If you don’t ask the right questions, which is the most valuable part of any discovery journey, you won’t unlock the answers that can make a difference.
You will probably follow the same path as everyone else. The right keys will remain hidden. Possibly even in plain sight.
But if you have ever tried to play an escape room, you will know the key asset to take into that (or any) problem solving arena is the spark of curiosity, and a healthy dose of ‘what if?’
Mentalities that may well have been in play when you founded your business, created your product, or had a lightbulb moment of innovation joy.
If only that carried through into the telling of the story after the creation phase. The positioning. The character. The ownability beyond the ingredients blend.
Slavish following of category cues leads to copycat culture. A love of ‘values’ as front and centre assets can make your brand interchangeable. Taking your name of a product can make it hard to distinguish you from the next if you are missing what matters to the audience, rather than to you.
So the reality check is that there is a need to reboot for many, using those curiosity and ‘what if?’ approaches to get to the heart of real stand out.
To find something ownable. Talkable. Shareable. Motivating for all. Personal. Colourful. And smart.
It’s not creating an ad strapline, it’s finding a brand narrative. A camp fire style story flow. Something maybe educational and emotional. But definitely based in what others can’t say or share in the same way
And that is the Escape Room model, a distillation of killer questions, challenging provocations, deep dive conversations and review of all that is going one under the surface for the brand , the leadership team and the wider company collective
How does it work?
You will know your product, your pricing, your audience (probably) and have a claim already to work from (possibly).
What you will recognise that you don’t have is an ownable way of getting that across, enough audience recall or action, or the white space in which to communicate, share or expand.
Maybe you are starting out as a new brand. Maybe you are well established but feeling a little tired. Maybe your market has moved pace, and you haven’t. Maybe old USPs are now the universal entry level offer.
So 'The Escape Room' starts with a half day workshop for your core team to tackle conundrums and challenges and find the keys to help you change the rules.
We will work through six themed areas and questions to make you think within each:
Love
Trust
Respect
F**k Respect
Energy
Power
Thinking audience first. Finding the personal and human. Teasing out the differentials. Discussing, debating, evolving. And capturing all thoughts.
Post workshop, I spend time distilling all that was discussed and share back:
a summary of the challenging, the positive and the interesting
a strategy showing how a refreshed narrative is borne from this and how it can live for customers, employees and broader stakeholders
a set of outputs and key materials to help live the outcomes and focus
o a North Star brand narrative
o a set of workable and consistent brand messages
o a distilled conversational story
o a content pillar focus recommending how the refreshed and ownable story should live across social and editorial media channels, and integrate with other marketing briefs and channels
all of which we discuss on face to face/live
What you end up with as outcomes is
Clarity and consistency at all touchpoints
Conversational ease around your brand for all stakeholders
Recall, repeatability and real-world relevance
Something ownable as your brand platform from which expansion and marketing can flow
Focused ambitions
This is a plan and a model based on year of experience of helping businesses find and tell their best story for their audiences.
But everything is bespoke to a degree, based on your challenge and situation.
So let’s talk business goals, details and gaps.
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