Expediting Strategic Thinking.

In the second quarter of 2020, we were approached by a global pharmaceutical business to shape the brand positioning for four products within its portfolio.

The organisation, over a number of years, had enjoyed success across multiple territories but within a singular B2B context. Recognising the shift in category dynamics, the marketing team wanted to reshape each brand proposition with distinct positioning (and without market cannibalisation) to drive market demand through end-user engagement and therefore, appeal to a B2C market.

With pressing strategic marketing plans to be completed by the end of June, the client needed internal engagement and all four proposition statements within four weeks.

Process and Objectives.

Our strategic leads at Truth prepared pre-work and session agendas across each of the four brands in question. To generate the full brand proposition, we used our Brand Lab — a design sprint methodology framework for structuring any brand positioning output.

We scheduled the sessions. But this process needed to include various stakeholders across the business, who were in various locations across the globe. We were also in the midst of a global pandemic and what turned out to be, half way through our lock-down (COVID-19).

The Brand Lab Sprints.

As a facilitator, it’s our responsibility to structure the process but also help the participants get on the right track to achieve the outputs needed for shaping a brand proposition.

We had a team of nine on each brand sprint — some of the participants were from an FMCG background, some were not. Some had experienced corporate structure, some not. The facilitator’s job was to ensure everyone’s voice was equal — and that the outputs across all four sprints were not only distinct, but also compelling.

With lock-down in full swing and locations split across the sprint team — we opted for a virtual platform to allow everyone to collaborate and followed the tried and tested process of design thinking. Miro allowed us to create the structure of a physical session on a virtual whiteboard — including post-it notes, sticky dots and most importantly, fast thinking…

We ran each sprint in four hours. In person, they can take up to a day’s worth of time — but we didn’t have that luxury and with the working world in Zoom-fatigue we wanted to ensure our thinking was robust and fresh — not throw-away or lacking any much-needed momentum.

The workshops were really useful: I’ve told the team we need to arrange similar sessions all across the year.

Global Brand Director.

Post-Sprint.

The great thing about Miro is you can download your boards — no photographs or note taking required. We learned that it’s best to keep everything in one place — so the task of output is more straightforward.

The process of the Brand Lab gives us structure to form the brand proposition statement (and Brand House) whilst overlaying our strategic approach to arrive at something that’s both compelling and accurate.

The propositions were finalised and presented to users for review and feedback. The feedback, in our experience, tends to be minimal. Why? Because we take the team on a journey — so the final output doesn’t have any hidden surprises and it’s fully aligned with the business vision.

Results and Next Steps.

That’s four Labs, four brand propositions, four weeks. Fast but ultimately, very effective.

The brand proposition for each brand in question now shapes the brand identity and its visual evolution. This is the foundation of appropriate branding, consistency, consumer appeal and storytelling.

If you want to find out more about our Brand Lab read on here. If you’re interested in why we believe in the process so much read on here.