The Gist
Our proprietary Brand Enlightenment process combines in-depth analysis of your company, your competitors and your customer with an intense and collaborative 6-hour brand workshop customized for your business. It culminates with the presentation of our Brand Enlightenment Report which includes everything you’ll need for you and your team to define, maximize, unleash and fulfill your company’s highest potential. Facilitated by senior members of the Immortology team, it draws from over 25+ years of launching, developing and growing some of the world’s most successful brands.
Gleaned from the best practices of Fortune 500 companies, marketing consultancies and agencies, Immortology’s Brand Enlightenment process utilizes proven techniques to develop the best positioning for your company, product or service by creating a thorough look at your business, your competitive set and most, importantly your customers.
Combining the thinking of our best creative, strategic, analytical and research minds our workshops are designed to uncover hidden opportunities and develop the ideal brand platform to help you outsmart, outdo and outlast your competitors.
Before the Workshop Begins
Prior to the workshop, our team will review and assess your existing communications, research, media plans, data, competitive set and your team’s strategic alignment. This will help us determine if we have all we need to create a productive workshop specifically
designed to address your company’s unique challenges. Deliverables before the workshop include:
Stakeholder Survey
Our Stakeholder Survey goes to select key decision-makers and influencers within your organization. (Up to six.) The questions are customized for your organization and are divided into the following three sections to help us uncover and define the best strategic direction.
Internal Brand Perceptions
Services - benefits/weaknesses/untapped opportunities
Defining Success - what marketing success looks like
Communications - what's working/what's not/what’s missing
Elevator Pitch – what you tell people makes your business so special
Competition
Identification – Who They Are
Perceived Strengths & Weaknesses
Customers/Consumers
Who They Are: Demographics/Psychographics
Perceived Wants & Needs
Media - how do they find out about you
Communications Audit
During the communication audit we’ll gather all past and current marketing and advertising elements. These materials may include but are not limited to:
Mission, Vision & Positioning Statements
Any Existing Customer Research/Data
Any Existing Competitive Research
Any Strategic Briefs
Print Ads
Taglines
Banner Ads
Outdoor
Emails
Direct Mail
Website Copy
Sell Sheets
Presentations
White Papers
Business Cards
Promotions
Tradeshow/Event Marketing Materials
Signage
Collateral
Photographs
Once gathered we’ll go through each piece with you and evaluate what has and hasn’t worked. When developing the new campaign having this knowledge will allow us to capitalize on effective tactics while avoiding those that are not. In other words, the communications audit will ensure we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater when we develop the new integrated campaign. This exercise will also help us identify missing customer touch point opportunities and prioritize specific tactics for them.
Competitive Analysis
Identifying and understanding your real competitors is critical if you want to successfully differentiate and position your company against them. Doing so will allow you to capitalize on their successes and failures and while guarding against any threats they may pose. A good competitive analysis will detail your competitors’:
Strategic positioning and personality
Target audience
Strengths and weaknesses
Geographic influence
Messaging and communications tactics
Consumer/Customer Research
If needed, Immortology will engage its consumer research team and/or data analysts to better understand your current, potential and lost customers’ real wants and needs. Knowing this is absolutely critical to developing an effective marketing strategy. We utilize data analysis and quantitative, qualitative and ethnographic research to identify the ones that can impact your business most.
Quantitative research such as online surveys and controlled testing and field trials (A/B testing, test markets, creative pre-testing and analysis of primary and secondary data) provide measurable, statistically relevant data from the marketplace. Generally speaking, quantitative research allows us to speak to a large number of people, in a relatively short timeframe cost effectively.
We also employ Big Data Analytics from your database, third-party sources or both to:
Identify your most valuable customers and where they are within specific geographic markets
Develop marketing personas of unique customer segments to inspire more tailored messaging for each
Optimize media planning or placement with the goal of maximizing reach while minimizing wastage
Measuring and analyzing campaign results
Developing attribution models to track the performance of specific tactics
Qualitative research provides insight into the emotional reasons people engage with a brand. Focus groups, one-on-one interviews, phone surveys, triads and ethnography are qualitative tactics we utilize to get at the why’s and what’s and emotional hot buttons that drive behavior.
To get the best understanding possible we like to use both on three types of customers:
Current customers
Customers who have left you for a competitor
Potential customers
READ ABOUT WHYOLOGY, OUR CONSUMER/CUSTOMER RESEARCH APPROACH HERE.
Brand Enlightenment Workshop
Once all the internal research and analysis described above is complete, Immortology will schedule, customize and facilitate a 6-hour Brand Enlightenment Workshop in your office with the key team members who participated in the Stakeholder Survey. During the workshop, we will conduct several collaborative exercises designed to illuminate your goals, challenges, opportunities, core values, etc. from the people who know it best. We will also resolve any differences of opinion uncovered by the Stakeholder Survey. As the day progresses we will compare and contrast your team’s perceptions of company strengths, key benefits, consumer wants and needs and your competitors with research findings. Doing so allows us to identify gaps in perception versus reality, company vision, priorities, etc.
