How to run

your
brand’s
advertising
process
The best brand leader plays the most crucial role in the creative advertising
process. While they are not designed to be experts, they need to know
enough to make advertising decisions, but never enough to do the work.

With the increasing speed of advertising, brand leaders have taken one step in and
often find themselves embedded in the creative development. If you are now doing
the work, then who is critiquing and who is deciding if the work is good enough and
if it fits your strategy? Even using “internal agencies” creates a blind spot. Brand
leaders need to step back and let the creativity unfold.

There is a leadership advantage in being the least knowledgeable person in the

room. While it may sound strange at first, when you are a layer removed from the
specialist who does the work, it allows you to think, question, challenge and make
decisions on choosing the right advertising. Focus on the strategy, but stay clear-
minded enough to judge if the advertising is good enough or reject if it is not.
It takes a unique leadership skill to be able to inspire, challenge, question, direct,
and decide, without any expertise at all. As we engage experts, the respect we
show can either inspire greatness or crush their creative spirit. From my experience,
the best advertising people I have worked with would prefer to be pushed rather
than held back. The last thing they want is for you to ask for their expertise, and
then tell them what to do.

If you knew that being a better advertising client would result in better
work, would you do it? Being good at advertising is something you can learn. I
will show you how to judge and how to make decisions to choose the best
advertising for your brand. Your advertising needs enough branded breakthrough to
stand out from the market clutter, so your brand connects with consumers. It must
have a motivating message to move consumers along their purchase journey,
whether you want them to see, think, feel, do, or influence.

The ten steps of the creative advertising process

1. Strategy pre-work: The brand positioning and brand plan homework make it
easier to write a great creative brief. Go deep on finding the consumer insights
and consumer enemy, understand the brand positioning, and brand idea. In your
brand plan, make sure you write a tightly focused brand communications plan.
Only after you have done your homework; take a pen to the creative brief.

2. Focused creative brief: Sit with your agency and turn your homework into a
creative brief. Debate every point. Keep it focused. Think of the brief like creating
a strategic box the ad must play within. The brief must have one objective, a
tightly defined target market with rich consumer insights, one crystal clear
desired consumer response of whether you want consumers to see, think, feel or
do, and one main message you know will motivate the consumer target to
respond positively. For added confidence, lay out your brand positioning into a
brand concept you can test and validate with consumers.
 Creative advertising process
1 2

Strategy Pre Work Focused Brief Management Check In:

Build Insights, Big Idea lay
out a Brand Concept, and
Communications Plan.
Brief creates box the ad
must play. Objective, Keep your boss aware,
insights, desired and sell-in where needed.
response, benefit, RTB.
5

Creative Meeting 6
Be positive, focus only on big
picture, give direction, make Feedback Memo 8
decisions. No solutions. No Details, challenges but
Details. Are you inspiring? without giving specific Gain Approval
solutions. Use feedback Sell in the Ad. Be ready
to create a new box.
3 to fight resisters to
make it happen.
Creative
Expectations 4
Meet creative team to Tissue Session 7
convey your vision, Use when you don’t have
strategy, inspire and focus. a campaign. Be open to
new ways of looking at Ad Testing 9
your brand. Focus on big Use testing to confirm
your pick, not make Production
ideas, push for better.
your decision.
10
Manage the Tone to fit
the brand. Always, get Post Production
The brand leader must stay focused on strategy and more than you need Talk directly with and
leverage every expert
positioning and be open to creative expression.

3. Creative expectations: Just after signing off on the brief, request an informal
meeting with the creative team to help convey your vision, passion, strategy, and
needs. An informal meeting is your first chance to inspire the team and begin the
push for great work. It always surprises me that the first time most marketers
meet their creative team is at the first creative meeting, which is usually three
weeks after the creative team has started to work on your brand. That is crazy. It
seems like an old-school way for the account team to control both the client and
the creative team, keeping them at arm’s length. I believe the best advertising
comes from a highly personal relationship with your creative team.

3
4. Tissue session: When you have an entirely new campaign, or you are working
on a high-risk campaign, you should ask to hold an informal tissue session where
the creative team presents roughed out conceptual ideas, usually with hand-
drawn visuals, with a simple headline and description of a story. This meeting is
an excellent chance to get your hands dirty, understand where the team wants to
go, either encouraging them to explore some ideas further or talk about how
some ideas might not fit. You get to see behind the creative curtain. Do not
abuse this privilege by adding your own ideas to the mix. Focus on big ideas and
use the meeting to inspire and push for better.

