The Case for REAL Strategy I gave this presentation last week to a few agency people. My argument is that Strategy needs to shift from a discipline to a mindset that's embraced by the whole agency. My belief is that if you create an agency culture where everyone is tuned into looking at the world in a curious way and you encourage them to share their thoughts- it makes everyone's work more enjoyable, the culture healthier and generates the fodder and inspiration to make better work. It removes the weight of responsibility from the shoulders of the view and encourages everyone in the agency to go out into the world with an open mind and bring the ideas and energy back to the agency. An agency that has a culture of interesting, rather than just a Strategy Department, might make for a place that people want to work and clients want to work with.
Beth Bentley
5mo
This is so good...v timely but also timeless, too. I used to run the strategy dept at Wieden + Kennedy London and we had same belief as you re whole agency culture. We ran this thing called Get Curious that lived in loads of ways via loads of different people...sessions, lunches, massive email threads, even a book. It wasn't complicated but people loved it as a reminder that this stuff matters.
Evan Zeller
5mo
Some great POV that frankly addresses the “elephant in the room” with bland strategy outputs these days. While I don’t completely agree that AI is the fad, I think time will tell if it becomes an asset or not.
Thank you for sharing this presentation with the 4A's Ivory Forum last week, Edward Cotton we all left inspired with actionable insights to take back to our teams. Harley Griffiths Beth Johnson Lindsey Smith John Montgomery Brian Herder Carol Russell Carrie McCament Julie Ondrusek Nick Paul @
Lisa Berry
5mo
Maybe an unpopular POV but. . .while I wholeheartedly agree with the author's insights, in the mainstream auto industry (not talking about niche, uber luxury, or exotics), where features and capabilities are largely comparable, differentiation lies in cultivating an engaging and emotional connection with people (Tier 1). While emotional appeal alone may suffice for low-investment products like fast food and milk, high-ticket items demand both emotional resonance and tangible value (Tier 2). These products must meet or exceed fundamental needs, be a sound financial investment, provide physical safety, and fit well with people's day-to-evening-to-weekend use scenarios. To be real, it's a bit (I mean a lot) more bland and formulaic than Tier 1 but I'd be remiss as a retail strategist if I didn't point out that in some categories you need both. Or maybe I simply have too much time to overthink this today :-) Great post though. I saved it.
Jocelyn Brady 🧠
5mo
Curiosity is the ANTIDOTE. 👏 The world is full of wonder, if only we stop to look around and take it in and… wonder all the more at what we see and have yet to see. And for that, we need TIME. One of the greatest enemies of brilliant work is the constant shuffling between meetings, as well: Performative slide designs over thoughtful (often messy) content. Not saying design doesn’t matter! Have simply worked with too many agencies who front loaded effort into templated PowerPoints before selling in the IDEA. Anyway, YES AND YES to all this, Edward Cotton Here’s to a more curious (and inspired!) strategic mindset into 2024… and with any hope, growing all the more beyond…
Graeme Murray
5mo
Maybe it’s time to replace the word insight with interesting in our conversations…
Rocky Longworth
5mo
Great insight and so true. People are at the core of virtually everything we do. That said, bland is not a magnet or contagion; it's a reason to ignore, to look the other way for something... interesting.
Samuel Minns
5mo
Kate Minns this is a good one! Adam Antoniewicz - you'll also get something out of this I think!
Luena Amaral
5mo
Ooh… I’m saving this presentation for later so I can really get stuck in.
Lover of life, language and literature, advises brands on how to win hearts and wallets.
5moThanks for sharing this with a wider audience than the lucky few agency people who saw you present it. Some time back I did some work with a good multicultural agency named Cien+ that was instituting a culture of curiosity by having everyone share something of multicultural interest once a month. And the clever folks at Sparks&Honey had their weekly sharing of curious things they came across and shared what clients could benefit from their learning. While some might quibble that creativity should be the focus of an agency, one can certainly argue that being interesting is the stimulus that begets the response of attention, which is the first thing all ads need to catch. All of which endorses curiosity as a primary driver. Cheers