The net deliverable is consensus on the information needed to create a brand platform powered by a strong positioning line that will help you define and achieve the most aggressive goals for the market you’re in with the budget you have. Brand Enlightenment Workshops cover the following topics customized for your unique business:
· Positioning
· Mission
· Vision
· Unique Selling Proposition
· Core values
· Personality
· Strengths & weaknesses
· Key descriptors
· Long and short-term marketing objectives
· Key challenges and opportunities
· Findings from the communications audit of present and historical paid, earned and owned media
· Key customer/consumer - demographics, psychographics and actionable insights uncovered through the research
· Key customer/consumer wants and needs your company can uniquely fulfill
· Key messaging touch point opportunities in paid, earned & owned media
· Competitive set – strengths, weaknesses, positioning, messaging and other key information gleaned from the competitive analysis and consumer research
· Functional & emotional benefits of your product or service
*Brand Enlightenment Workshop is limited to 6 client participants.
Overarching Strategic Brief (Brand Platform)
Based on the findings from the Stakeholders Survey, the Communications Audit, Consumer Research, Competitive Analysis and the Brand Workshop, Immortology will craft an Overarching Strategic Brief (OSB). Once completed, Immortology will present the Overarching Strategic Brief to key players from your team. During this presentation we’ll go through the research insights and strategic elements point-by-point. We’ll answer any questions, clarify any findings that need further explanation and make any revisions necessary until consensus is gained. This step is critical because the Overarching Strategic Brief will serve as your master blueprint to guide strategy and ensure all your brand experiences across all media are consistently delivered on-target, message and mission.
In addition to articulating your positioning line and tonality, it will provide context, inspiration and guidance for the development of all communications initiatives including creative campaigns and media planning. The brief will:
Define the key business objectives the marketing should achieve in TBD time frame
List key challenges to achieving these goals
Define your ideal target personas (demographically and psychographically) through actionable insights into what they truly want and need from you
Identify your true competitors + their strengths and weaknesses
Articulate your positioning line: This is one of the most important deliverables. We define positioning as the intersection where the things you’re most passionate and profitable doing, fulfill your potential customers true wants and needs in a way your competitors simply can’t or won’t. It’s a business plan, mission and promise condensed into a single powerful line. (Not a tagline. Positioning lines are for internal use.)
List emotional reasons that support the new positioning and will meaningfully resonate with customers
List rational (features and benefits) support points to justify their decision to consider your brand over others
Define your brand tonality both visually and by voice
Inspire the development of an impossible to ignore and hard to forget creative campaign that can be integrated and executed across all relevant media channels
Integrated Marketing Communications Plan
Working from the approved Overarching Strategic Brief and insights gained from the research and Brand Enlightenment Workshop & Report, Immortology will develop an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Plan. The IMC Plan is a roadmap for the year providing at-a-glance access to strategic documents, the media plan, placement dates, presentation and production schedules for the calendar year. The IMC Plan will include:
All agreed-to communications tactics
Tactical creative brief
Media plan
Media placement schedule (including Paid, Earned & Owned media placements)
Campaign development & presentation schedule
Production schedules
Why You Should Consider It
The biggest competitive advantage any business can have today is the ability to unfailingly satisfy their customers true wants and needs in surprising and delightful ways their competitors simply can’t or won’t. Easier said than done.
For any business to achieve this, it must first have a deep and clear understanding of its customers, its competitive set and itself. From this knowledge it must also create
a clearly defined purpose that aligns its core values and competencies around providing solutions customers really desire that no one else is able or willing to fulfill. This central purpose must be consistently expressed in ways that meaningfully differentiates you from your competitors through impossible to ignore communications integrated across all media.
Truth is, businesses infused with clear purpose are proven to be more successful than those that are not. In fact, purpose driven brands outperform their competitors by a factor of 6 to one.*
Here’s the reality. Tactics and technology won’t deliver the results you need. Content marketing won’t do it. Media won’t do it. Promotions and sales won’t do it. Social won’t either. None of this stuff will work alone. Everything needs to be integrated and working together to consistently deliver your promise while meaningfully differentiating you from your competitors. Without a great platform and great creative ideas born from it, no business can achieve it’s highest potential.
The simple reason is this. People pay more attention to creative ads, recall them better and talk about them more. Clients who utilize them spend less on media and sell more. According to research conducted by Peter Field for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), creative ads are 11 times more efficient at selling stuff than other ads. That’s a fact.
What’s more most agencies, digital shops and brand consultants don’t know how to develop great brand platforms – much less creative work that can move people. (Even though many claim they do.) They simply don’t possess the strategic, creative, analytical and research chops to do it. We do.
Immortology’s Brand Enlightenment process is the fastest, most economical and effective way to define your Brand Platform, uncover opportunities and map out a plan to unleash its highest potential.
