How not to Plan

1. Objectives Must Be SMART and Rooted in Reality

‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’

SMART Objectives. Marketing objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed. It's crucial to avoid setting objectives that are disconnected from reality, such as aiming for unrealistic market share gains without a corresponding increase in budget, radical new positioning, or identification of a new audience.

Business Objectives First. Start with clear business objectives like sales targets, profit margins, and market share goals. Then, define marketing objectives that support these, such as customer acquisition, purchase frequency, and distribution expansion. Crunch the numbers to ensure that the marketing objectives can realistically deliver the desired business outcomes.

Reach and Share of Voice. Reach and Share of Voice (SOV) are crucial hygiene factors. No matter how well-thought-out your objectives or creative work, a campaign can't deliver unless it reaches enough people and outshouts the competition.

2. Define Your Competition Broadly and Vigilantly

‘Your customers are the customers of other brands who occasionally buy you’

Beyond Direct Rivals. Brands should not solely focus on their immediate competitors but also consider smaller players and potential disruptors. Over-obsession with a direct rival can lead to a "Mephisto Waltz," where both brands mirror each other's strategies, creating an opening for challengers.

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness. A relentless focus on short-term ROI and cost-cutting can undermine long-term brand health. Cutting budgets and prioritizing targeted digital channels over broad-reach media can lead to a decline in brand salience and customer experimentation with alternatives.

Markets are Less Segmented. Markets are less segmented than marketers often assume. Consumers typically use a repertoire of brands, meaning all category brands compete with one another to some extent.

3. Loyalty is Overrated; Penetration Drives Growth

‘If you want loyalty buy a dog’

The Loyalty Myth. Marketing's obsession with loyalty is often misplaced. Research indicates that most loyalty campaigns don't work, and when they do, it's usually by increasing penetration, not loyalty.

Ehrenberg's Findings. Ehrenberg's research has consistently shown that brands have remarkably similar (and low) levels of "loyalty," and that growth primarily comes through penetration. Most of a brand's users use other brands most of the time.

Focus on Penetration. To maximize growth and profitability, brands need to talk to everyone in their category – customers and potential customers – and strengthen their relationship with the brand. Conventional "loyalty" metrics are poor ways to measure the strength of that brand relationship.

4. Nudging, Not Conversion, is the Realistic Goal

‘Advertising is in an odd position: its strongest protagonists think it has extraordinary powers and its severest critics believe them. Both are wrong’

Conversion is Misleading. The language of "conversion" implies a world where people have clear beliefs and stable behavior patterns. In reality, beliefs about brands are fluid, and behavior is messy.

Probabilistic Behavior. People answer research questions in a "probabilistic" way, leaning slightly in favor of one brand or another but not holding fixed beliefs. Behavior patterns are similarly fluid, with buyers of premium brands also buying Own Label.

Weak Influence. Advertising influences people as a weak force, not a strong one. The best we can hope for is a slight tendency to choose a brand over rivals, not a Damascene conversion.

5. Don't Fear Alienation; Fear Indifference

‘Mostly, people either don’t much like things or do quite like things. And the things they do quite like, they tend to buy quite regularly because they quite like them’

Alienation is Rare. It's rare for communication to actively turn regular users away while appealing to new ones. Brand users are not fundamentally different from non-users.

Habits are Hard to Break. People who are regular, long-term users of a brand are unlikely to defect just because they don't much like a new ad. Good ads tend to work for everyone.

Boldness is Key. Alienation paranoia can kill the bold, penetration-gaining ideas needed for brand growth. It's better to risk controversy than to be bland and forgettable.

6. Distinctiveness Trumps Differentiation

‘Rather than striving for meaningful perceived differentiation, marketers should seek meaningless distinctiveness. Branding lasts. Differentiation doesn’t’

Distinctiveness vs. Difference. Standing out is important, but saying something different is less important than saying something in a different way. A distinctive piece of communication on a category benefit will usually be more effective than a bland piece of communication on a differentiated positioning.

