Planning Dirty Strategy Academy Free Resources

 

 

 

 

Planning Dirty Strategy Academy Free Resources

·      Free creative briefing course.

·      Short Sharp Strategy (Write better strategy) 

·      Strategy Mate (Key tools needed for a strategist)

·      10 Best Strategy Papers (Learn from the best)

·      Giving Creative Feedback (Learn to give great feedback)

·      Creative Brief Template (Created the Frankenstein brief template)

·      Politics 101 (Hot to deal with office politics)

·      The Cogs Of Marketing Effectiveness (How marketing works) 

·      100 Creative Ideas on Tiny Budgets (Budget shouldn't be a limitation) 

·      Comms Planning Stats (Key statistics for the value of comms planning)

·      How to work with creatives (Essential to being a successful strategist)

 

Supplemental Reading

“Planning Guide” by JWT London

“Truth, Lies and Advertising” by Jon Steel

“At the heart of an effective creative philosophy is the belief that nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive a human, what instincts dominate their action (even though their language so often camouflages what really motivates them.) For if you know these things you can touch them at the core of their being." - Bill Bernbach

NEUROSCIENCE AND RETHINKING MESSAGING

Neuroscience teaches us that memories don’t exist whole but as little bytes of sensory impulses that need reconstruction. Don’t make that reconstruction task more difficult than it needs to be. Though most marketers fear rejection, they should instead fear being ignored.

Let’s face it, most ad campaigns sink without a trace. Most brands don’t register on the radar. That’s not because an ever-fragmenting media landscape is clogged with countless messages. Nor is it because even the most basic of categories offer a proliferation of choice.

Although those factors don’t help, the reason most messaging and brands are invisible is that people filter out almost all the world around them. It’s a coping mechanism. As humans, we are hard-wired to focus on what really matters and that is highly unlikely to include a message from a brand.

Given this reality, it strikes me as odd that marketers continue to create and invest in messaging that is built on worried unrealistic foundations. 

Why, for instance, do marketers continue to treat humans as rational beings making reasonable decisions based on knowledge? Why do marketers obsess about communicating a clear proposition and engaging consumers with what they have to say? Why do marketers bother measuring how well that information is delivered, or how engaged the audience is with their message?

The answer is because it’s comforting. It creates a sense of control over what is a scary and uncertain endeavour. It feels good to get all rational about the business of developing marketing messages. But the reality is that people don’t make buying decisions the way marketers make messaging decisions.

Humans have neither the time nor the processing power to do so. Instead, the brain devises intuitive strategies to help us make instant decisions driven by unconscious emotional reactions. At best, rational processing is used to justify and make us feel good about the emotional decision we’ve already made (this is the so-called intellectual alibi effect).

The bottom line is, marketers are obsessed with information – even when psychology tells us that humans are non-consumers of information. We really should be thinking more about motive and alibi than proposition and support.

If we make decisions in an emotional and intuitive manner, then it follows that brands need to be built the same way. Brands are not explicit memory palaces, but implicit memory traces. Therefore, brands need to be built on sensory experiences and associations, not on awareness and communication.

Moreover, any strategy needs to influence the intuitive nature of decision-making, to focus on the impression we want to make rather than what we need to communicate. Basically, we should pay less attention to information and more attention to context.

Why?  Because ads work by creating or strengthening implicit associations in the brain. That means we need ideas that exist in popular culture, ideas that create a pattern in our psyche, ideas that are adopted not force-fed. When developing messaging, ask yourself the following five questions.

First, how can you disrupt? The power of creativity is in its ability to surprise people. Surprise leads to fame and fame leads to brands being chosen on autopilot. Most marketers are worrying about being rejected when they should be worrying about being ignored. You’ve got to grab people from the get-go, so use disruption to increase attentiveness and memory formation.

Second, how can you stir emotions?  Surrounding a brand with emotion amplifies its level of mental availability because the stickiest memories are formed not from facts but from emotional responses. So, what visceral reactions can you stir in people?

