Brand strategy
Sharp choices. A clear direction.
Sharp choices. A clear direction.
Sharp choices. A clear direction. We make clear what you stand for, who you are there for and why that matters. The starting point for everything your brand makes and says.
“A positioning that costs you nothing is not a positioning. If you can't name which clients you are letting go of, you have only written a description.”
Discover
Conversations with management, sales, HR and operations. Client interviews and, where possible, lost prospects, because they tell you what the others won't.
Sharpen
Almost every company has one unresolved gap between what it thinks it sells and why clients actually buy. Finding that gap is the real work.
Decide
Positioning in one defensible sentence, with audiences, differentiation, proof and what you are explicitly not. In working sessions with management, so it gets endorsed.
Translate
Brand story, key messages per audience and what needs to change tomorrow in sales, HR and communication.
The decision from which<br>everything else follows.
Everything that comes after costs money to change. Revisiting a positioning takes time. Yet this is the phase most often skipped, because it feels like talking instead of making. The difference lies in what comes out of that talking: not fine words, but a strategic choice that helps set the brand's course.
More than one brand?
After acquisitions, in groups with their own divisional brands or in portfolios that grew launch by launch, the hardest question comes in: how do the brands relate to each other? Does the parent brand come first, last or not at all? Is a new line a brand of its own or a variant? We capture that in a model with rules that also hold for decisions not yet taken.
Does this sound like your situation?
Tell us briefly what's going on. The first conversation is free and, at worst, gives you a second opinion.
Lead time: usually three to five weeks.
In practice
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is positioning?
Positioning is the decision about which place you want to occupy in your customer’s mind, relative to the alternatives. It always involves a choice, and therefore a sacrifice: there are customers you will no longer serve.
How does a brand project work?
We research, choose, design and roll out. We start with conversations and available insights, define the positioning and translate it into story and identity. Guidelines and support ensure your team can apply the brand themselves.
How do I know whether the brand is the problem?
A useful test: ask three people from different departments, separately, what the company does and why customers choose it. If you get three different answers, it’s a brand problem. If you get the same answer three times and still lose assignments, the problem probably lies elsewhere.
What is brand architecture?
Brand architecture is the way the brands within one company relate to each other: which name comes first, which sits below, and which stands alone. A good architecture model also contains the rules for brands that don't exist yet.
Can we continue on our own afterwards?
Yes. We deliver the strategy in a way that your own team or your existing agency can work with.
What is the difference between brand strategy and marketing strategy?
Brand strategy is about who you are and what you promise. Marketing strategy is about how you bring that to market: channels, budgets, campaigns. The first changes every five to ten years, the second every year.
Do we need this if we already have a mission and vision?
Often, yes. Mission and vision describe where you want to go. A positioning describes why a client chooses you today and not someone else. That second document is almost always missing.