Activation Strategy

The visible output of marketing, what defines our profession to most people, are mere tactics. An ad. A coupon. A promotion. A jingle. A sign in a ballpark. Essential? Yes, but inherently disposable and fleeting. However, underneath the tactics resides strategy. And if we get strategy right, it can endure and will spawn endless tactical executions that propel the brand.

In the brand architecture model I'm discussing, an activation strategy is written for each functional area of marketing. Each functional strategy starts with the positioning, lifting elements that are to be emphasized in the functional area. Next a specific strategy is developed that is relevant to the function and enables a tactical marketer to deliver the positioning.

These strategies, while self sufficient, are built to integrate completely across the marketing mix. It is key to see the collection of strategies as a whole and as individuals, much like a sports team where different players play different roles.

Most brand architectures include the following functional strategies: TV advertising, print advertising, promotion, premise marketing, product development, packaging, product aesthetics, properties/sponsorships, social media, publicity and on. Everything communicates, so don't overlook anything.

In a perfect world each functional strategy would communic
ate the complete positioning, but that is not always feasible or practical. So understand what part of the positioning can be most effectively communicated by this functional area and frame a strategy around it.

A simple template is this:

In (functional area) we will emphasize the following key aspects of the positioning (positioning elements) by (strategic choices inside the functional area).

An example:

• "In sports marketing for Fanta, we will emphasize the "tween social fun" aspects of the positioning by only pursuing sports that are played in groups and are often at the center of tween activity (e.g., basketball, not golf). Activation will emphasize the social aspect of the brand, not personal achievement". This strategy led us to beach volleyball.

It is most marketers nature to jump to the tactic, then rationalize a strategy based on a beloved tactic. This leads to gaps in the brand architecture and often off-strategy execution. Invest the time up front and build the functional strategies and the full architecture. If you inherit a going brand, reverse engineer the architecture and see if it is strategically sound.

Brilliant tactics rarely overcome bad strategy.