Third, how can you make choosing you easy? Neuroscience teaches us that memories don’t exist whole but as little bytes of sensory impulses that need reconstruction. Don’t make that reconstruction task more difficult than it needs to be. Link your brand to visual and aural stimuli and other mnemonics.

Fourth, how can you be positive? Again, neuroscience teaches us that we like to feel good, not bad. Don’t fight that. You will lose. Even with challenging subjects, make sure ensure you generate positive feelings.

Fifth, how can you reward attention? The promise of needs met is the ultimate feel-good high, so make sure any emotion you stimulate has a point. It’s not rocket science to realise that people subconsciously ask "what’s in it for me?".

Adopt this basic advice and your messaging will work better. 

Brand Strategy: Politics And Purpose

Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner advert was a car wreck, but its social conscience insight was sound. That insight is that lifestyles are the central focus of brands today.  Ergo, politics and lifestyles can no longer be treated separately. 

So, what’s a brand to do in an increasingly polarising world?  Stay neutral and risk becoming irrelevant or wade into the debate and risk a backlash? 

Nowhere is this division more evident than in the US, under Donald Trump’s presidency. Just a sniff of partisanship could rouse pitch-fork-wielding masses, as numerous brands have discovered. Also, any brand hoping to lay low until better times arrive will be waiting a long time for three reasons. The first is social media, which is amplifying people’s fears and entrenching their beliefs. The second is the lack of accountability among those in power and the third is rising inequality across the world.

The fact that brands are more comfortable getting active politically today is an extension of a larger trend to use morality as marketing. Brands today are taking that to another level, tapping into our sense of what’s right and wrong.

By advocating for causes and incorporating them into their business models, brands allow consumers to vote with their wallets on the kind of world they want to support. These feel-good purchases of self-expression have earned a catchy name: cause-sumption.

These are admittedly heavy subjects for a soap brand or sportswear label to contend with. But those that have spent the past decade differentiating themselves through purpose and cultural relevance can’t go back to saying: ‘It’s all about the product.’ So, what can they do?

Increasingly there is a responsibility to make a social stand on the things that your consumer base cares about. The brands that got to grips with the new political lifestyle vocabulary most successfully were those that picked specific social issues – as opposed to overtly political ones – tied to their stated purpose.

None of this guarantees an easy ride, but an honest position that reinforces a brand’s purpose can be very profitable. In the first ten years of Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, from 2004-2014, sales reportedly grew from $2.5 billion to $4 billion, and the award-winning “Evolution” ad spot earned an estimated $150 million worth of media time.

Ultimately, the pros of cause-sumption marketing often outweigh the cons, making for memorable brand messages that connect well with consumers. And the revenue speaks for itself.

THE BIG PICTURE

Without a doubt, a brand that takes a political stance risks irritating consumers who disagree. But it’s also an opportunity to stand up for values that are consistent with the brand’s messaging, earning further respect from consumers who are increasingly looking to vote with their wallets.

Just remember - if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing. Brands should, therefore, be politically active to the extent that doing so is consistent with their values, messaging, and worldview. The key is knowing when to speak up and when to stay silent - and there is a fine line between political activism that feels meaningful versus selfish.

Once you determine why consumers and employees feel an affinity for your brand, it will become clear whether or not that affinity is relevant to the political issue at hand.

THE POWER OF BRAND CONTROVERSY

The power of controversy is unquestionable. Controversy attracts attention. Even those with opposing views will share a controversial position. Since the beginning of time, controversies have had a subtle appeal to them.

Benford’s law of controversy states that “passion is inversely proportional to the amount of true information available.” In other words, the fewer facts known and agreed on, the more controversy there is.  Conversely, the more facts that are known, the less controversy there is.

Humans crave controversy for three reasons. First, controversy makes our lives seem more interesting. Life would be pretty boring if everyone shared the same opinion, so a little polarization activates and stimulates our interest. 

Controversy also polarizes and separates us into communities based on our position.  Psychologically, ‘sense of community’ is one of the major tenants of self-definition. To be part of the group gives meaning and association with a larger group and provides emotional safety and a sense of belonging and identification.  

