Planner Reads

It’s time to upgrade from propositions as our holy grail of strategy and briefs.

I know you want to keep them, because they’re familiar, pithy, sometimes single-minded (at least, the good ones are), they form the central part of the strategic brief and you’re probably quite brilliant at finding the right one. Also, frankly, a well-crafted proposition is the strategists showpiece – an opportunity to encapsulate your strategy in a soundbite worthy of Oscar Wilde (or maybe Edward Bulwer-Lytton if you really know your stuff).

The problem is, propositions belong in a world where marketers and advertisers find messages. Things to say to people. Brilliant things that will change hearts and minds, but messages nonetheless.

Yet the world of brands has changed. The most effective brands are finding ways to share beliefs with their audience, to involve them, to engage them. And, although that can involve telling the audience something, it often doesn’t.

Don’t misunderstand me – I’m not trying to say that we should abandon traditional media, which seems more obviously geared to deliver a message. Absolutely not – all media can be effective beyond simply delivering a ‘message’. Nor am I suggesting that the communications world has gone digital, leaving ‘messages’ behind. ...