Planning for the Best: Lindsey Allison on Nailing that Strategic Leap

As head of strategy, Lindsey Allison partners with creative and account teams across all agency disciplines to generate insights, develop strategies, and ensure alignment across all facets of brand marketing for brands like Avis Budget Group and Aruba Tourism. 

Prior to joining Engine, Lindsey was Deutsch’s EVP, head of strategy, spearheading brands like Taco Bell, Hulu, Zillow, and Sprint. Her strategic approach has led to numerous award-winning Taco Bell campaigns, including Breakfast Defectors, Taco Bot, Ta.Co, and the “Bigger Than” Super Bowl effort, among others.

Before Deutsch, Lindsey spent a decade at CP+B, most recently as head of planning for its LA office. Living and working in all three of the CP+B's offices during her career, she led strategy for numerous high-profile brands across nearly every major sector, including Volkswagen, truth, Old Navy, and Vitamin Water.

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

Lindsey> A strategist and a planner—no, no difference. Strategy and planning—yes, big difference. A strategy without a plan dies as an inspired piece of paper. A plan without a strategy dies as an uninspired media buy. I don’t really mind if you call us strategists, planners, cogs (my title twenty years ago at CP+B), or unicorns, but the best of us need to be great at both. And if you aren’t great at both, find a partner that fills in the gaps.

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

Lindsey> Well, back in the CP+B days, I would have called myself good at “creative strategy.” Sometimes meant as a compliment and other times meant as an insult to the discipline. People called me “a creative housed in the strategy department.” It’s still my favourite part; the part that I’m naturally good at. Those half strategic, half creative leaps that give you the goosebumps because you know it’s new, and big, and good. 

But over the years, I’ve realised that was a safe title to cling onto. It was easy to say, “Oh, the planning part isn’t really my thing, I’m creative.” More recently, in my current gig, and with a few great teachers, I have realised the importance of both, and I’m working hard at learning.

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?

Lindsey> I think the agency where you come of age as a strategist has a lasting effect on what you think is good strategy. As I mentioned above, that for me was CP+B in 2006.

Our strategic belief back then was so fresh and interesting and is still true of my favourite strategic work I see out in the world today. That belief was that culture always wants to change. The best brands find what’s true about themselves and use it to shift culture on their behalf. At the time, this belief was so disruptive because the governing strategic practice was to understand what’s going on culturally and adapt your brand to fit in. I’ll give you five quick examples.

• Of course, Volkswagen.

VWs were ugly in a world that wanted pretty. VW made ugly relevant. 

• Avis.

Avis was number two in a world that wanted first place. Avis made second place relevant.

• Mini.

Mini was small in a world that wanted big. Mini made small relevant.

• Burger King.

BK burgers got moldy in a world that wanted fresh. BK made mold relevant.

• Patagonia.

Patagonia urged people to not buy new clothes in a world where you would be crazy not to want people to buy new clothes. Patagonia made not buying their brand relevant.

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?

Lindsey> Stakeholder interviews. Not with the marketing team or the big executives, but with the boots on the ground. If it’s for a beer brand, the brewers; a tech brand, the programmers; a rental car brand, the people who have worked the desks for decades. Stakeholder interviews, more than any business brief, help you understand what is most true about the brand, and how that truth can help you shift culture to its benefit. 

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

Lindsey> I was going to say when I see a strategy of ours impacting business results. But when I really think about the best part of the job, it’s making clients smile. When you nail that strategic leap that helps your clients see the potential in the brands they love and are invested in, it makes all the work worth it. 

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

Lindsey> I have two of them. One old and one recent.

The old one I’ll reference is a piece of advice I got from Andrew Keller back in the day at CP+B. It has stuck with me, influenced how I approach strategy on every brand I’ve worked with, and what I’ve tried to instil in all of my teams. That advice is, “What makes a great strategist isn’t what they say, but what they hear.” All of the best strategies come from being able to listen to the same conversation with consumers, clients, or creatives, and hear a piece of magic that others may not.

The recent example I’ll reference is one we (my media, data partner, and I) have developed at my current gig. Remove leaps to take leaps.

Creative leaps are good. They lead to breakthrough ideas we spend our whole careers seeking out. But creative leaps are only responsible when they’re built on an airtight strategic foundation. We’ve been focused on new ways to remove those strategic leaps to make those creative leaps with absolute conviction.

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?

Lindsey> The single word is generous. And I’ve come to learn that from all the creatives I love working with, especially the team I work with now. Actually, it describes all the people I want to work with. People who are generous with ideas, giving them freely. And the flip side of generosity is receptivity. People who are receptive to those freely given ideas no matter what the source. 

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?

Lindsey> I somewhat answered this question in the above when I talked about removing leaps to take leaps, but I do want to talk about the word validation.

A strategist should not have to validate ideas, but selling ideas is an important part of the job, if those ideas are built on the right foundation. I hear people talk sometimes about a drought of creativity/big, bold ideas. I think that’s bullshit. I see them every day—big bold ideas that are as equally as powerful as strategically sound. But, it’s hard to sell the big ones. It is the role of strategy to present an airtight logical argument as to why the idea will work. That’s not validation. And I think sometimes people get that wrong.

LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent?

Lindsey> I will bring back the words generosity and receptiveness here. Creatives can be precious, but strategists can be equally so. My team and I try to create a culture that’s a natural draw for those kinds of people. Strategy is not handcuffs. And it equally should not be disregarded. Strategists can’t fear the evolution of their ideas.

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?

Lindsey> In my opinion, it hasn’t. All the agencies I’ve worked for have equally chased effectiveness and creativity.