Controversy disrupts and grabs our attention. In a modern world where it’s so easy to get lost in the noise, controversy breaks through. Challenging someone’s belief or faith causes them naturally to either seek to confirm or disprove the position. But they cannot ignore it. Controversy means you're connecting with people. Controversy means you're leveraging tension and you're creating sides. Controversy means you're relevant, and you're modern, and you're interesting. And modern, relevant and interesting have high ROIs.

While strong opinions do polarize, they also make for strong brands and loyal followers. This largely because taking sides against the “other” is a potent uniting force psychologically.  Even more so if there is an identifiable enemy, as it gives us the chance to not only showcase and articulate our faith but also to unite ourselves with our fellow believers. A community united by a common enemy.

We would certainly not suggest a controversial strategy for all brands. Many brands would not benefit from any controversy.  On the other hand, there are many other brands where we may suggest, what have you got to lose? 

Executed intelligently, contrarian messaging can drive awareness and attention. It just needs to be thoughtfully investigated, well-conceived and perfectly positioned. It’s not for the risk-averse. However, when executed properly can drive far more organic engagement.

P. T. Barnum, the 19th-century American showman and circus owner once said, 'There's no such thing as bad publicity.'  Barnum was a self-promoter of the highest order and never missed an opportunity to get people talking.  While things may have changed significantly since the days of P. T. Barnum, word of mouth marketing still requires people talking about your brand.

Alan Sorensen, an economics professor at Stanford, looked at book reviews featured in The New York Times. He determined that even when reviews were negative, previously unknown authors saw a one-third bump in sales. We believe his findings can be applied beyond authors to all “small” challenger brands fighting to make names for themselves.

We say “small” because these brands have little to no brand equity to lose. One reason is that, for lesser-known brands, negative perceptions fade more quickly in consumers’ minds than their general awareness of the product," The Economist writes. "With established brands, on the other hand, the whiff of bad publicity lingers longer."

To be clear, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Just ask BP, Nike, Toyota, Volkswagen, or Gillette. When Sanlu was revealed to be selling poisonous milk, it went bankrupt, and its top executives were put in jail. But, if your brands starting point is obscurity, even bad publicity may be helpful.

Today, more than ever, brands need to break through the noise, and one of the most effective ways is by playing the role of an agent provocateur.  By creating intelligent controversy, they can guarantee that, while they may be reviled, they’ll not be ignored.

What better example of this than the current President of the United States, Donald Trump? His entire presidency is a (P. T. Barnum’esque) theatrical production designed to keep the nation glued to the media. 

The entire spectacle is filled with controversy, conspiracy, collusion and drama all designed for one thing - to keep us watching.  It’s all a carefully contrived illusion to keep us focused, and it works. Without risk, there is no reward. 

The Evolution Of Strategic Brand Storytelling

Good marketing is good storytelling and for a product to be successful in this competitive era it must have an engaging story.  It may educate, inspire or entertain, but ultimately it must be memorable and it must extend across numerous media platforms.

As agencies, we must therefore figure out how to strategically craft the story structure of the brand using all the tools at our disposal.  Today’s marketer must think about story first before selling, because the way to the audience’s heart (and loyalty) is through compelling and memorable storytelling. In short, the foreseeable future of advertising may be less like David Ogilvy and more like Syd Field  and Joseph Campbell.

Field's most notable contribution is his articulation of the ideal storytelling paradigm "three-act structure".  Leveraging Field’s screenwriting devices such as the inciting incident, the controlling idea and genre, allows a brand story structure to be developed that motivates target customers, provides strategic clarity, builds emotional connection and most importantly, identifies the unique and authentic company characteristics that drive all brand story execution.

Joseph Campbell extends the modern storyteller an exploration of the classic hero cycle, including consistent and enduring hero patterns in literature, films, and real life.  Campbell essentially demonstrates how to apply the power of myth and symbolism with his 17 steps.

