Deciding between new messaging and a new positioning

The question

Before briefing more creative, marketing leadership had one question to settle: did the next brief need new messaging, or a new positioning?

One answer means a new brief; the other means a new strategy. Choosing wrongly would cost a full cycle of creative development.

Our approach

The work separated message execution from brand positioning. We set aside whether the creative was good, and asked what each route made people believe about the brand.

We compared that with what the brand needed people to believe, and read every conversation against a known audience, users and prospects from across its segments. That let us tell a message that works for existing users from one that could win new ones.

The stimulus was the campaign thinking itself, shown early and unfinished, and people were asked to react personally and help make the routes better. Because the routes were still in development, they could improve as the conversations went on.

What the team came away with

Marketing leadership had a clear diagnosis of what each creative route was doing for the brand, with direction for the next agency brief.

And because the routes were shown early, the team had creative thinking already shaped with the people it needed to reach.