Key Benefits:

• Dramatically improve one's ability to "outsmart" and plan "strategically"
• Increase one's ability to think "outside the square" at 40,000”
• New approach to creating a Brand and advertising Brief

Training Areas of Focus:

» Define the language of the following subjects:

• Strategy and Planning (fundamentals)
• Marketing (clients' perspective)
• Advertising (what business are we really in)
• Selling (what are we doing for our clients)
• Creative (the recipients of the advertising brief -- their job)

» Review 18 situational examples, reveal the strategies employed and why some worked and some did not. (Situations are in order Historic, Marketing and Crisis.)

» Two case examples (Historic and Business). Group is divided into teams and all teams are given the same case to solve. Each team deliberates and then reveals their strategic solutions. (Both outcomes are known - both succeeded with the strategies they employed.)

» Review 18 situational examples, reveal the strategies employed and why some worked and some did not. (Situations are in order Historic, Marketing and Crisis.)

» Review 10 limitations to strategic thinking and solutions for each.

» How to think strategically: (2 exercises and 2 cases):

• Bending perspective
• How to think outside the square
• Being purposely unconventional
• Pride of discovery

» Practical exercise solving 11 situational examples using strategically sound solutions. (80% actual and 20% imaginary.)

» Review of the three critical business strategies upon which all marketing strategy is based, including the sub strategies for implementing each strategy.

» Standard Directory of Strategies for 3 categories:

• Top 22 consumer strategies
• Top 25 competitive strategies
• Top 8 strategies to combat competitive encroachments

» Actual examples of brands and their positionings or lack thereof:

• Discover who has positioned their brands well and why it worked
• Discover who has failed to position their brands well and why (7 categories and 29 specific brands)

» The actual specific components of what information was included in marketing plans for companies such as American Express, Bayer, General Motors, Chrysler, Frito Lay and Coors.

» Introduction of the New Brand and Advertising Briefs, the purpose of having them separate, and how they work together

» Review the Brand Brief and the 7 specific components of it, with 4 ongoing Examples used.

» Review the Advertising Brief and its 11 specific components, followed by examples. (Note: of the 11 components, 2 are taken from the Brand Brief).

» Summary: The 5 essential components of arriving at an effective strategy:

• Having a specific objective
• Knowing the target's buying button
• Having a competitive insight
• Knowing the product benefit
• Knowing the brand position

» Exercise: Each participant takes a brief they brought to the Workshop and on which they are currently working and redevelops the advertising brief for the product, utilizing the new advertising brief. (All participants volunteer their own ideas for advertising strategies.)

» Exercise: 6 examples that have been pre-developed using the new advertising brief are used as the final case examples. Each participant does all of them, coming up with the advertising strategy for each. All solutions are shared with everyone.

» Summary and Wrap-up:

• Highlight the keys to strategic thinking: there are no bad strategies, only misapplied strategies.
• Highlight the key components of the Brand Brief: the foundation, only to be altered if strategically feasible or required.
• Highlight the key components of the Advertising Brief: the job specs for each advertising assignment, of which the advertising strategy forms the key message to be given to the creatives’ to enable them to create excellent creative.

Result Of The Workshop:

Increases one's ability to think outside the box and in doing so arrive at smart, unique and powerful ways of accomplishing one's objective.

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