Ultimately, this power resides in the marketers' ability to cloak their product in the universal dreams, fantasies, and values of the masses.  We are therefore creating and selling modern myths that leverage the collective pool of cultural, psychological and mythical elements to create a "brand mythology."

Developing a compelling story for your brand is not an exercise in copywriting, instead strategic brand storytelling expresses the universal and differentiating truths behind your marketing.  If done effectively, brand storytelling captures engagement, defines and extends a winning narrative, responds to competitive threats, builds an emotional connection, shapes perceptions, and anchors the brand culture with an ‘ownable’ story that resonates with consumers.

The story itself is more important than the product or service.  As American Demographics put it, new media consumers will “be more tolerant of advertising because it will be more appropriate and customized.” In the new media, the goal of the marketing message is not the “purchase,” but “further interaction.” 

As life becomes a “perpetual marketing event” we will no longer be able to discern where advertising begins and where it ends. In a realm that could have been designed by Kafka, we shall all awake not as giant insects but as “productive reach” targets of an integrated brand story where we are the hero.

Need some help crafting an ‘ownable’ brand story that resonates with consumers?  We're here to help.

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Goodbuzz is a digital agency based in Toronto, Canada. We help brands create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace. We prototype the future - and believe the best way to predict it - is to create it.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter or if you have any questions contact us directly. 

PROTOTYPE THE FUTURE

The Internet’s dominant role in our lives means that it has become more than just an optional enhancement to the existing plans of effective marketing campaigns. Online branding and marketing strategies are now mandatory for the exposure and success of any organization (and it’s media-agnostic, multi-channel and rather complex.)  

It’s therefore more important than ever to understand the possibilities and limitations of digital media, and how to best employ sound marketing fundamentals in this rapidly changing technological landscape.

Consider the digital disruption that has transformed information economics—and are challenging traditional notions of economies of scale.  Digital disruption is not a new phenomenon. But the opportunities and risks it presents shift over time. Competitive advantage flows to the businesses that see and act on those shifts first.  

Imagine the considerable amount of data all linked by fixed and mobile communication networks and managed by layers of modular, interoperable software. Software is replacing hardware, rapidly accelerating the speed of innovation: the life cycle of many products and services (previously defined by physical obsolescence) is shrinking from decades to just days between software updates.

Information is also comprehended and applied through fundamentally new methods of artificial intelligence today that seek insights through algorithms using massive, noisy data sets.  Things are clearly getting more and more complicated and conventional business models may be simultaneously too big and too small.

So where to start?  At the highest level, company’s and brands both need a trusted, strategic partner who can assist in navigating these complex waters.  This is easily seen when looking at the multiple, potential paths that can be taken to achieve the same ends. Whether it’s mobile technology, interactive television, email campaigns, inbound, pay-per-click advertising, or social media at large - today’s businesses utilize a wide array of outlets in their marketing campaigns. 

What sets successful marketers apart however is the ability to create a cohesive and complementary strategy that utilizes this variety of complimentary elements effectively.  Goodbuzz can definitely help.

Beyond strategy, the data-driven nature of the Internet can instantly link your company with millions of potential consumers, and it can also provide an invaluable amount of information about the strength and success of your digital marketing campaigns. But in order to be able to draw such conclusions, you need to have a partner who understands how to interpret and respond to these results. Goodbuzz can definitely help.

One of the most primary and important aspects of marketing online today is making sure that your product, service, or brand message is easy for the public to find. The best way to achieve that on the web is through effective search engine optimization (SEO). It’s not only about maximizing the power of organic search methods, directory listings, and paid placement tactics, but also having an optimized website that’s both user and search-engine friendly. Goodbuzz can definitely help.  

Goodbuzz create compelling user experiences from concept through implementation, melding user needs, business objectives and technical constraints into a cohesive digital offering for numerous Fortune 500 brands. We fundamentally believe that the best way to predict the future is to prototype it.  Please let us know how we can help.   

