Bingham’s Ultimate Strategy Document Round-up

For reference, here is a list of possible questions that can be used to

build an advertising strategy. Two things to note:
1. not all questions will always be relevant; many overlap; and
2. the final handoff to the creative team will be a creative brief which
distils this information down to (ideally) a single, succinct page.

1. Brand issues
• What is the fundamental brand personality or brand character?
• What aspect of the brand personality should the advertising express?

• What do our prospects currently think or feel about the brand?

• What is the “brand print”? – i.e., the first description of what the
brand means to me, the target prospect.
• What is the perceptual space it occupies in the consumer’s mind?
• What are the most important factors contributing to the brand’s
strength or weakness?
• What do want our prospects to feel about the brand? The same, only
more so? Or something different?
• What is the brand’s ambition? what do we want the brand to stand
for in the future?

• What is the brand promise?

• What is the single most important idea about the brand that you
want the prospect to take out of the advertising?

• Which brand is the category standard by which all brands in that

category are judged?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 1

2. The Product

• What are the product’s fundamental attributes? (in the product)

• What are its benefits, or values (in the mind of the consumer)
• What is the single point of greatest leverage that we have? (The
product itself? the competition, economy, marketplace, consumer
benefit?)

• What is it about the product that solves a problem for the

consumer?
• Is there something new or different about the product that
addresses a consumer problem?
• New product uses? A reason to use more of it, or use it more often,
use it in a different way?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 2

3. Objectives

• Overall: Why Are We Advertising?

And for all of the following:
• Metrics: how will the effectiveness of this campaign be measured?
• How will we know we have succeeded?

Brand objectives
• Where are we now, and where do we want to be, brand-wise?
• What should people think of the brand vs the competition? (e.g.,
increase awareness, change an attitude, refresh the brand)
• How does the advertising fit into the total brand strategy?

Marketing objectives
• increase market share? increase volume, profits, sales? Launch new
product?

Behavioural objectives
• What do you want people to DO?
• What is the desired action from the prospect?
• What attitudes do we want changed? or established?
• What habits do we want formed?
• What do they think now? what do we want them to think after they
see our ads?

Message objectives
• What is the single thing you want people to notice, feel or believe as
a result of the advertising?
• What is the single most important idea this advertising should
convey?
• Do we want the prospect to know something has changed?
Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 3
4. The Client has a Problem

• Is there a major client/brand crisis that the advertising must address?

• Is the advertising part of a bigger solution to a problem that includes

other related initiatives in marketing, PR and the overall business
plan?

• Is there barrier that currently prevents the prospect from buying?

• Is there an attitude in the mind of the consumer that we must

overcome?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 4

5. Target Market

Whom are we talking to, and why?

• Who is currently a customer?
• What must we do to retain them (increase use, etc.)
• Who is a customer of the competition?
• Can we poach them?
• Do we need to shift anything to get at them?
• Or for that matter, do we need to change our target audience? To
what?

How do we define them?

• Demographics: age, sex, location, income, ethnicity; education;
where in the family cycle?
• Psychographics: what are their values, generally? What are their
hopes and fears?
• Describe their lifestyle.
• What else do they buy? What do they own?
• What is their “taste level”?
• What are their habits, interests, hobbies, pastimes, patterns?
• What are their physical characteristics?

• What are their beliefs and feelings about the category of product or
service?
• Is there something unusual we know about them that might help us?
• What are the relevant truths about their lives/feelings that could help
us?
• What are their real or perceived needs and wants?
• Do they have a desire, fear, hope, or need – that we can answer?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 5

• You are casting a movie with our target as the main character: can
you give me a composite character sketch of this person?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 6

How do we talk to them?
• What will trigger the desired response? (cultural references,
symbolism, humour, pathos)
• What is the language of credibility for this target? (sentimentality?
sincerity? science? irony? family values? Social consciousness?)
• When, where, and under what circumstances will the target be most
receptive to the message?
• Is there an ideal context for the advertising message?
• Would any form of endorsement be especially credible for this
product?
• What media will deliver this at the lowest cost?

How does the target relate to the product?

• How does the prospect use & think about the category, the brand &
the product?
• Is the relationship with the product emotionally or rationally based?
• Is there a loyalty that exists or does it have to be developed?
• What are the purchase dynamics for the consumer? Who influences
the purchase decision?
• How does the consumer purchase this product? What is the process?
• What about the retail environment in which the purchase takes
place?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 7

6. The Competition

• Who are our competition?

• What category are we competing in?

• If the prospect is not buying from us, whom are they buying from?
• Why are our competitors successful in the market?
• What are their key strengths and weaknesses? How can we counter
their strengths and/or exploit their weaknesses?

• Why is our product or service different (in real or perceived ways), or

better?
• In what way should we address the competition?
• Are we responding tactically (short term, immediate) or strategically
(longer term, big picture) to our competition?

7. Support for the consumer benefit or “promise”

• What competitive benefit is promised to the consumer by the product

or service?
• What will the product do for the prospect?
• How will the promise of that benefit be supported by the advertising?
--By demonstrating it
-- by dramatizing it
--Testimonials (peer endorsement)
--Celebrity endorsement (aligned values)

• What is the “human need” which can be satisfied in part by the

purchase of he client’s product or service?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 8

8. Key Fact / Reason Why

• Competing products can have similar benefits; is there one quality or

fact about the product – The Reason Why – that allows this product
to deliver the consumer benefit more effectively (cheaper, easier,
faster, more pleasurably) than the competition?

• What is/are the significant & unique quality(ies) of the product or

service which will convince the target/prospect that it can and will
deliver the promised benefits?

• Will this Reason Why convince the target/prospect that the product or
service can and will deliver the promised benefits?

• Is The Reason Why unique and important?

• Friskies example: “9 out of 10 Cats Like the Taste Better”

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 9

9. Mandatories

Brand/corporate issues:
• Are there corporate ad guidelines that have to be adhered to?
• Are there required logos, colours, music, tag lines, sound effects?
(the “sonic sting”)
• Is this a pool-out ad (i.e., consistent, repeated elements)? What are
those elements?
• Is there a particular feeling, tone or mood, or style required for the
ads?
(which may also be a branding concern).

Required info:
• Address?
• Phone?
• Website?
• Dates?
• Sale details?
• Exact product name?

Legals:
• Does the ad require any particular text, disclaimers or information as
a result of federal law, CRTC or industry regulations, insurance,
liability issues, or fear of litigation?

Etc:
Any unusual requests from the client?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 10

10. Media

• Is there a preferred media mix?

• What is the media selection that will be most effective and most cost-
efficient to hit our target?
• Is this a seasonal campaign, requiring certain hard seasonal
deadlines?
(Xmas, back to school, Mother’s day, hockey playoffs, Olympics?)
• Is it local, regional, national, international?
• Do we expect it to have a life on the internet, in which case it has to
translate beyond our borders?

11. Budget

Do we know what our total budget is?

Is it broken out?
• Research
• Development
• Creative
• Media

12. Idea Starters

Anything else you think would be helpful?

Ultimate Strategy Doc Checklist 11