Who needs our Brand Enlightenment? Anyone who wants to:
Launch a new product or service
Re-launch an existing product or service
Extend a brand into a new product or service category
Start a new company
Enter new markets or serve a new customer segment
Revitalize an under-performing brand
Change brand messaging and communication strategies
Integrate messaging consistently, meaningfully and effectively across any technology or channel
Align and motivate management and staff through a shared purpose
Create an unassailable position in the marketplace
Deliverable: The Brand Enlightenment Report
Approximately four weeks after the workshop, Immortology will deliver The Brand Enlightenment Report. We’ll go through it point-by-point with your team and make any revisions necessary until consensus is gained. This step is critical because the Brand Enlightenment Report will be your marketing North Star guiding all your communications and ensuring they are consistently on-target, message and mission.
The Brand Enlightenment Report is a comprehensive brand platform that includes:
Key Customer Personas demographically, psychologically and behaviorally
Key Customer Touch Point Opportunities in Paid, Earned and Owned Media
Long & Short Term Vision & Goals
Key Challenges, Opportunities and Weaknesses
Competitor strengths, weaknesses, positioning and threat level
Unique Selling Proposition
Core Values
Personality
Vision
Mission
Higher Purpose
Over-Arching Creative Brief
An immediate marketing to-do list that will bring your brand to life while achieving its long and short-term business objectives in the most efficient and effective ways possible
12-Month Integrated Marketing Communications Plan (If budget permits)
Media Plan & Schedule (including Paid, Earned & Owned Media Placements)
Campaign Development Schedule
Production Schedules
Additional recommendations for projects & research
How Much Does It Cost?
Every business has a different set of challenges and needs that must be addressed when developing a brand platform. For that reason, we don’t have a set price for Brand Enlightenment. Variables that will affect price are:
Customer research
Data analysis from primary & secondary sources
Multiple product and service offerings
Travel Expenses
Employee/management one-on-one interviews
Integrate Marketing Communication Plan development
Media Planning
Creative Concepting
We’ll be happy to help you assess your needs and write a proposal for a Brand Enlightenment Workshop and Report customized for your business.
Where Do Workshops Take Place?
Because it’s more economical to send our team to you, most clients prefer we conduct our Workshops on site or a hotel nearby. All we require is a quiet room that can comfortably seat up to 13 people (10 of you, 3 of us) with walls we can project on and hang large sticky notes from.
What Does A Typical Itinerary Look Like?
9:00 AM: Start
1. Intro/Our Role 30
2. Rules of Engagement
3. Competitive World
4. What We Shouldn’t Do
5. What Is A Brand?
6. What We Should Do
7. Higher Purpose Branding
9:30 AM:
8. Self Analysis:
A. Why Does Your Company Exist? Exercise #1 20
B. Your Mortality: Exercise #2 20
C. Key Descriptors: Exercise #3 20
Break 10
Self-Analysis Continued:
D. Greatest Strengths: Exercise #4 20
E. Greatest Weaknesses: Exercise #5 20
F. Challenges: Exercise #6 20
G. Greatest Opportunities: Exercise #7 20
12:00PM – 12:30: Lunch
Self-Analysis Continued:
H. Things Marketing Can Influence 10
I. Short-term Goals: Exercise #8 15
J. Long-Term Goals: Exercise #9 15
1:10 PM:
9. Category/Competitive Analysis
A. A Look at the Category 15
B. Top Competitors 20
C. Top Competitor Comparison: Exercise #10 15
D. S.W.O.T Analysis: Exercise #11 15
Break
Category/Competitive Analysis Cont’d 10
E. The Achilles Heel 10
F. Your Unique Selling Proposition: Exercise #12 20
2:40 PM:
10. Customer Analysis
A. Research Topline: Demographics/Psychographics/Insights 30
B. Top Needs: Exercise #13 10
C. How You Can Fulfill Them: Exercise #14 10
D. 20 Ways to Connect with Customers: Exercise #15 10
Break 10
Customer Analysis Cont’d
A. Review: Does Anything Change? Exercise #16 5
3:55 PM:
11. Your Higher Purpose
A. What a Higher Purpose Is/The Best Brands 10
B. Brand Archetype: Exercise #17 15
C. The Higher Purpose Statement Exercise #18 15
4:35 Wrap-up
12. Feedback
A. What Did You Think? Exercise #19 10
4:45 Overall Feedback
Is It Ok If A Participant Leaves Before The Workshop Ends?
Nope. We’ve found it’s counterproductive if everyone on your team doesn’t participate in the entire workshop. Each session is designed to be iterative and to build consensus throughout the day. Sorry, no exceptions.
How Many People Do You Need From My Team?
Ideally, we’d like you to provide between 4 and 10 participants. We won’t get enough points of view with less than four and we’ll never get through the day if we have more than 10.
Who Should Participate?
Anyone who has a personal stake in the success of your company. The usual cast of characters include CEOs, Marketing Directors, Sales Directors, Product Developers and anyone on the front line providing customer service or support. If you’d like we can help you identify the right people to participate.
How Much Lead Time Do You Need?
Given the considerable amount of prep work required, we usually require 4 – 6 weeks of lead time. The following are the most common variables that delay scheduling:
Consumer Research
Stakeholder Availability
Data Analysis
Multiple Brands (Products/Services)
Immortology Team Availability