Breaking the mould

Whenever we're devising new campaigns for our clients, the first thing we do is get to the bottom of a strategy. Sometimes this is a lengthy process, sometimes it's the result of some in-depth, fast brainstorming. We interrogate the brand, we study the competitive environment. We add and subtract. And add again. To me as a creative person it is the first important step in the creative process, and one of the most exciting.

A good, clear and original strategy can be the difference between great creative ideas and weak ones. It makes our job easier.

Now you might be sitting there thinking, well, so what? We all know that don't we?

Well I wonder, I really do. As somebody who has lived and breathed the world of advertising and branding for over 25 years, I retain a keen eye for all of the communications messages I see around me every day, in every form of media.

In Hong Kong I keep the local Chinese TV channels on purely so I can see what campaigns are on air. I take the MTR rather than taxis to look at posters.

And all the time, the same thought keeps striking me: where are the strategies? Where are the consumer insights that are triggering powerful, original messages? Why is everyone saying the same thing every time?

I can't help wondering if it's laziness or inexperience that leads to such bland, uninspired thinking. But either way it's a complete waste of marketing spend. I just wish people realised it.

There is more to coming up with the right positioning, the right strategy for your brand than knocking up some cheap ads and sticking a slogan on the end that you saw on someone else's ad.

Let me give you some examples just so you don't think that this is a subjective viewpoint or that I'm making it up.

In certain categories there are tried and tested (non) strategies which come up as the same old slogans again and again. So much so that I reckon the average consumer could probably tell you what they are themselves.

Take banking. We all know that banks try as hard as they can to convince us that they really love us and they would marry us and sleep in the same house if they could.

So, the classic half-baked bank communications strategy is partnership. You and us. Us and you. Together we're a team.

Rubbish.

This, by the way, extends to other financial institutions. And does the consumer buy it? I've seen this old chestnut tested in research groups and people don't buy it because they don't want banks as partners. They want banks to treat them decently and do a good job looking after their money. It's a business transaction, that's all. They also want them to be fair, which is the one thing they usually are not, let's be honest.

Congratulations to HSBC by the way, for being at least one financial brand that made the effort to create a clear, original and consistent strategy, and look how it's working for them.

There are others: your rules, your blah blah - perfumes, fashion, anything targeting young people, who are the last audience likely to be fooled by it. Boring and insincere.

For eternity - usually turns up as a jewellery brand slogan. The art of living - the art of dining, the art of travel, the art of twiddling your thumbs and just about anything except maybe the art of art. Meaningless drivel.

Home away from home - hotels. Friendship - typical old-hat beer strategy. I could go on and on.

Now I'm not saying that creating original positioning strategies is as easy as frying an egg (actually to me, it's the fun part). It requires hard work, often extensive research and a lot of careful consideration. But the point is this, without getting it right, everything else is just so much harder.

In a world where your customers have even more choice than ever before, what's the point of saying the same old thing as everyone else? Be original, as Jack Trout said with his book Differentiate or Die. Or to put it another way, be original or carry on wasting your money.

Chris Kyme, managing partner, Eight Partnership