Those three threads are: the business model, the branding, and tactical campaigns.

It’s surprisingly easy to confuse the business model with the branding. Roy Spence of GSD&M long ago reminded companies that “it’s not what you sell, it’s what you stand for.” But whether what you sell is cars, electricity, or flying people around the country, the lines between what you sell and what you stand for—your brand promise—are easily blurred.

This is especially true when a business is in flux, considering new products and new lines of service. Be careful that your client isn’t asking your branding or re-branding to address questions that can only be resolved as business decisions.

At the other end of the spectrum, it’s also critical to separate tactical campaigns from branding. True tactical efforts—a new product launch, a limited time offer, announcement of improved features—only exist for a defined period of time. And while tactical campaigns ought to help support the branding, it is crucial to understand that a tactical campaign is not the same as a strategic branding campaign. If you’re not branded, or have a weak or damaged brand, you need a branding or re-branding campaign, not a tactical campaign. And you need to focus on branding first, because if you’re not branding yourself, the consumer is branding you in their mind in ways you can’t control.

So start with the business model. Then establish your branding or re-branding with a strategic branding campaign. Once you have brand clarity, you can layer in tactical campaigns as needed. Keep those threads separate in your mind and your client’s. You’ll be glad you did.

When working with our advertising clients, I make several points when they ask me to help them understand their data.

• Be open to what the data says; the story it tells.
• Data is ruthlessly objective. It will tell you what’s going on whether you want to know it, or not.
• Know what you’re looking for. Pay attention to the data that is meaningful.
• Ignore the noise. There is an awful lot of data that tells you nothing. Don’t feel like you have to understand everything. You don’t.
• Bottom line revenue and transaction numbers usually won’t help you understand “why” you have a problem. And most importantly remember: changing the bottom line number is a goal, not a strategy.
• Look for patterns. Patterns repeat themselves over several months or several years. Patterns reveal key demographic groups, key messages, key seasonal habits, and key differences between you and your competitors.
• Look for trends. A trend is more often than not a straight line, up or down. Trends happen over a specific time frame and don’t always repeat themselves. Often I have to convince companies to watch both “year over year” and a trend line so they can see meaningful short-term movement. “Year over year” numbers don’t always tell the entire story and can disguise success or failure, especially with a company whose brand is broken.
• Look for variations to patterns or trends. This is critical. Paying attention to variations will help you stay ahead of and respond to the market, rather than react to it. If discovered early, variations can also help you spot opportunities to adjust and maximize sales potential.  They can even help you exploit a competitor’s weakness, if interpreted properly. Variations almost always raise questions that require follow up research. Commit to it and reap the benefits of deeper insight.
• Ask the right question(s)–especially if they run counter to conventional industry thinking–and then be open to what that data tells you.

Asking the right questions and not just the conventional ones is always the most difficult for clients to accept. No matter what business you are in, your category has its own “traditional wisdom;” its own language or jargon; its standard methods of measurement. Challenging those industry customs is one of the most important tasks we perform at Ampersand, and clients who are open to that challenge are almost always rewarded.

To help people understand why they should look at data in as many ways as possible, I usually cite Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball. The book chronicles the Oakland A’s 2002 baseball season, where General Manager Billy Beane has to field a team on a shoe string budget and be competitive. To do that, Beane recognizes he’ll have to challenge baseball tradition and evaluate players to draft and trade in a different way.

Beane hires a “numbers cruncher” that is part of a small group of amateurs that believe Baseball Insiders have evaluated players base on the wrong set of statistics (data) for years.

These statisticians asked a surprisingly simple question: what helps a team win more games in a season? The answer rocked baseball’s elite because it had nothing to do with home-runs, stolen bases, R.B.I.’s, or batting average—all of which had formed the foundation for evaluating a player’s worth for over 100 years. Instead, a player’s ability to “get on base” was much more predictive, and crucial for winning games.  And when you looked at that one statistic without the traditional context to overshadow it, suddenly a different set of players rose to the top for consideration–players that insiders undervalued and often underutilized–players that were completely hidden during the draft.  These were the guys who typically sat on the bench or were hidden in the minor leagues.  And as it turned out for Billy Beane, that also made them cheap and available for trade.

