STRATEGIC THINKING

THE FUNDAMENTAL OF STRATEGY

15/11/2022
KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Strategy
It’s not the job only for Planning but for all departments, especially CS

→ Improving strategic thinking to improve the overall quality of work

 Bottlenecks of lacking strategic thinking?

1. Back & forth when getting brief from clients because

of unclear/lacking information

2. Unclear feedbacks/inputs for internal team

3. Making mistakes in execution or not keeping a consistency

from strategy to deployment
Agenda
1. Role of Communications in overall Marketing Strategy

2. How to think about the brief critically

3. Basic strategy elements & How it can solve client’s issue

01 BASIC ROLES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
IN OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY
The first thing about strategy is to understand the
state of the brand & how it can grow
 The basic binary way to look at Source of Brand Growth

Level
1
PENETRATION CONSUMPTION
BRAND GROWTH
How many users How much each user consume/spend

Level 2

Current New category Vol of Frequency of

category users users consumption/ consumption
From competitors’ Non-users time How much How often

Brand share OR Consume more at a

Market growth? time OR more
often?

Warning: PICK ONE ONLY!!!

 It’s important to understand the state of the brand & its
Source of Growth to see which goal should we aim for.

Eventually, a brand might need to do all. But at one state of the

brand / in one campaign, pick one!
 Basic rules of thumbs on Brand growth

1. Market leader will benefit the most when market expands

2. Second or lower player usually benefits from getting share from others in the
same category

3. Only once the user base is enough, then we can focus on increase consumption

4. The choices between “more consumption at a time” or “more frequent

consumption” depend on the nature of the category

* Correct most of the time. Exceptions based on company/brand’s vision

Understand the elements of a marketing strategy &
What’s the contribution of communication
 • Channels • Feature
• Market • Quality
coverage • Branding
• Visibility • Packaging
• Location • Services
• Inventory… • Warranties

• Advertising
• Price strategy
• Sales
• Payment term
promotion
• Pricing
• Public relation
• Discount
• Trial
strategy…
campaign…

→ Which one is the place for a communication agency?

More often than not, as an agency, we don’t tap in
the core of each P, such as:

- Product feature & quality

- Pricing strategy
- Distribution channel
- Sales promotion

However, communication plays an important role

in supporting all elements of 4P
Example: Answers:

Client is launching a new product Product: The category, its USP & vs.
& asks us to design the PKG Competitors → What to highlight

→ Which information should we get? Price: Its pricing strategy & positioning
→ Should it look premium or for mass
→ Anything to highlight to suit its price &
the target of that segment

Place: Where it’s distributed? MT or TT? Which

is the focus? Situation of shelf?
→ How to ensure visibility & catch shoppers on
their journey

Promotion: Any launching campaign?

→ Support needed between PKG x
Communication to educate usage
Brief: What further information we should get?

This summer, we’re launching a new Product: What’s the most important
UV Cream, targeting Gen Z female factors of consumer while choosing UV?
How our USP attracts them? Vs.
Objective: To convert users from competitors?
brand X by driving trial in summer Price: How’s our price vs. competitors?
period with new USP Do the consumers sensitive to price?
What’s the trend of UV spending?
USP: A technology to have triple
sunblock effect while gentle to skin Place: Where do we distribute? How’s the
shopping behavior at that channel? How
→ Requirements: IMC campaign, focus on do we look on shelf vs. competitors?
digital with BTL trial activation
Promotion: Summer is the period with
heavy promotion. Do we have any? How
trial plays a role in this CJ?
In order to see a clearer picture of why we have to
care about the entire 4P, let’s look at the basic
elements of strategic planning
 An “ok definition” of Strategic Planning, aka Strategy

“The best plan out of all viable plans, usually consists a

framework of decision making, to solve a well-defined
problem, in order to achieve a well-defined outcome”
 The framework of Strategic Planning
Purpose of the brief | Objective What client wants MISSION
1. Understand the
“SITUATION”
State of the brand & how it can grow Understand the
situation
Penetration Consumption
New vs. Current CAT users Usage volume vs. frequency ANALYSIS
Its marketing mix Find out any
obstructions
Product Price Place Promotion

2. Identify the “ISSUE”

Identify the
Where & what exactly is the issue?
Opportunity? bottleneck
ISSUE

3. Set the “GOAL”

What’s the exact outcomes we want
Define the desired
to achieve after this proposal? outcomes GOAL

4. Plan the “ACTION”

DIRECTION How to solve the STRATEGY
Solution for the issue issue

IDEA
Overarching idea to flush out
the direction
EXECUTION Provide solid solution ACTION
Channels | Media | Activities

REPORT & PDCA

 The framework of Strategic Planning
Purpose of the brief | Objective What client wants MISSION
1. Understand the
“SITUATION”
State of the brand & how it can grow Understand the
situation
Penetration Consumption
New vs. Current CAT users Usage volume vs. frequency ANALYSIS
Its marketing mix Find out any
obstructions
Product Price Place Promotion

2. Identify the “ISSUE”

Identify the
Where & what exactly is the issue?
Opportunity? bottleneck
ISSUE

3. Set the “GOAL”

Define the desired
What’s the exact outcomes we want
to achieve after this proposal?
All steps are important
outcomes GOAL

But when receiving the“ACTION”

4. Plan the brief, we must focus on getting enough information to enable the
whole DIRECTION
team to (1) Understand the situation &the
How to solve (2) IdentifySTRATEGY
the issue
Solution for the issue issue

Sometimes, clientsIDEA don’t provide enough information and/or don’t even know the issues
of their own brand, which results in a generic brief
Overarching idea to flush out
the direction
EXECUTION ACTION Provide solid solution
→ Have to know how to ask the “strategic questions” & think about the brief critically
Channels | Media | Activities

REPORT & PDCA

02 HOW TO THINK ABOUT
THE BRIEF CRITICALLY
GOOD PROPOSAL COME FROM
GOOD BRIEF
STRATEGY
is solution for a brand’s issue.

No issue = No solution

A well-defined issue is
a issue half solved
EXAMPLE
You are the Marketer in charge of a cup noodle brand.

