Invisible Brand

CCHM’s Head of Planning, KateWellesley, explores some of the issues confronting planners in the development of communications strategies.

“WHAT, EXACTLY, DO PLANNERS DO ALL DAY?” This has been a consistent and, I have to admit, dreaded question throughout my career.

I have never yet managed to restrict my explanation to one sentence, and have religiously shied away from those favoured sound bites” guardian of the consumer”, “the agency brained al, as I don’t feel that they do justice to the breadth of the planner’s role in the communication development process. Therefore, for the purposes of this article, I want to focus on the key areas with which planning’s associated, and demonstrate how effective planning skills can add value at every stage of the process.

My first stop is research and information: the bane of every trainee planner’s life as they number crunch their way through rain forests of market statistics and quantitative studies, and sit through hours of focus groups. However, used effectively these can be immensely powerful tools. It’s not what you know, but how you use it.

My point is this: planners should interpret and not merely report. I am less interested in what the woman wearing the grey cardigan in Weybridge said, and more concerned with why she said it, and what insight this gives me into her relationship with the brand, the market or indeed, her behaviour in this market.

Another critical point, in the great information sort, is that planners should be able to stand back from what their sources are telling them. They should be able to focus on the bigger picture. They need to address the question of what althea information amounts to, while simultaneously (who said it was easy?) cherry picking the key pieces of information that can allow a planner to make the leap to a relevant and motivating consumer insight.

Take, for example, the case of MORE TH>None of Chum’s largest financial accounts. Two key pieces of information used to build the proposition were: the general resignation and inertia with which the majority of consumers function in the insurance market; and the credibility they were prepared to lend the relative newcomer, MORE TH>N, based on the promise of greater delivery in the brand name. These insights led to the challenge to consumers at the heart of the brand – Don’t accept less than MORE TH>Mathis reflects not only consumers’ inert relationship with the market, but also creates uniquely challenging positioning for the brand within the insurance sector. Not by chance, it has-been fertile ground for CCHM to develop creative work showing the visible manifestation of getting “more than”, while building a wealth of appealing brand values. 

Sensitive and intuitive interpretation of any kind of information is key in leading to the kinds of insights about consumer and brand that can acts a springboard for the creative idea.

Another key planning task is the creative briefing. My dictate on this is focus on the brand idea, not the execution. The easy option is to produce a pretty form of words in the proposition box, akin to a headline, which sound great, but lead the creative precisely nowhere (or perhaps round in circles).

The tougher task is to provide that glimpse into the core of the brand which is truly motivating to your audience, and inspiring tithe creative. For example, the current work forego, using the strap line “What’s in it for me?”, is an expression of the brand’s core proposition as the only bank that actively wants to meet customers individual needs.

Which brings me onto the more tangible element of the creative execution. This is where that often cited view of the planner as” consumer champion” really comes into play.

The execution and tone of any communication are central to taking the first steps in building relationship with the consumer. I have always had to resist the urge, when briefing creative on tone of voice, to resort to irony and suggest such unhelpful words as “alienating, aggressive etc”(unless you are Levis), when confronted with the ubiquitously desired tonal brand values of “warm, approachable, accessible”. No one could deny that these are relevant in engaging the consumer, but these are merely the supporting act for that leap of insight into your target, based on their relationship with the brand, the place the brand/market sector occupies in their world or any other information you choose to call upon.

Without this, at best your communication acts as the tea break or lining for the dog’s basket, at worst, it makes the consumer feel misunderstood, and indeed alienated. This is particularly relevant in the financial services sector, which stands at the consumer nerve centre of personal security and future dreams.

My point is that an indispensable planning skill is in rooting the insight and brand execution within the consumer and brand reality of that market place. The reality to which I refer may well be a heightened version – “inspired reality” perhaps. The target audience for your communication should never be the boardroom or the square mile of Soho (although it’s easy those why this is tempting) but your target audience in whatever shape or form they may come.

In conclusion, the key words that I feel are strongly associated with any kind of planning excellence, and should extend across the planner’s domain of skills and relationships are clarity and accessibility. Or perhaps I should say, keeping things short and relevant. We have doubtless all come across agency planners who rely on classical mythology as their reference point in brand and creative development, or feel that Freudian dream theory is central to explaining the reality of the consumer’s purchasing behaviour.

There are no prizes for making the planning process and its output more complex than it needs to be. Scrawled had it right when he pointed out how easy it is to waffle and how hardtop make oneself crystal clear.

This is the challenge to which all planners should rise in seeking to add true value toady stage of the development of brand strategy and communication.