So, acting against conventional wisdom, Beane assembled a team of these undervalued players and went on to break the record for winning the most consecutive games in a regular season.  They even made the playoffs. And it was all accomplished on one of the lowest budgets in baseball.

The whole industry took notice, and the Boston Red Sox tried to hire Beane at the end of that season. Beane turned them down. So, the Red Sox went on to hire others that were willing to look at data differently and instituted the same kind of system for evaluating players that the Oakland A’s had developed. Two years later, the Red Sox won the World Series–breaking “the curse of the Bambino” cast almost 80 years ago.

And it only happened because some baseball fans–who loved data and statistics–we’re willing to be open to the real story, the story that the data was telling them.  They let the data lead their thinking, not confine it.  At Ampersand, we believe that if you are open to what data can tell you and willing to search for new insights, the same kind of breakthroughs can be accomplished for most businesses today.

I’ve heard that (and said it myself) in countless meetings,  but the point was reinforced for me during the Mondo Mystery Movie screening here in Austin last week. The whole idea of the Mystery Movie is that you buy a ticket without knowing what you’re going to see. Right away this puts you in a specific group of people who love and trust the Mondo and Alamo Drafthouse brands. A couple weeks after buying my ticket, I received an email telling me where to go. It was a church off of 360.

“The Exorcist!” I thought to myself, completely satisfied that I would see a genre classic with an enthusiastic crowd. But when I showed up at the church, there were 10 luxury buses lined up, and we were quickly herded inside. The buses left, full of hundreds of film fans who had no idea their destination. Thanks to a police escort, we quickly made our way downtown to Highland Mall. Like any film nerd worth my salt, my first thought was “Dawn of the Dead!” the Romero classic where a small band of survivors wait out a zombie apocalypse inside a shopping mall.

Sure enough, as the buses pulled up, 200 zombies rushed forward to attack. We had to make our way out of the buses, past the zombie hoards and into the mall. Inside, we not only got to see Dawn of the Dead in a mall surrounded by zombies…but George Romero himself was on hand to introduce the film. After the film, we all received limited edition (and highly collectible) Mondo posters for the event.

As I got on the bus to return to my car, I was reeling from the experience. And then it hit me. That wasn’t a film experience, it was a brand experience. What Mondo did that night wasn’t make me love Romero zombie movies any more. That’s impossible. They made me love the Mondo brand even more. They showed they understand genre film fans, and what sort of experiences we’ll find most meaningful. And they delivered on that experience on every level possible. There were countless ways they could have made the production of the evening cheaper of more cost effective, but they held nothing back. What they got in return were hundreds of film fans loyally following their brand to see what they’ll give us next.

That’s a powerful brand experience.

When a brand lets itself go, the numbers tell the story: transactions slip or repeat business drops. It happens to big brands, and it happens to little ones. Still, the brand’s owners may insist the problem is elsewhere. “We have a strong brand,” they’ll say. “Everybody knows who we are. What we stand for hasn’t changed in 30 years.”

First off, “everybody knows who we are” is awareness, not brand strength; it doesn’t mean that everyone thinks well of your brand.

But also, “hasn’t changed in 30 years” is often exactly the problem. Not that your brand promise has to change, but how you deliver on that promise absolutely needs to evolve with changing times.

The world has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. Some of the changes are superficial, like changing fashions in colors and fonts that can make a logo look dated. Other changes are more profound: the way women returning to the workforce has changed families; the new ways we consume music, TV and film; and above all, the way the Internet has revolutionized every aspect of our lives.