Your brand is ranked #2 in the market.

Recently, your sales has been dropping for 3

months in a row.

You want to brief an agency for a new campaign.

But first, what is the problem?

Typical
answer Low & Have to increase brand awareness
Really?
 That’s not the problem.

If you’re ranked #2 in the market, is Brand

awareness really an issue?
Better
answer Dropping preference in current consumers
 Better!
But why?
What’s the real
issue? Maybe your competitor has just
launched a new product with new
flavor, lower price and double
marketing budget?
What’s the real
issue? Maybe your competitor has just
launched a new product with new
flavor, lower price and double
marketing budget?

From this, we already can have a solid brief

→ How to identify the issue?

 How to identify the issue:

1. Where is the issue from?

2. What exactly is the issue?

 1. Where is the issue from?

4P 3C

CATEGORY COMPANY

CONSUMER

The issue can come from any of the above

→ Need to look at all angles to see any potential issues
→ Based on the objective to prioritize the issue & decide which one to focus
on solving
 1. Where is the issue from?
Example

Purpose & objective What to look at Prioritize it

IMC campaign for an AC brand What’s the USP & new tech of X Maybe consumer’s perception
vs. Y? (product) on price & USP is the most
Raise awareness of a new critical point to focus on
technology to recruit How’s the price of X vs. Y?
intenders who are currently (price)
considering our brand X and
competitor Y What’s criteria of consumers to
choose AC? How much they care
about price? (consumer)

How’s their journey & Where they

shop? (consumer & place)

What’s going on at the POS?

(place)

Does Y have appealing

promotion (Promotion)
…
 2. What exactly is the issue?

There’s no fixed framework for this → Apply logical thinking

In combination with the understanding of above

What a generic The obvious issue that provide no

Surface issue
brief usually understanding of why it happened and
provide what’s area it’s from

What we have to The deeper issue(s) that explain the

acquire by Underlying situation, usually consist numerous factors
asking issue from 4P & 3C
…

What we have to The deepest issue that impact the whole

acquire by Root cause brand growth, which if we solve, we can
analyzing solve all other underlying issues
 When receiving a brief, clarify the “issue” first

To find the exact issue(s), it’s mandatory to keep asking “WHY” until we
cannot ask anymore.

Look around 4Ps & 3C to get all required information

If client cannot answer, we can analyze based on the given information, but
it’s still important to get the perspectives from client.
03 BASIC STRATEGY ELEMENTS
 The framework of Strategic Planning
Purpose of the brief | Objective
1. Understand the
“SITUATION”
State of the brand & how it can grow
After understanding the situation –
Penetration Consumption
New vs. Current CAT users Usage volume vs. frequency
identifying the issue
Its marketing mix
Product Price Place Promotion → Set the goal to make change after
the campaign
2. Identify the “ISSUE”
→ Plan the action with appropriate
Where & what exactly is the issue?
Opportunity? direction to solve the issue

3. Set the “GOAL”

What’s the exact outcomes we want
to achieve after this proposal?
“A right strategy has to
solve the well-defined
4. Plan the “ACTION”
DIRECTION
issue and make change
Solution for the issue
to achieve the
IDEA
Overarching idea to flush out
the direction
well-defined goal”
EXECUTION
Channels | Media | Activities

REPORT & PDCA

INSIGHT

Facts
Something true & obvious about product
or category

Perception
Something that you understand or notice
through observing their behavior

Insight
Subconscious mind, true feelings & thoughts the T.A
may not able to speak out
→ Tap in this to change their perception/action
Example: A man and his coffee choice

Facts
I like black coffee

Perception
Black coffee is stronger. Coffee with milk is
kinda too sweet for me.

Insight
Drinking black coffee makes me feel manly
PROPOSITION

A “PROMISE” made for “TARGETS

Proposition must be a catalyst of the change

BEFORE AFTER
Q. Which one is PROPOSITION?
Proposition 1
I’m a handsome, rich, quality, credible & gentle guy.

Proposition 2
I love you. I’ll make you happy.
Q. Which one is PROPOSITION?
Proposition 1
Just telling his spec. Not a proposition!
I’m a handsome, rich, quality, credible

Proposition 2
This is talking about target’s benefit
 The basic checklist for everyday usage

When receiving the brief When evaluating the proposal

Make clear of the situation: Check “solution” based on “issue” & “goal”:

- Which state the brand is in? - Are we clear about the target portrait & what
- What’s its source of growth? they want?
- Depends on the objective, which angles - Is the insight the right one to solve the “issue”
of marketing mix we should look at? pre- defined?
- Is the proposition able to make change to reach
Define the issue/challenge to solve & goals: the goal?
- Does the proposition talk about the target
- Did the client make clear of the issue they want benefits or just our specs?
to tackle?
- Is the goal to achieve after the campaign Cross check the whole strategy
well- defined?
- If client wants us to find out the issue & set the - Is this the best solution or there’s another way
goal, did they provide enough information? to solve the brief?
- Ask “Why” continuously to find the root - Does it give a framework of what to do to
cause, even if it’s annoying make change?
- Can it make any change?
→ Challenge & lead the clients