5. Creative meeting: How you show up at the first creative meeting is crucial to
the entire project. You are now on the “hot seat,” and you should feel the
pressure. You are being judged as much as you think you are there to judge the
work. Think of the first creative meeting like a first date. I have seen the
relationship fizzle within seconds. Be on your best behavior. Stay positive and
focus on big-picture decisions. Give direction and make decisions. Stop thinking
that your job is to fix or change the ads you see. Do not get too wrapped up in
small details, as there remains plenty of time to keep working on those details.
Use your feedback to inspire the team.

6. Feedback memo: Work it out with the agency ahead of time that you will give a
feedback memo 48 hours after the creative meeting. This memo is your chance
to gather your thoughts, balancing your creative instincts with your strategic
thinking. The memo should clarify details you did not have a chance to talk about
in the creative meeting. Where you are stuck, frame it as a problem, but avoid
giving your specific solutions. Use the memo as a chance to create a new box for
the creative team, an evolution from the box you created with the creative brief.
Give them your problems, not your solutions.
7. Advertising testing: The use of ad testing depends on timing, budget, or
degree of risk. Where you have a new major campaign, test the ideas you feel
have the best chance to express your brand positioning, communicate the main
benefit, break through the clutter, and motivate consumers to purchase. You can
use qualitative focus group feedback to help confirm your instincts, or
quantitative testing to replicate and predict how it may do in the market. I am a
big believer that you should only use ad testing to confirm your pick, never to
make your decision. Choose in your mind, what you think is the best ad. In case
the results are close, go with your gut and select the one you chose before the
test.

8. Gain approval: It is essential to keep your boss aware at every stage. Use your
first meeting with your boss to state your vision for the project. Through each
update meeting, keep your boss aligned with every decision. However, you
always need to sell in the ad! With every great ad I ever made, there were many
resistors. However, with every possible bad ad on the table, I seemed to be the
only resistor, who was trying not to make it. Own your vision, own your favorite
ad, and find a way to make it happen.

9. Production: The production process can be a complicated element of the

project. Remember, you have zero expertise in any production area. Do not even
pretend you do. Your primary role is to deliver as close to the original script that
was approved while managing the tone to ensure it fits your brand. During the
shoot, try to get more options than you need, just in case, as it may look
different in the final edit room.

10.Post-production: As you move to the post-production stage, you become even

less of an expert. Many clients decide to stay close to their agency account
person. I believe you should talk directly with every expert (editors) you work
with. A personal approach will enable you to get the most out of each of the
experts. Your greatness happens through their greatness.

5
How the
Beloved
Brands
playbook
can work
for you
It takes a fundamentally sound
marketer to figure out how to win
with brand love in this crazy cluttered world of brands. The fundamentals of
brand management matter more now than ever. Beloved Brands is available
Today’s marketers have become so busy, as they run from meeting to meeting, they have become a little
overwhelmed and confused. They have no time to think. Marketing has become about ‘get stuff done,’ never
taking the time to stop and ask if it is the right stuff to do.

To build a relationship, you must genuinely court your consumer. To move your consumer from stranger to
friend and onto the forever stage, you need to think all the time. With the focus on access to big data,
marketers are drowning in so much data they do not even have the time to sort through it all to produce the
analytical stories that help to make decisions. Marketers are so overwhelmed by the breadth of media choices
and the pressure to be everywhere that the quality of the execution has suffered.

If marketers do not love the work they create, how can they ever expect the consumer to love the brand?
My goal in writing this book is to make you a smarter brand leader so your brand can win in the market. I know
your role and the challenges you face. I have been in your shoes. I will share everything I have learned in my
20 years in the trenches of brand management. I want to help you be successful. This book is intended as an
actionable “make it happen” playbook, not a theory or opinion book.
 Ourtomarketing
Learn training
think, define, plan, helps
inspirerealize the
and analyze
full potential of your marketing team
Winning