So, a brand whose numbers are slipping needs to ask itself several questions:

1. Have we stayed true to our brand promise? Or have we made business decisions over the years that have painted a much different brand portrait in the consumer’s mind? In other words, does the consumer still see us the way we see ourselves?

2. Is what we stand for still relevant to consumers?

3. If our brand promise is still relevant, are we still delivering on that brand promise in a relevant way?

Without relevance, a brand is lost, and the agency’s crucial rebranding task is to restore that relevance. That’s not as easy as it sounds, especially when the client can’t see the problems. Rebranding must help the client deliver on their brand promise in ways that genuinely resonate with consumers now—not 30 years ago.

Watch out. You and your client may walk out of that meeting with completely different understandings of what just happened—as well as dangerously different expectations.

The problem? Lack of a common language. The fix: the agency needs to stop making assumptions and take responsibility for clarifying the process.

CEOs know their businesses inside and out. They’re MBAs; they’re on top of cash flow and market trends; they know their competition. But they don’t know advertising industry jargon—and why should they? Every industry has its jargon, and within that world, it’s a useful shorthand. Outside that world, it’s irrelevant.

Worse, clients usually lack the whole conceptual framework for branding that supports the jargon. So just explaining what terms like “brand promise,” “purpose,” or “message platform” mean isn’t enough.

With our clients, we’re working to break down the jargon so that they can better understand what we’re asking them to do, see its value, and make more informed decisions.

As a rule, we start by giving our clients a single, clear sheet that breaks down the branding process: how every step affects the whole, what we want to end up with, how we’ll use it—and why it matters. We’re making sure clients understand not just the words we’re using but the whole framework and its importance in driving brands forward.

We’re working to get all of us, client and agency, on the same page at the very beginning of the process. That upfront alignment plants the brand flag more firmly in the ground and ensures we all know what that flag stands for and feel inspired to see it fly.

How will we get there? By continuing to produce kickass strategy and creative, and by using our size to our advantage. As a boutique agency, we have no bureaucratic layers, so we can adapt to the fast-changing landscape much quicker than the big ad agencies. We can challenge our staff and clients to experiment and incorporate new technologies. And we can attract top talent by offering a seat at the decision-making table.

It’s an exciting time at Ampersand. Catch up with us in 2016 and see if we’ve met or exceeded these predictions, or if we’re just fighting mutants for gasoline in the post-apocalyptic Mad Max dystopia.

Many clients’ first instinct is to view social media as another opportunity to push transactions with a marketing message. They don’t step back to ask, “Why would someone want to spend time with my brand?  What am I giving them of real value?  Why would anyone want to return?  Am I even relevant to the audience I’m trying to attract, or am I just trying to push a sale?”

With shrinking budgets and intense performance pressure from senior management, clients often feel backed into the ROI corner. But the need to show immediate results can force decisions that don’t make sense for a particular medium they’re trying to leverage. Especially in the ever-changing “new media” landscape, pressure for instant ROI can be a bit of a minefield to navigate.  It’s our job to help client’s navigate this world and make sense of how best to use each medium.

Chief Marketing Officer Geoff Cottrill of Converse gets it right when he shares their enormously successful approach to Facebook: “You have to have the courage to let go and not try to control the conversation or broadcast advertising messages every chance you get. Be respectful of the time between purchases of your product by adding value and contributing to the conversation. When it comes time again to purchase, your relationship with them should pay off.”

In new media, there are times to push messages and there are times to engage your audience with meaningful interactions. Figuring out the right mix and doing it well is what separates the good brands from the great ones. Sometimes that means pushing a message or transaction; other times it means providing audiences the opportunity to engage. In new media, pushing transactional messages is only valuable once you’ve done the hard work of providing a meaningful engagement for your audience between purchases. That not only builds brand loyalists, but increases the likelihood of future purchases. Arming those loyalists with tools to tell your story turns them into brand evangelists.

