Theory and action
A few months ago I worked on a POV on creative briefing, along with my buddy Tim Polder, in which we tried to give creative briefs a clear role in the process of making ads. We used the analogy of briefs as time machines, designed to take us to a particular place in the future. The future is, after all, where objectives live: sales, brand metrics, media performance, and other concrete things we know we want. The uncertainty that exists between the present and the future we want is the reason we need strategy.
But of course, there are tons of ways to do it.
There’s a scene in the 2001 movie “Waking Life” in which a handful of friends wax philosophical about the state of the world. The pass a man just hanging out on a telephone pole. “Stupid bastard,” one says under his breath. “He’s no worse than us. He’s all action and theory; we’re all theory and no action,” another replies.
Strategy lives on a similar spectrum, from theory to action.
At the action end is the production-led end of planning. We need lots of things to fill a media plan. The message is straightforward. The timeline is short. It should be “hard working.” We’ll test and learn. “Let’s not overthink it.” The brief is due this afternoon.
No one gets into strategy to do this kind of work but it’s more important to clients’ business than many of us want to admit. (I’ve worked on two brands with long histories of doing iconic brand work. If you look at their media plans, you can see that they spend over half on retail creative — the production-led work — and spread the rest across a handful of brand initiatives.)
At the theory end is chin-scratching heaven. No historical or cultural reference is esoteric enough. Insert a few punchy quotes from the stoics, Chaucer, Charlie Munger, or, ahem, indie films from your formative years. The deck could be a coffee table book.
This end of the spectrum is much more fun. This is getting paid to go to college, a strategist’s dream. Yet, like being served your entree at a Michelin star restaurant in rural Denmark, you’re left wondering how exactly you eat the dish.
The truth is the future needs both ends and many points in between, all of which can serve as a departure gate for a time machine toward a particular future that we’re here to ensure.
And it’s not just retail versus brand. It’s one big thing versus a million little expressions. Declining broadcast viewership and a growing creator economy (and what that says about what audiences care about, when) mean brands big and small have to come to life in more places to get the reach and resonance they need. For every Super Bowl spot, brands need dozens of creator partnerships, brand collabs, social posts, CTV ads, and retail media placements. All of those offer high potential for creative experimentation, if not necessarily the kind that comes from a coffee table book strategy deck.
There are tons of resources across the spectrum, helping come up with big ideas and give them homes. A handful I recommend:
Great Mental Models
How Not to Plan
Eat Your Greens
Ogilvy on Advertising
Building Distinctive Assets
Go Luck Yourself
How Does The Pedlar Sing
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
—
I write these posts, 3-MINUTE MONDAYS, every other week. My goal with them is to share a snippet of insight into how to do strategy, build teams, and grow. Comment here or message me on LinkedIn if you want to chat. — Ben