1
Strategic 2
Positioning
What What your
Thinking consumers brand Statement
want does best

Dad’s wins on innovation and deep price

discounts,
Measuring the brandExceptional
love, to scores but early
determine
among is
theweak
Adopterson taste.
(“Proactive What your
Preventers”) making it highly beloved among the niche. competitor
love, power and profit progress of the brand
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does best
90
Gray’s Brand Plan
67.5
Exceptional
• Gray’s scores
Funnel
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is very healthy
scores
among
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among “Preventers”
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measure
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strong awareness Dad’s
at 80% andbrand is the mature brand
all related Brand
strength has not carried over to the
health Brand
Annual Plan Plan
Marketing
overallmaking
market, whereit highly beloved among inthetheniche.
“good for you” segment Brand Vision: Be first ‘healthy cookie’ to generate craving, popularity and sales of a mainstream cookie. $100 Million by 2024.
45 Gray’s is significantly under-developed in the overall market.
Dad’s Analysis Issues and Strategies Execution Plans
22.5
• Brand funnels become thicker as the brand holding on average a 25% P&L forecast
• Sales $30,385
Key Issues
1.What’s the priority choice for growth: find
Advertising
• Use awareness to drive trial of the new
• 0Gray’s is very healthy among “Preventers” Brand Funnel
withnot
strong Scores Preventers vs.all
Overall • Gross Margin $17,148 new users or drive usage frequency among Grays. Target “Proactive Preventers”.
becomes more loved. It’s justawareness at 80% and
about driving related Brand
share over the past 10 years. • GM % 56% loyalists? Suburban working women, 35-40.Main

Awareness Funnel
2018 scores particular
significantly above norm.
2019 numbers However, that strength
2020 has not carried over to the
2021 them • Marketing Budget $8,850 2.Where should the investment/resources Message of “great tasting cookie without the
but about moving from
overall market, where Gray’s is significantly under-developed in the overall market.
• Contribution Margin
• CM%
$6,949
23%
focus and deployment be to drive our
awareness and share needs for Gray’s?
guilt, so you can stay in control of your
health”. Media includes 15 second TV,
Drivers 3.How will we defend Gray’s against the specialty health magazines, event signage,
one stage to the next.
• Dad’s scores low on taste • Taste drives a high conversion of Trial to
Purchase
• Strong Listings in Food Channels
proposed Q1 2014 ‘healthy cookie’
launches from Pepperidge Farms and
Nabisco?
digital and social media
Sampling
• Drive trial with In-store sampling at grocery,
Familiar • Average
Awareness is never
Price
Brand perenough.
Funnel Anyonevs.can
unitPreventers
Scores get that.
Overall • Exceptional brand health scores among Strategies Costco, health food stores and event

Consideration is the point you start to see that your quality, but higher on innovation Early Adopters. Highly Beloved Brand
among niche.
1.Continue to attract new users to Gray’s
2.Focus investment on driving awareness
sampling at fitness, yoga, women’s
networking, new moms.
Inhibitors and trial with new consumers and building Distribution
5.49move the
Consider 6 4.97 brand5.29
idea starts to connect and
5.39 than Gray’s, launching 2 new • Low familiar yet to turn our sales into loyalty
• Awareness held back due to weak
a presence at retail.
3.Build defence plan against new entrants to
• Support Q4 retail blitz with message
focused on holding shelf space during the
consumer.
3.99
Advertising defends with consumers and at store level. competitive launches. Q2 specialty blitz to
5 3.77 3.61 flavors each year. • Low distribution at specialty stores. Poor
coverage.
Goals
• Increase penetration from 10% to 12%,
grow distribution at key specialty stores.
Innovation
3.19
• To drive trial you need to gain consideration first • Low Purchase Frequency among most specifically up from 15% to 20% with the • Launch two new flavours in Q4/15 & Q4/16.
Purchase 3 loyal.
Risks
core target. Monitor usage frequency
among the most loyal to ensure it stays
Explore diet claims, motivating and own-
able.
(the brain) and then you need to move the
• Dad’s fought \ declining share
• Launch of Mainstream cookie brands steady. Competitive Defence Plan
(Pepperidge Farms and Nabisco). • Increase awareness from 33% to 42%, • Pre Launch sales blitz to shore up all
2 consumer 80
towards purchase and through the • De-listing 2 weakest skus weakened our in- specifically up from 45% to 50% within the distribution gaps. At launch, heavy
Repeat Explore ways to leverage Love from Preventers, as early store presence core target. Drive trial from 15% to 20%. merchandising, locking up key ad dates,
experience.
adopters, to influence the rest of thewith a “buy one get one free” • Legal challenge to taste claims Close distribution from 62% to 72%. BOGO. TV, print, coupons, in-store
0 60
market. Opportunities
• R&D has 5 new flavors in development.
• Hold dollar share during competitive
launches. Grow 11% post launch gaining up
sampling.
• Use sales story that any new “healthy”
Loyal 2018
• To drive2019 2020
loyalty (the heart) you2021
need to create
that Overall
we decidedNorm
not to match
• Sales Broker gains at Specialty Stores
• Use social media to convert loyal following.
to 1.2% share. Target zero losses at shelf. cookies should displace under-performing
and declining unhealthy cookies.
40
experiences that deliver the promise andPreventers
use tools