So it’s not just about understanding a particular medium or how best to maximize your company’s Facebook page.  It’s about having the vision, discipline, and investment to play between the purchases. Then all you do is combine that play with action-oriented messaging delivered through multiple touchpoints at strategic moments to increase sales.

Easy, right?

We think agencies do their best work for the ones who do.

Clients who view agencies as partners call whenever they’re making high-level decisions about advertising and marketing. They ask for the agency’s thoughts upfront—then they make sure everyone is on absolutely the same page, not only about goals but also about the strategy for achieving those goals.

When the agency is seen as a vendor rather than a partner, the client calls to say, “We need a TV spot,” or “We need a magazine ad.” The agency gets a project to execute without any sense of whether or why it’s a strategically sound choice. Instead, the client tries to work through all the decisions about goals, strategies, and target audiences internally. But the client has no process for breaking these issues down and sorting through them via rigorous debate. Why should they? They’re bankers, or restaurauters, or retailers, or hospital administrators, not experts in the changing-every-minute field of advertising.

Even when the client has a Chief Marketing Officer or a marketing VP, that person is in a tough position when the CEO overrules them. Who wants to fight their boss to the death over a marketing decision? An outside agency can more easily take on that battle. At least, we do—because we believe it’s a service to our client to make sure our recommendations are heard.

Every decent agency will go all out to do their best work on every project, for every client. But the client who understands the value in treating their agency as a partner gets far better and more focused work—with better results. Because when an agency works in partnership with the client, helping to shape goals and strategies upfront, they can do so much more. Plus, that’s what you’re paying for.

The most obvious benefit for Ampersand is the intensive crash course on our client’s business. It’s like the scene in The Matrix where Keanu Reeves downloads kung fu skills (except, admittedly, Neo did not have to attend any meetings). But we learn other things too—like what the gazillion acronyms are that their ops guys are throwing around, and whether or not they can really deliver on what they promise. We also find out what is unique about their business, and what is really true and whether or not they’ve actually aligned resources to meet the goals.  Sometimes, we learn whether or not they have set realistic goals. Believe it or not, some clients are afraid of even setting a goal. As you can see, we learn A LOT.

The obvious tangible for the client is the outcome: a strategy and creative that is actually capable of moving numbers, one that is specifically designed to meet (and hopefully exceed) expectations. But the bigger benefit is that the DI process bonds everybody to the strategy. It gets everyone who goes through it on the same page and speaking the same language. It’s what keeps the team on track, the client on board, and the campaigns on message.

Without the Dynamic Insight process, it might take months, or even years to get that in sync. There are always moments when agency and client disagree, but speaking the same language allows us to hear and understand one other. And as for Dynamic Insight, well…it really is like navigating the Matrix. Like Morpheus said, “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” In our case, we just have to go through the process, and come out knowing that we’re on the right track!

To unpack that a bit: we believe creative should grow organically out of strategy—and strategy should grow organically from the client’s goals. Sounds easy enough, all that growing: but the tricky part, the foundation of it all, is setting those realistic goals.

So before your creative director picks up a pencil, find out everything you can about your client’s business—their history, their workplace culture, their competitors, their role in the market. Challenge them to come up with specific marketing goals, and challenge them harder if those goals are out of line with their current market position and the money they have to spend.

A lot of businesses have given their marketing goals very little thought, which is not so surprising—they are brilliant widget-inventors or doctors or restaurateurs. If they knew that much about marketing, they wouldn’t have hired you. Worse: sometimes clients don’t want to participate in setting goals.

So this goal-setting process can get a bit sweaty and difficult. Plow on. It’s worth it. Clear, realistic goals give you a target to aim for, which makes your strategy-building—including a high-resolution snapshot of your target market—far more effective.

And once you know everything your target audience wants, needs, and loves, then finding creative that moves and motivates them should be easy as pie.

Our creative director, looking haggard, points out that pie isn’t all that easy. Fair enough: but the point still stands. Clear, realistic marketing goals are the soil good creative grows from.