Strengthening early creative platforms for a home technology brand

The question

A home technology brand’s agency had written several early creative platforms, each a different way of bringing the same brand strategy to life.

Before any went further, the marketing team wanted to know what each made people believe about the brand, how far it could stretch, and how to keep it on strategy as it grew. Choosing too early could throw away what was strongest in the others.

Our approach

We asked for several platforms, since a pair becomes an either-or, and for the same rough finish on each, so people judged the ideas without being swayed by polish.

Each of the brand’s audience segments had groups of its own, and every group included people who already knew or used the brand, so a platform’s pull on existing users could be read beside its pull on people the brand still hoped to reach.

The client and agency shaped the stimulus with us at check-ins, so what people saw stayed true to the strategy it was written for.

What the team came away with

For each platform, a read of what it was doing for the brand and where it was strongest, with ways to strengthen its elements and keep it on strategy.

The marketing team reviewed our draft and asked for more on what would make the lead platform succeed or lose its way, so the final debrief set out those conditions beside the recommended platform.

The agency and marketing team could take the creative forward knowing what each platform did for the brand, and what the lead platform would need to keep doing as it grew.