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Goodbuzz is a digital agency based in Toronto, Canada.  We help brands create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace. We prototype the future and believe the best way to predict it - is to create it.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

The Trials And Tribulations of Marketing Alcohol

The global alcoholic drinks industry is expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2014, according to MarketLine. Market volume is predicted to reach almost 210 billion liters in 2014, a 10% increase in five years and the industry is characterized by increasing fragmentation (with the three leading companies holding almost 40% of overall market volume.) Alcohol marketing ranges from mass media advertising to sponsorship of events, product placement, internet, merchandise, usage of other products connected with alcohol brands, social networks etc.

So you think it would be fun to work on an alcohol brand?  We have certainly had our share of experiences over the years with brands like Mikes Hard Lemonade, Molson Canadian, Molson Dry, Rickard’s, Creemore, Heineken, and Coors Light to name a few.  This experience has taught us a number of lessons chiefly that the alcohol industry is a crowded one. 

You're fighting for shelf space where people judge you by your label, it's highly regulated (especially in Ontario and Canada,) and while alcohol marketing might sound a lot more sexy than whatever you're selling, it's really, really hard work.  But that doesn't mean you have a Super Bowl commercial or buy a billboard to get attention or disrupt.  There are a number of great examples of clever creativity from alcohol brands - both big and small.  For example:

Disruption 101: Make a spectacle of yourself

To celebrate their "Anytime Ale," Austin Beerworks created a limited edition 99-pack of beer for $99. At seven-feet long, this thing takes two people to carry out of the store (if you can find it). Since they only released a limited amount of these 99-packs, Austin Beerworks gave clues as to which grocery stores and gas stations around town would have them in stock on their social media accounts. People were lining up outside of convenience stores for hours to be the first to get them.

The lesson: Austin Beerworks didn't change their product or spend a ton on advertising to spread the word. Instead, they relied on the exclusivity to build up excitement and the spectacle of a seven-foot-long box of beer to keep it going. Even better, a 99-pack of beer is a perfect excuse to have a party and tell even more people about Austin Beerworks.

Exclusivity 101: Send them a golden ticket

We've talked about Maker's Mark's amazing Ambassador program before. It's all about helping their biggest fans take ownership of the brand and take pride in talking about it. When you sign up, you get your name on a barrel plaque. Once the bourbon in that barrel matures, they send you a golden ticket for the opportunity to come pick up your personal bottle from the batch and hand dip it in their iconic red wax.

The lesson: It doesn't get much more personal than that for a distillery churning out mass quantities of bourbon every day. Your customers love feeling a personal connection to your stuff, and Maker's Mark proves you don't have to run a small shop to pull it off.

Gamification 101: Product as Conversation Starter

Did you know that Pabst Blue Ribbon's beer bottles have playing cards printed underneath their caps? Or that Lone Star bottle caps have riddles written on them? These aren't just fun little gimmicks. They're conversation-starters. You can make a game out of the PBR "cards" you collect or ask your friends to help you solve Lone Star's bottle cap riddle (because they're not always easy).

The lesson: The more excuses (aka opportunities) you give your customers to talk to other people, the more they'll talk about your product.

For more unique insights in the world of participatory brand marketing please follow Goodbuzz on Twitter or Facebook. 

Goodbuzz Article Bank – What We’re Reading

1. Four Steps to Building a Strategic Communications Capability
2. Marketing in Revolutionary Times
3. Disruptive Innovation Redux
4. How Top Brands Pull Customers into Orbit
5. Meet Your Pinterest Customer
6. Blinded by Facebook
7. The End of Football as We Know It
8. Why Some Ads Go Viral and Others Don't
9. Why We Use Social Media in Our Personal Lives — But Not for Work
10. Three Lessons for Social TV
11. The New Science of Viral Ads
12. Rules For the Social Era
13. Your Marketing Can Keep Pace with Facebook and Google
14. Five Lessons from World Changers

(FREE) SOCIAL MONITORING TOOLS

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As Radian6's social monitoring package starts (according to their website) at $600/month* to cover only 1 topic profile (see http://bit.ly/nLXHFK) and as much as $10,000/month for a ‘Pro’ account (to hear a mouse fart) – you really need to ask yourself whether your brand actually requires that level of engagement.   

