Planning for the Best: How to Inspire Strategists with Brenda Imeson

Brenda Imeson is a seasoned marketing professional with 30 years of marketing experience working across research and insight, new product development, concept development and developing growth strategies for clients.

Over the last nine years her focus has been on the dynamic field of media strategy, where she has become a pivotal force in shaping the narrative and reach of CPG and retail brands. A winner of multiple effectiveness awards, Brenda’s talent lies in making big data and problems actionable by bringing human understanding and consumer insight. As an #Iamremarkable facilitator, Brenda's a passionate advocate for equality in the workplace.

LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one? 

Brenda> Where to start! I have been in the strategy sphere for more than 15 years. My first role was as an account planner at McCann. That department was restructured and became strategy and insight. If memory serves me right, it was one of the first to adopt the strategy moniker.

In truth my role and responsibilities hadn’t changed but it did allow us to communicate to clients and the agency stakeholders who we were, what we stood for and added a bit of swagger to our roles.

Where there is a meaningful difference between these titles is in media. Whereby the strategist sets out ‘what’ is going to happen, and the planner has to work out the ‘how’ with the resources and budget they have.

LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?

Brenda> Strategist. It has allowed me to take the fundamentals and skills I was trained in and apply them to marketing problems that go into areas beyond the development of creative communication.

I like to know what can be possible, what can make something better, what can drive effectiveness and that thinking means I have worked across a broad spectrum from creative development, NPD, innovation, media to today where I am looking at opportunities within the digital discipline.

LBB> We’re used to hearing about the best creative advertising campaigns, but what’s your favourite historic campaign from a strategic perspective? One that you feel demonstrates great strategy.

Brenda> It may be unfashionable to say but I do love a good ad and luckily the great ones tend to have a strong strategic backbone.

Fancy a McDonald’s? #RaiseYourArches 

The execution is sublime from the direction, the music, the synched eyebrow choreography to the insight it was built on. It looks so effortless but there was fantastic rigour and insight work that underpinned it.

Their agency Leo Burnett worked with The Outsiders research agency to find a new way for McDonalds to create an emotional pull as they well-loved campaign was starting to lose its impact. They landed on the ‘sod it’ moment. A brilliant articulation that speaks directly to people and kudos to McDonalds for not watering it down into something more generic such as ‘allowing yourself permission to treat’. 

LBB> When you’re turning a business brief into something that can inform an inspiring creative campaign, do you find the most useful resource to draw on?

Brenda> Time. Ultimately you want to write a creative brief that is brief. A multi-page, word salad and appendices ridden document never inspired anyone. However, to get to an inspiring brief the strategist needs to go through the slog of understanding the brief, market orientation, who the consumer is, what makes them tick, what would they value, can the brand offer it…. the list goes on. BUT that should be synthesised and distilled into a clear and inspiring (one page) brief.

Meaningful brevity is what you should be looking to achieve, but that takes a lot of time and effort.

On the flip side I do believe in investing time into the actual briefing process. It should be a more visceral experience than a quick Teams/Zoom call. Ideally it can anchor the brand in the target audience’s world – be that a public space, ethnographic/qual work, something that challenges the expected and helps with stimulating ideas.

LBB> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?

Brenda> I love seeing work being made and out in the real world. How real people react to it and seeing it make an impact is what keeps you going. 

There is a quote from Thomas Edison, “strategy without execution is just hallucination,” which really brings to life how we are part of a team effort. Seeing your strategic idea, morph into a creative idea and finally the execution is a fraught but exciting time. But being surprised and surpassed by creatives who can take the strategic approach and weave magic with it is something I never tire of.

LBB> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful? 

Brenda> Having worked in a couple of networks and across brands there are always a proprietary planning/strategic process that you use so that it can be easily recognised when collaborating with global teams, a kind of lingua franca.

In all that I have encountered, it is still possible to recognise the origin story. The DNA can be traced back to JWT’s planning guide, a 50-year-old typed and photocopied document. That basic five step framework is as useful today as it was then. If anyone who is reading this has never come across it, they need to Google it. It asks the fundamental questions and is communicated so clearly that it should be a touch stone for anyone starting out in the discipline.

