Imagine seeing a generic ad for a brand you’re not already familiar with (assuming it even caught your eye) - ever thought to yourself: ‘There was probably a great strategy behind that brand, they just missed the mark creatively.’

Probably not. Only strategists think like that. As consumers, you’re probably thinking the same thing everyone else is: ‘Meh.’

At which point you move on with your life and the 100 billion other things that are vying for your attention. The brand failed to resonate with you. Perhaps you are not the audience. Or perhaps the brand is experiencing a more common problem. The brand’s strategy (its distinct point-of-view rooted in the product/service value that differentiates it from competitors) is either not compelling or clear enough, OR the creative (content, visual identity, message, imagery, etc that represent the brand) isn’t communicating the strategy well.

Connecting Strategy and Creative

Brand strategy and creative execution frequently have a dysfunctional relationship. A great strategy without the creative to communicate it is a missed opportunity. Conversely, bold creative without a compelling brand strategy is like trying to hit a target without aiming. Doesn’t matter how cool the arrow looks if there’s no aim, there’s no shot of hitting the target.

The two are hopelessly codependent and yet rarely travel together. This is particularly true in organizations with traditional decision models in which strategic choices are made at the top and then flow down to tactical execution teams to be produced. It’s a broken system that inevitably falls apart because the interpretations of strategy can change dramatically every time the brief changes hands. The results are similar to the game of telephone we played as children where one player whispers a phrase to the next person who then passes it down to the next and so on.

What started as ‘my dog ate the big red ball’ ends up as ‘my boyfriend is lean and tall’. Without the proper collaboration, the disconnect can go unnoticed until the creative has already been produced. And by then it’s too late to do anything. Your choices are to work with a new Frankenstein version of the brand, or kill it. Best case scenario, you end up with mediocre results in which the final product is never as good as the original idea.

The optimal result comes from working on both strategy and creative simultaneously rather than sequentially.

This is the way Young & Co. has worked on strategy and creative execution, as a symbiotic collaboration, since our inception in 2016. We use a networked creativity model in which we workshop a strategic brand narrative along with our clients, while performing ‘creative prototyping’ at the strategy phase with team members who will eventually be tasked with the execution. This not only creates more clarity and conviction in the final result, it allows the opportunity to test drive the strategy and ideas to understand the implications before landing on the final brand identity.

The Dangers of an Unbalanced Brand

Brands can’t afford to not be great at both strategy and creative - at least, not for very long. Even with an innovative product, if your brand’s strategy and creative are not working together, it will create confusion, particularly in your marketing, which will keep your customers from buying or prevent them from coming back. Advertising will then solely focus on product performance because the brand message is scattered - which may yield short term sales, but not long term brand loyalty. Inevitably, you will dump more and more money into your marketing budget - convinced that the problem is that your competition is outspending you - until you eventually hit the point where your spend outpaces your return.

Companies that hope to create emotional resonance, build long term equity in their brands, and outsmart their competitors must be great at the thinking and the action, the ideas and the final execution. They must create a clear and compelling brand strategy, rooted in their product, and project their distinct point of view using their creative as a comprehensive set of communication tools.

Need help connecting your brand strategy with your creative? Work with us.