The typical questions we answer in a brand strategy cover:
- A new brand vision for success in the marketplace
- How the brand will generate demand and its sources of business
- The target audience defined by demographics and psychographics
- The personality and values of the brand
- The brands assets and product range
- Individual sub brand strategy
The process of getting to this deliverable is set out below. It normally involves research (both desk and commissioned), which will also produce:
- Materials for trade presentations such as market maps, drinking occasion maps, image boards for the brand and the consumer
- Ideas for bringing the strategy to life in communications activities
Process
The process that we adopt to arrive at a brand plan is as follows:
1. Immersion and brand interrogation:
a) Full briefing session and discussion with client:
- The history of the product/service/company
- Understand their difference from competition
- Discuss thinking behind the plan prepared
- Criteria for success
- Competitive pressures
- Strategic importance
- Time and financial constraints
b) Background desk research, investigate:
- Competitive activity
- Dynamics of the market vs. other sectors
- Consumer usage and trends
2. Workshop to generate positioning options and map opportunities for the brand
3. Development and production stimuli for research groups
4. Design and conduct research
Output from stages 1 and 2 is to establish issues for research and the precise nature of the research sample. Areas might include:
- Sector issues: acceptability of brand/product/service, and habits and attitudes of consumer/potential consumers
- Brand issues: outside view of the brand/its legacy
- Positioning issues: the nature of authenticity, history, and emotional factors
- Targeting: demographics and psychographics of the audience
5. Devise research brief:
- Objectives
- Sample
- Discussion Guide
- Stimuli Material
- Brief field agency on sample
6. Qualitative research conducted
7. Prepare presentations and supporting documentation
8. Qualitative research analysis
9. Brand essence document written
10. Findings presented