Brand
80
GRAY’S Gray’s Dad’s Business

Analyze
to create
Explore 20an
ways toemotional
leverage bond
Lovewith
fromthe consumer. as early
Preventers,
Cookies Review
60
adopters, to influence the rest of the market.
5 3
0

Beloved Brands
Performance
The playbook for how to build a
brand your consumers will love.
GRAY’S
Cookies
40

Gray’s needs to step up on innovation to use

20
Awareness Preventers Overall

The playbook for how to create a

Norm
Business
Review
Plans
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
How to think strategically

superior quality to gain share against Dad’s.

Write a brand positioning statement
Come up with a brand idea
Write a brand plan everyone can follow
Write an inspiring creative brief
Make decisions on marketing execution
Conduct a deep-dive business review
0

Awareness
!1
brand your consumers will love
✓ Learn finance 101 for marketers

Beloved Brands is available on Amazon and Apple Books

4
Marketing
Execution

1. Learn new strategic thinking methods, looking at core strength,

competitive landscape, consumer relationship, and situation you face.
1. How topositioning
2. Brand think strategically
statements start with a consumer profile, uses our
Too many consumer
marketers arebenefits ladder
so busy that they dowith functional
not even have timeand emotional
to think. benefits.
The best brand Then,
leaders do the
necessarybuild
critical out a brand idea that organizes everyone who works on your brand.
strategic thinking to find ways to win in the market. Strategic thinking is an essential
foundation, forcing marketers to ask big questions that challenge and focus brand decisions.
3. Inyou
I will show teaching
four ways brand plans,
to enhance your we go through
strategic eachtheelement
thinking, using brand’s coreneeded
strengthfor a long-
finder, consumer
range brand
strategy, competitive strategy
strategy, roadmap
and situational and You
strategy. your willannual
learn howbrand
to set aplan.
vision for your brand, focus
your limited resources on breakthrough points, take advantage of opportunities you see in the market, find early
wins to4.leverage
Learntotogive your smart
make brand a and
positional power decisions
creative to drive growth andinspires
that profits foroutstanding
your brand.

marketing execution with your creative advertising and media choices.

7
5. Use brand analytics to write a deep-dive business review, looking at the
In our section on strategic thinking, you will learn how to:
✓ Use five elements of smart strategic thinking

✓ Engage our ThinkBox 360-degree strategic thinking model to trigger new questions

✓ Build everything around your brand’s core strength

✓ Think strategically to tighten your brand’s bond with consumers

✓ Think strategically to win the competitive battles you face

✓ Think strategically, within the brand’s current situation

✓ Write strategic objective statements for each of the four strategies

2. How to define your brand positioning

Too many marketers are trying to be everything to anyone. This strategy is the usual recipe for becoming
nothing to everyone. The best brand leaders target a specific motivated consumer audience and then define
their brand around a brand idea that is interesting, simple, unique, motivating, and ownable.

I will show you how to write a winning brand positioning statement with four essential elements: target market,
competitive set, main benefit, and reason to believe (RTB). You will learn how to build a brand idea that leads
every touchpoint of your brand, including the brand promise, brand story, innovation, purchase moment, and
the consumer experience. I will give you the tools for how to write a winning brand concept and brand story.

In our section on defining your brand, you will learn how to:
✓ Write brand positioning statements

✓ Define your target market, with insights, enemies, and need states

✓ Define consumer benefits, both functional and emotional

✓ Come up with brand support points and claims

✓ Understand the relationship between brand soul, brand idea and brand reputation

✓ Come up with your brand idea

✓ Write brand concept statements

✓ Turn your brand concept into a brand story

✓ Use the brand positioning and brand idea to build your internal brand credo
3. How to write Brand Plans
Too many marketers focus on a short-term to-do list, not a long-term plan. The best brand leaders write brand
plans that everyone in the organization can follow with ease, including senior management, sales, R&D,
agencies, and operational teams. I will teach you how to write each element of the brand plan, including the
brand vision, purpose, values, goals, key Issues, strategies, and tactics. Real-life examples will give you a
framework to use on your brand. You will learn to build execution plans including a brand communications plan,
innovation plan, and in-store plan.

