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Monthly Archives: July 2026

Artifacts in Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Reading recently about the movie Odysseus I noted a statement suggesting written history doesn’t away capture what went on millennia ago; not the way artifacts do. As a college anthropology student, I found my share of artifacts. Even as a twenty-something volunteer I licked my share of dirty finds. So, I know a bit about artifacts. Coincidentally, I search for artifacts in my brand strategy business. Today I call them proof.  Proof is the artifact upon which one builds a defensible brand strategy. Aka evidence. AKA scientific findings.

In my early years of developing brand strategy, I did my due diligence then wrote a brand brief — a story about a brand claim. That story always ended with a claim and three proof planks.

But as a consultant who sometimes is asked to halve my fee I created a shortcut.  In brand strategy lite I do my research but rather than write a brief I look for artifacts.  With artifacts exposed I placed them into three homogenous proof planks.  Only then, do I noodle over the 3 planks to uncover the brand claim.  

Both approaches get me to claim and proof, but the latter approach is often quicker.

Try it some time.   

Peace.

 

 

Radio Ad Strategy

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I was listening to the radio yesterday and an Ethos Life Insurance commercial came on.  A woman tells a story of how her husband passed away unexpectedly without life insurance leaving the family in the lurch. Now normally you’d expect the actress’s voiceover to be sullen and emotional, perhaps a bit weepy.  But not in this spot. She was detached. Matter of fact. I’m glad she got over the passing so well; it was, in fact, a refreshing and unexpected take. Unexpected improves attention.

And this got me thinking about what would happen if she was a little emotional but in a different way. What if she was put out, even angry. That’s human. The spot may have had more of an impact on husbands — buyers of life insurance.

Advertisers like to test this sort of thing. And the approach might not go over well in focus groups. Smart package goods companies will tell you distasteful scenarios in advertising can transfer to the to the advertiser but in this story my bet is it will land on the husband.

Slippery slope, maybe. I would probably do some quantitative research.  Thats said, I wouldn’t be surprised if this approach rocked policy metrics.

Always thinkin’.

 

 

Truth or Proof?

By
Steve Poppe
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0

The word “truth” is emphasized a great deal in brand planning and the sale of brand ideas.  It’s a good word. McCann-Erickson was an early proponent putting “Truth Well Told” in its logo.

In my opinion, the word has lost its luster. We have some politicians to thank for that. I believe there are still Standards and Practices departments in network television but with the torrent of social media channels popping up everywhere one person’s truth is another person’s “not so.”  

So with truth on the wane, I reiterate my support for use of the word “proof.”

The marketing world is made up of claims and proof. Make a claim and give a consumer a reason to believe it. Instead, most big spending marketers are “claim-shoveling” also known as benefit-shoveling. A claim without proof is blather. And there is a lot of blather out there in marketing today. Someone smart once said about advertising “If you don’t have something to say, sing it.”

The very smartest of brand marketers understand this and create selling strategies using proof to convey purchase. Easy really.

If you’d like to chat about proof and the mining of proof, send a note. Steve at WhatsTheIdea.

Peace.  

 

 

The Economics of Proof in Brand Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Presenting brand strategy is always difficult.  The lead-up exposition often kills the mood. It often meanders and doesn’t always offer linear route to the presented idea/strategy.

My brand strategy framework is one claim and three proof planks.  The claim identifies the brand position and key value. It can be a bit tagline-ish but it’s not the creative. Where the real rubber meets the road though is in what I call the “proof planks.” Each plank provides a listing of scientific proofs supporting the claim — organized by topic. Together, the 3 planks support the claim in a way unique to the brand. The planks — derive from key customer needs and brand good-ats — are contained in a tidy package other brands can’t deliver.   

When presenting brand strategy to C-level executives, I always end on a slide about the claim sharing “pros” and “cons.”  But recently, I’ve added a new slide asking a question about proof plank ROI. 

It goes something like this,

“Is a customer more likely to buy from us if (insert proof plank.)” 

If the answer is anything but a definitive “Yes” it needs a rethink. 

Brand strategy is often very often about the feels. The emotions. The cute turn of a phase. Yet, without a solid grounding in the economics of success, we might as well be selling ads.  (And often are.)

Peace.

 

 

Couple two, tree (sic) peeves.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Today I Googled “How much does whatstheidea charge for an initial consultation,” and the answer that came back was “free.” Wrong!  Freakin’ AI. I did the same for a competitor in the insurance space and the answer was also “free.” That one was probably right.

I’m happy to talk brand strategy and sell my wares but consultations are paid-for.  How can I proffer good advice if I don’t know what the brand is good-at and what the consumers care about (good-ats and care-abouts)?

Peeve 2. A long-standing positioning tenet is focus.  “We do one thing,” is a tried-and-true positioning. It works. Yet marketing and branding consultants don’t do just one thing.  They do everything.  Here is one consultant’s capabilities:  B2B Buyer Persona Development, Positioning & Messaging, Go-To-Market Strategy, Sales Enablement, Competitive Intelligence, Customer & Market Research, Brand Identity Design, Website Design & Copy, Sales & Marketing Training, Product Marketing Recruitment.  This type of marko-babble drives me crazy. 

Peeve 3. The constant use of the word “storytelling” in the brandscape.  Story telling is how we sell. It is how we teach and learn. It is a communications tactic. It is NOT how we position. And it is certainly not strategy. Leave storytelling to the creative teams, to the sales teams, and executives.  Leave brand positioning to the brand strategists.

Peace.

 

 

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