LBB> What sort of creatives do you like to work with? As a strategist, what do you want them to do with the information you give them?

Brenda> The ones that care. The ones that want to do better work, the ones that ask questions. Being a creative is not an easy job. It is very exposing coming up with ideas and have them judged time and time again. This is compounded by a lot of people think they can do it, or worse AI can.

However, I don’t take it easy on them, I want the moon on a stick – to take information and weave magic that will make people stop and notice. You don’t get that through LLMs.

LBB> There’s a negative stereotype about strategy being used to validate creative ideas, rather than as a resource to inform them and make sure they’re effective. How do you make sure the agency gets this the right way round?

Brenda> That has not been my experience. However creative in the world of advertising is the most volatile variable. We have known knowns in media i.e. expected outcomes from channels and spends, excess share of voice etc…

If you have a campaign asset that truly is creative and cuts through, it’s like rocket fuel for expected KPIs. It drives effectiveness. But if it is bland or dull it will be utterly insignificant and add to the noise. So, there is an element of needing strategy to guide creative and showcase its possibilities to the client, to try and take out subjective knee jerk responses. We do this by anchoring it to the strategy, it offers a more objective and tangible reason to greenlight the work.

LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent? And how has Covid changed the way you think about this?

Brenda> If focusing on entry level recruitment, then the biggest consideration is potential. I have seen people come into the discipline from insight, creative and client services as it is not always an obvious role for many or have had training in. But there something about strategy that has appealed and attracted them to the role.

You look for people who have a bold curiosity, demonstrate critical thinking, and the ability to learn in an often-unstructured way. They also have to be adaptable. Things can be unpredictable.

One of the joys of the discipline is that strategists can come in many flavours. They shouldn’t be a carbon copy of you or even a department approach. They can be influenced by it, but it’s important to develop your own style and ways of thinking. Senior strats should be a guiding hand whilst encouraging juniors to know that their thinking is as valid as someone who has been doing it for 20 years.

I’d like to think the days of the ‘lone planner’ are gone. My best work has come about when I have discussed and shared my thinking with my peers. But I know there are cultures where strategists are pitted against each other. Agency life is competitive enough with new business and pitching, you don’t need it from you work colleagues too.

LBB> In recent years it seems like effectiveness awards have grown in prestige and agencies have paid more attention to them. How do you think this has impacted on how strategists work and the way they are perceived?

Brenda> I do feel effectiveness awards are one of the few places strategy and the role of strategy is celebrated. We get to prove our ‘worth’ at these occasions.

It was ingrained into my thinking early on, whilst working at McCann I remember reading Binet and Fields ‘The Long and the Short of it’ back in 2013. It was a direct influence on the work we developed to dove tail with the then nascent Aldi ‘Like Brands’.

We had our ‘long’ brand building platform in place but a retailer being a retailer, we needed a strong ‘short’ activational campaign and Aldi’s ‘Swap & Save Challenge’ was created. That combination of work won multiple IPA Effectiveness and Effie awards, and the Aldi team continue to deliver award winning work with ‘Kevin the Carrot’. 

One observation in the intervening years is that awareness and body of knowledge about effectiveness has grown in parallel with the improved ability to measure. But recent data from the DMA had shown a drop in overall advertising effectiveness, there is a disconnect somewhere.

LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline? 

Brenda> My frustrations are not with the discipline itself but how it can be misused and abused in agency life. Without making this sound like an airing of grievances, I think we can all relate to the following…. 

An expectation that you have the answer to everything and anything. If something has gone wrong in activation, being rolled out to placate the client. Your time being squeezed on the pitch plan timescale as strategy is always the kick off point. Are some examples to easily come to mind, but who doesn’t have a frustration with their role! Try not to sweat the small stuff and focus on the important parts.

LBB> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?

Brenda> When you work in an ever-changing industry like ours, I could say bone up on data analytics or AI skills; but these are not fundamental. It is better to get timeless advice.

There was a meme a few years back of an art teacher Nun’s (Sister Carita) Rules for Creativity, which was shared in everyone’s feed. All ten are pretty useful but I’m going to highlight her final ‘hints’. 

“Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything. It might come in handy later.”