In our section on how to write brand plans, you will learn how to:
✓ Use five strategic questions as an outline for your entire plan

✓ Write an inspirational brand vision statement to frame your brand plan

✓ Come up with a brand purpose and brand values

✓ Summarize your brand’s situation analysis

✓ Map out the key issues your brand faces

✓ Write smart, brand strategy objective statements to build around your brand’s core strength

✓ Write smart, consumer brand objective strategy statements

✓ Write smart, competitive brand objective strategy statements

✓ Write smart, situational brand strategy objective statements

✓ Focus tactics to ensure a high return on effort

✓ Write specific execution plans for brand communications, innovation, and in-store

✓ Come up with a profit statement, sales forecast, goals, and marketing budget for your plan

✓ Use an ideal one-page brand formats for the annual brand plan and long-range strategic roadmap

4. How to inspire marketing execution

Too many marketers are becoming task-masters and step over the line into execution. The best brand leaders
need to inspire experts to produce smart and creative execution. I will provide tools and techniques for judging
and making decisions on creative advertising from your agency.

For judging execution, I use the ABC’s tool, believing the best executions must drive Attention (A), Brand link
(B), Communication (C) and Stickiness (S). I will provide a checklist for you to use when judging executions,
then show you how to provide direction to your agency to inspire and challenge great execution.

9
In our section on how to lead the marketing execution, you will learn how to:
✓ Understand the crucial role of the brand leader in getting great creative execution

✓ Be the brand leaders who can successfully manage the 10 stages of the advertising process

✓ Write a brand communications plan

✓ Turn the brand communications plan into a creative brief

✓ Leverage smart and bad examples of the creative brief

✓ Use the ABC’s advertising decision-making tool

✓ Give inspiring feedback on advertising that pushes for great work

✓ Build your media planning with six media questions

✓ Line up media choices to where consumers are most willing to engage with your brand

5. How to analyze your brand’s performance

Too few marketers take the time to dig into data analytics. There is no value in having access to data if you are
not using it to discover meaningful insights. The best brand leaders can tell strategic stories through analytics. I
will show you how to create a deep-dive business review, looking at the marketplace, consumers, competitors,
channels, and brand. I will teach how to turn your analysis into a presentation for management, showing the
ideal presentation slide format. I will also provide a Finance 101 for Marketers, giving you every financial
formula you need to run your brand.

In our section on how to analyze the brand’s performance, you will learn how to:
✓ Analyze the marketplace your brand plays in

✓ Assess your consumers

✓ Assess the retail channels you sell through

✓ Analyze the competitors

✓ Analyze the health of your brand

✓ Use 60 of the best analytical questions to ask

✓ Bring the analysis together into the drivers, inhibitors, threats, and opportunities