Emotional Responses. Campaigns evoking emotional responses tend to be more effective than those focusing on product messages. Successful brands don't tend to be differentiated from competitors.

Walkers Crisps Example. Walkers crisps' campaign has won many creative and effectiveness awards by focusing on the basic proposition that Walkers crisps are irresistible, said in a wonderfully original way.

7. Emotions Trump Messages

‘People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel’

Meta-Communication. Non-verbal cues such as tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions are more influential in relationship building than verbal messages and supporting evidence. What you say matters less than how you say it.

Emotional Priming. Campaigns containing little or no product information but appealing to emotions or "herd instincts" are more effective than conventional "message" advertising.

Philips Shaver Campaign. A Philips TV ad for its ‘Moisturizing Shaving System’ had no voiceover, product information, or rational message at all, but sales effects were remarkable. The key to that success was the powerful emotional response the ad evoked in men.

8. Granular Data Can Obscure the Big Picture

‘To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle’

The Granularity Trap. While more data is generally seen as beneficial, overly granular data can make it difficult to identify overarching trends and patterns. Digital data, with its high frequency, can make it harder to measure long-term effects.

Focus on Trends. It's important to balance granular, bottom-up analysis with broader, top-down perspectives. This means designing data systems that allow for easy shifting from zoom to wide angle.

Herd Effects. Analyzing data at the individual level can't measure important "herd effects," which only emerge at the group level. Social media metrics won't help, because herd effects are mostly non-verbal and offline.

9. Creativity Amplifies Effectiveness

‘Logic and over-analysis can immobilize and sterilize an idea. It’s like love – the more you analyze it, the faster it disappears’

Creativity Multiplies. Creativity isn't just about having new ideas; it's about how those ideas are brought to life. Great creative work can make a budget work 10 times harder.

Emotional Connection. Effective creativity can be less a function of how new and different an idea is, and more about how the idea is brought to life. People respond to the design of a pack or a website or an ad as a whole – not just as an idea, a message or a storyline.

Volvo Truck Ad. The dynamic steering systems of big trucks seem as dull as it gets. Until along comes Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits between two huge moving Volvo trucks as the sun rises – and suddenly we’re all interested in the amazing stability and precision of Volvo.

10. Balance Brand Building with Activation

‘Too much of today’s marketing is One P marketing’

The Four Ps. Marketing has traditionally been defined in terms of the four ‘Ps’: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. But it’s interesting how many marketers these days seem to see their role as ‘Promotion’.

Brand Building vs. Activation. Brand building focuses on long-term equity and emotional connections, while activation drives short-term responses. A balanced approach is crucial for sustained success.

Felix Cat Food. Over more than 25 years, advertising helped Felix cat food gain distribution, both directly (by influencing retailers) and indirectly (by boosting rate of sale). This in turn helped the brand quintuple market share, boosting ROI from advertising by 50%.

11. Challenge Assumptions and Embrace Open-Mindedness

‘In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and again to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted’

Confirmation Bias. Our brains look for evidence to confirm our beliefs. We see this every day. Planners rarely come to us looking for help to test their theories. They want evidence to support them.

Open-Mindedness. Successful strategies need us to be open to evidence that challenges our experience, our views or our first strategic hunches. And open to potentially useful learning from other brands, categories or campaigns.

The "Mine's Different" Syndrome. The "mine's different" syndrome stops us from learning from what’s happened before. And so we carry on repeating the same mistakes.

12. Details Matter: Execution is Key

‘The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it’

Beyond the Big Idea. It's not enough to have a great strategy and idea. Execution is where the magic happens.

Subtle Details. Subtle, seemingly irrelevant details can have big effects on people’s response to advertising. The traditional model of advertising assumes people process advertising messages in a rational way.

Philips Electric Shaver. A Philips TV ad for its ‘Moisturizing Shaving System’ was the complete opposite. No voiceover. No product information. No rational message at all. Just a sensual, dreamlike sci-fi fantasy, accompanied by enigmatic music. Not surprisingly, the ad performed well below norms for ‘communication’ in tracking. But sales effects were remarkable.

Last updated: February 24, 2025