Strategy is not an academic pursuit
About 10 years ago, when Twitter was still Twitter, there was an #adland community that was truly special. Funny, insightful, challenging, argumentative, interesting. Stimulating. I felt like I’d finally found my people after years of feeling like I was on the outside of the industry.
Obviously those days are gone. X killed the whole vibe. People left in droves, the community fractured, and the only seemingly credible option for professional discourse appeared to be LinkedIn. A platform where posts meander like a river, and the point seems to sit forever on the horizon; visible, but never quite reached.
When it comes to discussing strategy in the field of the commercial arts, LinkedIn is like an all you can eat buffet. There’s a lot to consume, but you rarely feel nourished.
Theory vs Practice
The problem with strategy, is you can’t share a case study that does the work justice without giving a clients secrets away. The trick that made the magic remains in the circle, bound by contract and professional indemnity. So, posts about strategy are theoretical polemics about what books one should read, models one should use, flywheels over funnels, advertising vs brand, blah vs blah vs blah.
Rigorous explorations of theory.
Without a celebration of practice.
Because strategy is a commercial pursuit. Its job: to uncover the best chance of success. To bring focus and clarity to a problem. To define the right position and proposition that laser targets an audience. To uncover the insights and tensions that drive a category. To lay the groundwork for commercial success, ROI and growth.
At a time when the industry is being squeezed, pushed and pulled, at the mercy of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, clients are finding it hard to see the value in strategy. And we’re not helping by openly arguing about semiotics and heuristics in a bid to out-clever each other. We’re making strategy look like a chin scratching, tweed wearing, pipe smoking professor, cocooned in academia, afraid to call to action.
Strategy is meant to be useful. We need more how, less so what.
Stephen King’s Planning Guide basically said it all anyway. And that was 50 years ago.
It’s beyond time to put strategy back to work. In the real world. And stop these endless debates about ‘what is brand?’ We all know what a brand is. We’re getting tied up in nuance. Move the fuck on.
Make strategy commercial again
I started Halo over 20 years ago as a ‘strategy first’ agency. At the time, it was rare to put the discipline front and centre, the focus. The heart of the business. But it’s still true today, and one of the reasons we’ve survived and thrived, bucked trends and expectations.
Because we see strategy as a commercial pursuit, a practice designed to create commercial advantage. We’re not in it to look clever, we’re in it to make smarter decisions and help clients to win better.
As a strategist, I believe in the graft. Of deeply understanding what makes people tick. Of being rigorous in asking the right questions and seeking robust answers. I love the ‘why’ but I’m besotted with the how.
I revel in knowing how clients make money, increase margin and turn profit. I walk the factory floor and learn from the people who make the products, who drive the business and shape the brand. If I’m new to a category, I shop the category. If I’m selling a product, I make a point of buying the product. And speaking to fellow consumers about it.
No one’s going to ask me to stand on stage at The Festival of Marketing to talk about this.
And that’s fair, I swear too much anyway. But I think reminding ourselves about what really makes strategy useful and valuable is a conversation that’s well overdue.
Good ideas over ‘deep thinking’
Deep thinking is part of a strategists job. But all that thought needs to lead to good ideas.
That’s what clients are paying for. That’s the reason you go to an agency. To engage an expert outsider who’ll see your world through fresh eyes. Who’ll give you creative answers to commercial questions, challenge for change and solve for growth. Viewed through this lens, strategy is at the business end of creativity. At the sharp end of decision making.
It’s a vital lever pulled for success.
But we’ve made it a performative sport played by armchair philosophers in the arena of social media. And clients are getting tired of LinkedIn strategists shaming each other’s libraries. Because they can’t see the point, and they definitely don’t see the value.
If strategy is going to be seen as a vital component in the agency experience, we need to
take it – and ourselves – more seriously again.
Practice. Don’t preach.
Calls to action, not calls to comment.
Be famous for the ideas, not the thought pieces.
(And yes, I do see the irony).
Photo by Raghav Modi on Unsplash