✓ Know the financial formulas for compound CAGR, price increases, COGs. and ROI

✓ Prepare a deep-dive business review presentation

Who should read the Beloved Brands playbook?
Marketing pros and entrepreneurs, this book is for you. Whether you are a VP, CMO, director, brand
manager, or just starting your
marketing career, I promise you
will learn how to realize your full
potential. You could be in brand
management working for an
organization or an owner-
operator managing a branded
business.
Beloved Brands is a toolbox
intended to help you every day
in your job. Keep it on your
desk and refer to it whenever
you need to write a brand plan,
create a brand idea, develop a
creative brief, make advertising
decisions or lead a deep-dive
business review. You can even
pass on the tools to your team
so they can learn how to deliver
the fundamentals needed for
your brands.
This book is also an excellent
resource for marketing
professors, who can use it as
an in-class textbook to develop
future marketers. It will
challenge communications
agency professionals, who
are looking to get better at
managing brands, including
those who work in advertising,
public relations, in-store
marketing, digital advertising,
or event marketing.
If you are an entrepreneur who
has a great product and wants to turn it into a brand, you can use this book as a playbook. These tips will help
you take full advantage of branding and marketing, and make your brand more powerful and more profitable.
How good is your brand playbook?
Where are the gaps on your team?
Bring all the work together to create a
Consumer Profile winning brand positioning
Brand Positioning statement
Target Name • Healthy proactive preventers who
1 To want to do more for their health,
(Target)
Description GRAY’S working moms, 35-40 years old.
Cookies Gray’s is • The healthy cookie option
Needs 2
(Category)
Enemy
3 That is the • Guilt-free cookie to help you stay
(Benefit) in control of your health
Insights
• In blind taste tests, Gray’s matched
They think now?
4 That’s the leaders on taste, but has only
because 100 calories and 3g of net carbs.
Buying process More Cookie. Less guilt.
(Support Points) • In a 12-week study, consumers using
Gray’s once a night as a dessert
Desired response were able to lose 5-10 lbs.
We use our Brand Love Curve to chart
Brand Idea Map how consumers
ConsumerfeelStrategy
about the brand
Consumer Establish
The playbook for how to create a
Unknown positioning
Brand Brand
brand your consumers will love
Idea Indifferent
Get
noticed
Brand Consumer Like It
Promise Experience
Brand
Innovation
Purchase Love It Trusted
Story Moment
Packaging
Ideas
Culture and
following
Logo/Slogan Operations Tighten Beloved
Advertising Sales bond
and Media Product and Retail Influence
Development friends
Deep review
Deep-dive Dive Review
summary GRAY’S
Cookies
Brand
Annual Plan Plan
Marketing
Marketplace Review: Brand Vision: Be first ‘healthy cookie’ to generate craving, popularity and sales of a mainstream cookie. $100 Million by 2024.
1. Declining cookie sales have created a war among major competitors with lower prices and margins.
2. Category growth and Gray’s growth coming from the West, but facing poor performance in the East.
3. Continuous variations of diet with low calorie, low carb, low fat and gluten free. Consumers remain confused. Analysis Issues and Strategies Execution Plans
As eating habits are changing the cookie category is shrinking, while the good-for-you segment thrives. P&L forecast Key Issues Advertising
• Sales $30,385 1.What’s the priority choice for growth: find • Use awareness to drive trial of the new
Consumer Review • Gross Margin $17,148 new users or drive usage frequency among Grays. Target “Proactive Preventers”.
1. Gray’s taste drives a high conversion of trial to purchase (65% versus a norm of 50%). • GM % 56% loyalists? Suburban working women, 35-40.Main
2. Low purchase frequency (2.2 boxes per year vs. norm of 7.3) even among the most loyal early adopters. • Marketing Budget $8,850 2.Where should the investment/resources Message of “great tasting cookie without the
3. Consumers love Gray’s new “guilt free” concept • Contribution Margin $6,949 focus and deployment be to drive our guilt, so you can stay in control of your
New consumers attracted to Gray’s “guilt free” positioning, but the great taste drives loyalty • CM% 23% awareness and share needs for Gray’s? health”. Media includes 15 second TV,
Drivers 3.How will we defend Gray’s against the specialty health magazines, event signage,
Channel Review • Taste drives a high conversion of Trial to proposed Q1 2014 ‘healthy cookie’ digital and social media
1. Successful listings has driven strong distribution in Food Channels (90%) Purchase launches from Pepperidge Farms and Sampling
• Strong Listings in Food Channels Nabisco? • Drive trial with In-store sampling at grocery,
2. Low distribution at specialty stores at only 16% due to poor sales coverage.
• Exceptional brand health scores among Strategies Costco, health food stores and event
3. Weak coop/display for Gray’s is directly linked to our lower trade terms being offered. Early Adopters. Highly Beloved Brand 1.Continue to attract new users to Gray’s sampling at fitness, yoga, women’s
Gray’s needs to close distribution gaps, but must maintain advertising investment to drive trial. among niche. 2.Focus investment on driving awareness networking, new moms.
Inhibitors and trial with new consumers and building Distribution
Competitor Review • Low familiar yet to turn our sales into loyalty a presence at retail. • Support Q4 retail blitz with message
1. Re-evaluate strategy and use our power to begin to dominate the “good for you” segment. • Awareness held back due to weak 3.Build defence plan against new entrants to focused on holding shelf space during the
2. Dad’s wins on innovation and deep price discounts, but is weak on taste. Advertising defends with consumers and at store level. competitive launches. Q2 specialty blitz to
3. Major risk if the major cookie brands launch healthy versions that are near-match taste versus current brands. • Low distribution at specialty stores. Poor Goals grow distribution at key specialty stores.
coverage. • Increase penetration from 10% to 12%, Innovation
Gray’s has an opportunity to dominate the “good for you” segment before traditional brands enter segment.
• Low Purchase Frequency among most specifically up from 15% to 20% with the • Launch two new flavours in Q4/15 & Q4/16.
loyal. core target. Monitor usage frequency Explore diet claims, motivating and own-
Brand Review Risks among the most loyal to ensure it stays able.
1. Exceptional scores among early Adopters (“Proactive Preventers”), early base of brand lovers. • Launch of Mainstream cookie brands steady. Competitive Defence Plan
2. Brand funnel scores show we are still a niche player but yet to turn our sales into strong following (Pepperidge Farms and Nabisco). • Increase awareness from 33% to 42%, • Pre Launch sales blitz to shore up all
3. Awareness held back due to poor advertising scores with low attention scores and brand link scores. • De-listing 2 weakest skus weakened our in- specifically up from 45% to 50% within the distribution gaps. At launch, heavy
Gray’s growth due to taste quality, but new “guilt free” positioning will connect deeper and fuel new demand. store presence core target. Drive trial from 15% to 20%. merchandising, locking up key ad dates,
• Legal challenge to taste claims Close distribution from 62% to 72%. BOGO. TV, print, coupons, in-store
Opportunities • Hold dollar share during competitive sampling.
Overall Brand Challenge: It is time to transition Gray’s from a product-led brand into an idea-led brand to connect with • R&D has 5 new flavors in development. launches. Grow 11% post launch gaining up • Use sales story that any new “healthy”
consumers by owning the idea of “guilt free” snacking, rather than just selling a great tasting cookie. Gray’s needs to begin to • Sales Broker gains at Specialty Stores to 1.2% share. Target zero losses at shelf. cookies should displace under-performing
dominate and lead the “good for you” cookie segment. • Use social media to convert loyal following. and declining unhealthy cookies.
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What will you get from the Beloved Brands playbook?
In the past two decades, what makes brands successful has changed, and you must change with it. You will
learn the fundamentals of managing your brand, with brand love at the core. I will show you how to improve
your thinking to unleash your full potential as a brand leader.

