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The secret of big strategy today lies in clever tactics

Big strategy and clever tactics

In the US in the 1980s, an ad run on three television networks would reach 80% of consumers. Today some segments don’t even consume media on TV. A Newsweek study showed the average digital native cycles through 27 media outlets every non-working hour.

So it is not surprising that more companies are looking to deploy marketing’s special forces to deliver a tactical, real-time response that cuts through in a multi-screen world. Today’s restless consumer is a moving target, constantly searching for the next great thing. Context and need-state vary widely by audience, so how can we rely on anything but flexible tactics to really reach them effectively?

‘You can still dunk in the dark’, Oreo’s quick-witted tweet in response to the lights literally going out, took the plaudits at last year’s Super Bowl. It was short, sharp, and clever – and it achieved unprecedented cutthrough in one of the noisiest marketing arenas. But it’s not an approach that will be found in any marketing play book. Oreo’s opportunism and bravery highlighted how a single, smart execution can win the day over carefully crafted commercials months in the making.

Paddy Power smashed through sponsorship obligations with its sky writing at the Ryder Cup and cheekily sneaked a waxwork Sir Alex Ferguson outside Old Trafford to mock Manchester United’s early season form. Philips similarly made hay and mopped up Colgate customers after the latter’s Sonic Care electric toothbrush giveaway went toxic.

Even Coca-Cola is now looking to non-traditional, tactical communications to engage with consumers. Coke has employed myriad tactics in the past year, but there is a remarkable amount of consistency where it counts – attitude and consumer promise – and a lot of inconsistency around the vehicles they use to deploy that message.

Adopting a tactical mindset as an intrinsic part of the big strategy is a vital part of reaching people bored by a saturated and often myopic advertising scene. But to deploy tactics effectively – strategically – means having a solid understanding of your brand on which to base such activities.

Brands are being challenged to define a core set of values that can be rationalised against a variety of consumer segments, need states, markets, and media. If you know what you stand for, then being nimble and tactical works perfectly because there is unity of purpose across platforms. If you don’t, then you are still relying on the more manageable, broad-brush media campaigns, but you struggle to be contextually relevant.

It is no surprise that it is the brands with a deep understanding of themselves, and reflect this in powerful brand expressions, that happen to be the most successful. Having a solid brand strategy and story marries perfectly with tactics because they make sense for building relationships. Think Nike, Apple – think Beyoncé.

The singer caught the world on the hop with the message ‘Surprise!’ as she made an unexpected fifth album available only on iTunes before Christmas. The viral buzz was immense with 1.2 million tweets in 12 hours. The album sold 828,773 copies in three days, making it the fastest-selling iTunes album ever.

Beyoncé rationalised the approach by saying she was 'bored' of releasing music in a traditional way and that this approach allowed her to speak directly to her fans. It’s an attitude brands would do well to consider .

The days when consumers took their cue from a brand’s above-the-line strategy are numbered. Pure-play advertising is playing a smaller role in the way brands manifest themselves, as consumers create their own version of brand truth by gaining information from many sources. Twitter, TripAdvisor or Facebook may now be more important channels than old media, and brands need that ‘always on’ mindset to keep up.

But shooting from the hip to appear relevant in these changed times is not enough. As we said earlier, there remains a requirement for a strong strategic backbone. Ironically, the seemingly ‘unplanned’ tactic actually takes a lot of planning. Oreo had war-gamed its Super Bowl strategy and had a team of 30 from its main agencies plus legal support ready to handle whatever the biggest night in US advertising threw at it.

Oreo showed that the challenge is to be able to think multidimensionally about the brand and express it accordingly. Understand where the critical touchpoints exist on the path to purchase, and how your communications can be relevant to incentivising people to try it, touch it or walk into it. Tactics in and of themselves are not the new strategy. Being reactive is the new strategy. In this paradigm, inconsistency becomes its own consistency. The consumer increasingly gets it, even if not all brands do.


Richard Barrett is managing director at Initials Marketing [email protected] Robert Hocking is head of strategy at Initials Marketing [email protected]

Taken from the March 2014 issue of Market Leader. Browse the archive here.

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