs and his
thought process
– For the agency to better meet the needs and
expectations of the marketing owner

What the brief is

§  The Brief is the very first creative step of a
campaign
– This is where the agency will understand the level of
ambition that is given to the campaign by the
marketing owner

What the brief is
§  To Brief means to choose, engage, take a risk
– The brief formalizes the reasons why they want to
communicate and the results they want to achieve
– The brief reflects strong directions that will lead to the
creation of:
– a strong message
– a single goal
– a clear audience
– the expected results

What the brief is not

§  A Specifications list
– It is not a detailed description of the actions to
achieve, but a document with a business issue

§ An exhaustive information bible
– The brief is not a library of information about a
product, but a document that shows a selection of the
information that the Marketing owner wants to
highlight

What the brief is not

§  A document reusable for each campaign
– Each campaign addresses a specific problem: the
brief should provide the understanding of this issue
§  A piece of Administrative proceedings
– The brief is not a contractual document, but a
document that gives a comprehensive understanding
of the campaign

A good input brief
1.  Focuses on ONE clearly defined communications goal, one that
is clearly tied to a strategic business objective
2.  Is “brief”
3.  Is not the longest or most detailed, it’s the one with clarity and
focus
4.  Flows logically, leading from one section to the next, building a
framework
5.  Is not cut and paste from other documents
6.  Does not tell the agency what to do, but can tell us why
7.  Clearly indicates what success is and how it will be measured

key components
of the input brief

The key components of the
input brief
The
The context objectives

The product & The target & The market &
offer their insights competition

The
The budget
constraints

The Unique
The value
Selling
proposition
Proposition

The Context
§ Gives the agency a clear understanding of its
mission, the reasons for the briefing, the need
and the ambition

§ Traps to avoid
– Information unrelated to the operation
– Too many details

The Objectives
§  Define the expected results in a explicit & clear way
– Be as factual as possible and detailed with figures
– Be consistent with the available budget
– avoid "I have 8k$ to create brand awareness“
– they can be strategic (product launch, install a brand,
generate leads ...), tactical (develop a campaign, follow
a time to market, adapt an international campaign ...) or
even personal (to sell an idea to my direction, find an
innovative idea ...)

§  It should not be a description of how to implement or a list
of deliverables

The Budget

§ This is key information for the agency
$ when recommending the best
communication strategy and the
associated means and deliverables

The Product and Offer
§ Must be described in factual terms
(characteristics, features)
§ Also essential to describe it in
terms of consumer benefits
§ Highlight the benefits which
constitute strategic advantage

The Target
§ The cohesive group of people we want
to target in order to change their
opinion and behavior
– Behavioral / attitudinal descriptions
– Don’t only give a factual description
– Rather describe their mindset, or
behavioral and attitudinal aspects
– Don’t undermine or caricature

The Target’s Insights
§ The insight is an opinion, a belief, a
thought, an expectation or an experience
of the target
§ The goal is not to create needs through
communication but to prove that the
brand meets an existing and relevant
need or concern
– It is useless to rely on an insight which
the product does not answer
§ It is as much coming from psychology as
from marketing research.

The Value Proposition
§ The value proposition is the raw material for
the creative concept.
§ It is how the communication is going to echo
the needs of the target with a relevant and
attractive response.
§ To write it, try to find the best pair of Insight
to product benefit among all possible
combinations.

Write the Value Proposition
§  The value proposition reflects a strong strategic
direction
–  It selects one or more product benefits to a single
resonance insight, so it needs to be carefully selected,
otherwise the communication will be irrelevant and will
sound false.
§  The value proposition should be written as much as
possible in close partnership between the agency and
the client:
–  The marketing owner knows his product, its benefits on the
market and its target, the agency brings him a new way to
think about it.
–  A value proposition jointly written creates a consensus
ahead of the creation presentation

Write the Unique Selling Prop
§  The USP is adapted from the value proposition
§  It enriches the value proposition in order to inspire the
creative teams and help them find the idea
§  It is not a slogan or a signature, don’t try to give an
advertising tone

Value Proposition Example:
Xerox
§ The fastest copier in terms of copies per
minute
§ What they hate is when employees lose
time doing useless stuff

§ Value Proposition:
–  The new Xerox copier will allow your employees to work faster

The USP Example:
Xerox

§ USP :
–  With the new Xerox, your employees will not spend
anymore time waiting at the photocopier

Eurostar Example
25-35 adults,
living in Paris,
TARGET who loves city
life

Eurostar is the
fastest and London is the
cheapest solution PRODUCT
INSIGHT capital city of
from Paris to BENEFIT showbiz
London

VALUE With Eurostar, you can access the
PROPOSITIO capital of showbiz for an unbeatable
price
N

Accessing the capital of showbiz
USP with Eurostar is so cheap that you
will ask yourself if it’s true!

The work
London
discounted. Paris-
London return
ticket: 75 €

The work
London discounted.
Paris-London return ticket: 75 €

The work
London
discounted.
Paris-London
return ticket: 75 €

"Literal
interpretations
produce
stereotypes,
creative
interpretations
produce
surprises"
G.B. Shaw

What I look for in a
Strategist

Souces:
§ The difference between Strategy and
Tactics

TED
§ http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/
eric_berlow_how_complexity_leads_to
_simplicity.html

Resouces:
§ Free Research from Sapient Nitro
§ Inspiration from Visual.ly
§ Tom Fishburne cartoons
§ Word clouds
§ Prezi
§ Creative Commons

The Seattle Wunderman Network

Who we are and how
We create action

193 | Seattle Wunderman Network: Who we are

#1 Digital Agency Network in the World
CRM/Direct Agency in the World


Since 2005
the Seattle Wunderman Network has been connecting
products and services to consumers around the world.


clicktweets
likesshares opens
downloads

s trials
registrations
sales


We create action
By being direct
And using the industry fundamentals established by our founder.

198 | Seattle Wunderman Network: Action in black, white and purple

Our actions create
measurable impact
Lots of impact….

8M 1 % 4X
19

204 | Seattle Wunderman Network: Actions building relationships

Actions that build
relationships


We convert consumers
into customers for some of the world’s leading brands.


Evolving relationships
between customers and some of the region’s most customer-facing brands.


Finding connections
where conversations can begin.

CLAIRE


Each solution is unique
And starts where our clients’ customers are.
Campaigns, websites, apps, events, print, search, data, retail …

209
|
Seattle
Wunderman
Network:
Who
we
are

Thank you.

Worksheet
than goals

Strategy Without the B.S.

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