You will learn how to think, define, plan, execute, and analyze, and I provide every tool you will ever need
to run your brand. You will find models and examples for each of the four strategic thinking methods, looking at
core strength, competitive, consumer, and situational strategies.

To define the brand, I will provide a tool for writing a brand positioning statement as well as a consumer profile
and a consumer benefits ladder. I have created lists of potential functional and emotional benefits to kickstart
your thinking on brand positioning. We explore the step-by-step process to come up with your brand idea and
bring it all together with a tool for writing the ideal brand concept.

For brand plans, I provide formats for a long-range brand strategy roadmap and the annual brand plan with
definitions for each planning element. From there, I show how to build a brand execution plan that includes the
creative brief, innovation process, and sales plan. I provide tools for how to create a brand calendar, and specific
project plans.

To grow your brand, I show how to make smart decisions on execution around creative advertising and media
choices. When it comes time for the analytics, I provide all the tools you need to write a deep-dive business
review, looking at the marketplace, consumer, channels, competitors and the brand. Write everything so that it
is easy to follow and implement for your brand.

You will learn everything you need to know so you can run your brand. My brand promise is to help make you
smarter so you can realize your full potential.

Graham Robertson
Founder and CMO of Beloved Brands Inc.
 BELOVED BRANDS
Chapter Summaries

Introduction: How the Beloved Brands playbook can work for you Page 5
• The purpose of the Beloved Brands playbook is to make you a smarter brand leader so your brand can win
in the market. You will learn how to think strategically, define your brand with a positioning statement and
a brand idea, write a brand plan everyone can follow, inspire smart and creative marketing execution, and
be able to analyze the performance of your brand through a deep-dive business review.

1. Why being a beloved brand matters Page 12

• The more loved your brand, the more powerful and profitable your brand will be. While old-school
marketers were yelling their message to every consumer, today’s brand leaders must build relationships
and create a bond with their most cherished consumers. We will explore the concept of a brand idea,
showing how it helps connect with consumers and organize everything you do on your brand. An overview
of the brand love curve will steer your strategic thinking and execution decisions.

2. How to use strategic thinking to help your brand win Page 21

• Strategic thinking is the foundation of brand management. I will take you through the five elements of
smart strategic thinking, including setting a vision, investing in a strategic program that focuses on an
identified opportunity, and how to leverage a breakthrough market impact into a performance result. I will
show how to turn smart thinking into strategic objective statements you can use in your Brand Plans.
Moreover, I will set up the four types of strategy, looking at your brand’s core strength, consumers,
competitors, and looking at the situation.

3. How to build your brand around your core strength Page 32

• Our core strength model forces you to select one of four possible options as your brand’s lead strength: the
product, brand story, experience, or price. Each choice has a distinct strategic focus, brand
communications, and desired reputation. I will show how the model comes to life with numerous brand
examples and a case study on Starbucks as they build a reputation around their commitment to an
exceptional consumer experience.