Unless you’re a brand with a significant need to 'frame' and direct discussions - someone like Nestle or Monsanto for example (recently voted “2011’s Most Evil Corporation of the Year”) - you'll be happy to know that there are any number of Social Monitoring Tools that will meet your needs.  Note:  Be mindful to choose at least one overarching tool that monitors multiple types of social media.  Here is the beginning of what we hope will be a growing list of (free) monitoring resources, so if you stumble across a new free social monitoring tools (that aren’t trials or limited time offers) please forward to info@goodbuzz.ca.  

Social Mention – As the title implies, SM tracks and measures what is being said about a specific topic in real time across more than 100 social media services. While Social Mention may appear to allow the setting up of alerts, the functionality hasn't been available for nearly a year.  Still a solid real-time social search algorithm that measures sentiment (positive, neutral, negative) as well.  

MonitorThis – Allows you to search for brand mentions in 25 different search engines, however doesn’t appear to support alerts.

WhosTalkin.com - The search and sorting algorithms combine data taken from over 60 of the internet's most popular social media gateways (however also doesn’t appear to support alerts.)  Also, check out IceRocket and Alltop

Facebook Search as a Facebook specific monitoring tool. Openbook may also be useful in turning up mentions of your brand in Facebook status updates. 

Addict-o-matic lets you instantly create a custom page with the latest buzz on a given topic. The browser-based tool offers a one-stop customized site for seeing results across multiple social media channels.

Guzzle reads hundreds of feeds on social media sites every second to help you keep abreast of stuff you care about.

Buzzoo is a buzz aggregator drawing from multiple sources.

BuzzFeed sports a robust buzz-detection algorithm.

Twendz piggybacks off Twitter Search to offer user sentiment in real time.

Social Seek will tell you who’s making the most noise about your brand.

Mon.itor.us is a free website, server and traffic monitoring service.

Keotag lets you search multiple search engines, create social bookmark links around a topic or see who has used your brand as a tag.

Comment Sniper lets be the first to comment on relevant blog posts about your brand or sector. You set up blogs you want to monitor, and Comment Sniper sends you a desktop notification or text message to your mobile device whenever a new post goes up.

coComment is a Web service and Firefox plug-in that helps you keep track of blog comment threads. Whenever there is an update, such as a new follow-up comment, coComment notifies you instantly. It’s a handy service that saves you the trouble of checking back on blogs that don’t offer a comment notification feature.

Commentful is another Web service that helps you keep track of blog comments.

Omgili (Oh my God I love it) forum search engine lets you find communities, message boards and discussion threads about any topic.

co.mments helps you keep track of conversations.

Boardtracker, Big Boards, and Yuku Find crawl forums, blog posts, images and microblogs. They'll also let you know when a new forum starts specifically to discuss your brand or organization.  

WatchThatPage - Keeps a watchful eye when updates take place to an important Web page — say, your Wikipedia page or key pages on your competitors’ sites. Instruct WatchThatPage to keep tabs on any Web page, and you’ll receive an alert any time a change is made to the page.

Google Alerts - One of the easiest and most popular of free monitoring services, Google Alerts are notifications of (customizable) new results on up to 1000 search terms.  As the name implies, alerts can be set up. 

When you marry this with Google Trends (which compares how frequently searches have been made on up to five topics over time) you can unearth a great deal of insight. Social media monitoring begins with a dashboard.

A good choice to begin your monitoring is Google Reader: Subscribe to the RSS feeds of top blogs in your sector, competitors’ sites, news sites, Twitter searches and more, all in one place. You can even subscribe to searches on sites like Flickr and YouTube, so you’ll get an update on any new image or video that matches your brand or cause.  Finally, Google Realtime Search, lets you search the social Web (chiefly Twitter) and create email alerts for search terms. Also don’t forget Google Advanced Blog Search

As we mentioned, here is the beginning of what we hope will be a growing list of (free) monitoring resources, so if you stumble across a new free social monitoring tools (that aren’t trials or limited time offers) please forward to info@goodbuzz.ca.