Here\u2019s a game. I\u2019ll think of three numbers.<\/p>\n
The first number is between one and six. So is the second number. The third number is between one and nine.<\/p>\n
You have to guess those three numbers, in order. Every time you guess a number wrong, we\u2019ll cross it off, so you know it isn\u2019t that one. We\u2019ll keep going until you land on the right three numbers, in order.<\/p>\n
Sounds pretty dull. But throw in a dice and some storytelling about a murder, a list of suspects, a weapon and various rooms in a stately home, and you have a wildly popular board game that\u2019s endured and entertained for over 80 years.<\/p>\n
Good storytelling elevates the mundane. This isn\u2019t new news, nor will it ever be old news.<\/p>\n
So I can\u2019t help rolling my eyes when I see yet another industry article earnestly asking, \u201cIs Brand Strategy dead?\u201d \u2013 see also: broken, outdated, irrelevant, or in one particularly harsh case, bullshit.<\/p>\n
This narrative has taken off recently in the wake of WARC\u2019s The Future of Strategy 2025 report<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note that for their report, they use a broad brushstroke definition of \u201cagency-strategy: encompassing the creative, digital and media industries, thereby combining brand, advertising, marketing, PR, social, influencer, and all the rest. This should be the first red flag.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s still done a job in seemingly lending a semblance of credibility to a swathe of LinkedIn doom-mongers.<\/p>\n There are apparently numerous contributing forces, including: It\u2019s heady stuff.<\/p>\n But while all those factors are worthy of our attention \u2013 and are influencing the branding landscape \u2013 none of them mean stories are any less appealing to us as human beings, or that stories don\u2019t influence how we feel about things, people and places.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s what brand strategy should do. Whether those stories are told through brand architecture, purpose definition, brand positioning, verbal and visual identity or brand experience, they should all enhance the psychological value we attach to a product or service through effective storytelling.<\/p>\n WARC\u2019s general theme is that clients still want and need strategy, but it\u2019s at a crossroads. It needs to be more solution-led, less bland and more brilliant, with fewer frameworks and more lateral leaps.<\/p>\n \u201c47% of strategists say fear of risk, leading to bland work, is the biggest threat to the discipline\u201d, WARC advises.<\/p>\n \u201cStrategists can deliver transformative strategy by challenging the status quo and looking beyond the obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n Uh-huh.<\/p>\n \u201cLook to break category norms and find the brand\u2019s asymmetric advantage. Simplify the chaos for clients.\u201d<\/p>\n Ok.<\/p>\n \u201cAgencies need to encourage more imaginative and disruptive thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure. I\u2019ve never used the phrase \u2018Twas ever thus,\u2019 but I\u2019m tempted.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s be grown-up about this. Brand strategy isn\u2019t dead, broken or irrelevant. An easy way to tell, is that those suggesting it is\u2026are strategists. And their proposed solution is brand strategy. Just, ironically, rebranded.<\/p>\n Brand strategy isn\u2019t some archaic, old-world concept that\u2019s being somehow \u201coverthrown\u201d by tech-enabled, enlightened revolutionaries.<\/p>\n How we identify audiences, conceive ideas, construct themes, how we craft and execute them in a way that resonates, has always been influenced by what\u2019s around us.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always been about keeping pace with culture and technology. Brand strategy isn\u2019t a relic of a slower, more predictable era \u2013 it\u2019s ever evolving.<\/p>\n Technological and cultural evolutions may be the pages turning, but this isn\u2019t a plotline of old vs new, or big vs small, or institutions vs independents.<\/p>\n It\u2019s simpler than that. It\u2019s good vs bad.<\/p>\n There\u2019s always been good and bad examples of brand strategy and always will be. Those that attract attention, those that don\u2019t. Those that compel people, those that get ignored. Those that endure, those that fade.<\/p>\n The most iconic brands owe their success not to tools, but to an understanding of the human beings they engage with.<\/p>\n Because good brand strategy has rarely been about tools, and almost always about taste. The ability to discern the right story for the right people at the right time.<\/p>\n Brand strategy isn\u2019t dead, bludgeoned with a candlestick in the kitchen by Colonel Mustard. It just needs to be good to survive. So ignore the clickbait. There are better stories out there.<\/p>\n Sam Hollis is head of strategy at FutureBrand.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe inevitable AI and automation.
\nThose pesky consumers and their ever-evolving expectations.
\nThe fragmentation of media and attention
\nNext-gen talent\u2019s tendency to challenge legacy models and eschew rigour in favour of fluidity.
\nThe rise of community-led and participatory branding.
\nThe shift from brand purpose to brand proof.
\nThe blurring of brand and product experience.<\/p>\n