4. How to build a tight bond with your most cherished consumers Page 42
• Consumer strategy is about building a bond with your target consumer. I use the brand love curve to
demonstrate specific game plans for each stage of the curve, whether your brand is at the unknown,
indifferent, like it, love it or the beloved stage. This model sets up distinct strategies and 20 potential
actions. A case study on Special K shows how they evolved from an indifferent brand to a beloved brand.

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5. How to win the competitive battle for your consumer’s heart Page 54
• The competitive strategy leverages the brand’s positioning to win in the market. Brands must evolve their
strategy as they move from a craft brand to a disruptor brand to a challenger brand up to the dominant
power player. Each of the four choices offers a different target focus, unique strategies, and tactics.

6. How to address your brand situation before you make your next move Page 68
• Before initiating your plan, you must understand what is happening internally, within your own company.
You can learn four distinct situations, including fueling the momentum, fix it, re-alignment, or a start-up.
Each situation has different indicators and recommended strategies, as well as advice on the leadership
style to engage.

7. How to define the ideal target market to build your brand around Page 76
• Everything must start with the consumer target you will serve. I will show how to develop a consumer
profile that includes a segmented definition, consumer insights, consumer enemies, need states, and the
desired response that matches your overall strategy.

8. How to define your brand positioning to help your brand win Page 91
• You will learn the four elements of a brand positioning statement including the target you serve, the
category you play in, the space you serve that will help you win, and deal-closing support points—the best
positioning balances functional and emotional benefits. You will access a tool to choose from more than 100
benefits.

9. How to create a brand idea you can build everything around Page 102
• To become a successful and beloved brand, you need a Brand Idea that is interesting, simple, unique,
inspiring, motivating, and own-able. I will introduce a tool to help build your Brand Idea, and how to build a
winning brand concept.

10. How to use your brand idea to organize everything you do Page 113
• Use the brand idea to organize everything you do around five consumer touch-points, including the brand
promise, brand story, innovation, purchase moment and the consumer experience. The brand idea should
organize your brand positioning, advertising, media, product innovation, selling, retailing, and the
consumer experience. Learn how to build a brand credo, and brand story. We use Ritz-Carlton and Apple
case studies to support the learning.

11. How to build a brand plan everyone can follow Page 124
• Use a one-page format to simplify and organize your brand plan so everyone in your organization can
follow it with ease. You will learn how to find your brand vision, purpose, key issues, strategies, execution
tactics, and measurements.
12. How to build your brand’s execution plans Page 142
• Once you draft your brand plan, it is time to build separate execution plans with crystal clear strategies for
those who will execute on your brand's behalf. I will show how to complete a brand communication plan,
execution plan, and sales plan.

13. How to write a creative brief to set up brilliant execution Page 151
• The bridge between your brand plan and marketing execution is the creative brief. I will show how to write
a world-class brief using a recommended format. We will review smart and bad examples of a brief, broken
out on a line-by-line basis. I also introduce a mini-brief for when you are time-pressed.

14. How to run your brand’s advertising process Page 164

• I will take you through the ten steps to inspiring greatness from those experts you engage. I will introduce
a predictive model that measures branded breakthrough and a motivating message to consumers.

15. How to make advertising decisions using our ABC’s model Page 172
• This section outlines principles for achieving Attention, Brand link, Communication, and Stickiness—the
model I call the ABC’s. I will show examples of some of the best ads in the history of branding, to support
those principles. I hope it will challenge your thinking about your brand’s advertising.

16. How to make media decisions to break through the cluttered media world Page 187
• Six questions help you frame your media plan. Consider factors such as your brand's budget size, your
brand's core strength and how tightly connected your brand is with consumers. Then identify which point
on the consumer journey you wish to impact, where your consumers are most willing to engage your
message and what media choices best fit with your creative execution.

17. How to conduct a deep-dive business review to uncover brand issues Page 199
• The deep-dive review forces a 360-degree view of your brand by looking into the marketplace, consumers,
channels, competitors, and the brands. You will learn some of the best analytical tools, including consumer
tracking, customer scorecards, brand funnels, and the leaky bucket. I provide the 50 best analytical
questions to get you started, and a format for how to bring it all together into a business review
presentation.

18. Marketing Finance 101 to help manage your brand’s profitability Page 214
• Learn what you need to know about brand finance, including the eight ways you can drive profit. Learn how
to dissect an income statement and use the essential financial formulas that marketers need to know
including return on investment (ROI), growth, forecasting, cost of goods sold (COGS), and compound
annual growth rate (CAGR).

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