Strategists Unleashed: Hot Takes on Strategy’s Biggest Debates

If there’s one thing strategists aren’t short of, it’s an opinion. Anyone who’s spent any time on advertising Twitter/X or LinkedIn is bound to have caught a stray bullet in a heated debate on effectiveness versus performance, brand versus behaviour change or how to group consumers in a time of age group-defying niches. To explore this further, we reached out to strategists around the world to find out about the debates and tensions within the craft that are occupying their minds the most.

Is the Mainstream Officially Dead?

Nicole Granese, chief strategy officer at BBDO

It's time to end the debate. The niche is the mainstream, and what was once mainstream is officially dead. There has always been a benefit to going niche. Niche markets are more passionate, more likely to be underserved, and more willing advocates. But gen z has made what was once a choice a necessity. Growing up in the age of TikTok, they have always seen things perfectly tailored to their interests, so they care less about what appeals to the majority. They're firmly embedded in the niches that form their fluid identities. 

This forces marketers to listen and study niche communities to uncover insights and find ways for their brand to add value. Water cooler moments died long before covid. The rise of streaming has made playlists more important than individual artists in determining which songs are successful. And for the most part, blockbuster movies have been replaced by smaller hits that appeal to niche audiences. We could blame the algorithms, but gen zs have become smart enough to manipulate them, not clicking on certain things because they don't want it to mess up their perfectly curated feeds. So, it's more than algorithms – it's that communications specifically designed for a niche are actually better at appealing to us all. Oftentimes, the effort to broaden the appeal lessens the ability to connect emotionally. That's because what we've always connected most deeply with is not more of the same; it's the 'interesting,' the real but different, that delivers on a truth we also feel.  

Has the Polarised Strategy Clash Turned Us into Ideologues?

Scott McKinnon, senior strategist, R/GA Australia 

Among the clash of opinions from academia and industry leaders about the 'right' approach to strategy, a sort of skirmish also rages on LinkedIn comments, marketing magazines, and mini-MBA programs. This marketing science debate could enrich our collective knowledge eventually, but in the here and now, it's fostering rigid marketing doctrines. 

In recent years, I’ve been increasingly asked about my marketing belief system. It's a loaded, binary question: Ritson or Sharp? Binet & Field? Or Sutherland and Kahneman? We've elevated marketing professors to prophetic status and split the industry into ideological factions. Whose best practices do we endorse? What would they advise us to do next? 

At R/GA, we're dedicated to creating a more human future. Truth is, there's no proven data about the future. Every groundbreaking case study was once an unproven leap of faith, combining lessons from the past with original, forward-thinking creativity. Strategy only finds its true strength when it aligns with the brand, societal and cultural context, and the audience. 

Relying solely on 'best practices' for strategy today hinders our journey toward a more human future. The past is an excellent teacher, but if we limit ourselves to only its lessons, we may miss the chance to deliver genuinely innovative and impactful solutions. 

In this era of rapid change, to truly benefit our clients, perhaps we should spend less time dissecting the past's semantics, and instead embrace the most impactful elements of multiple strategic perspectives that help us shape tomorrow. 

Are Strategists Actually Creatives Who Focus on the Why?

Thomas Eon, senior strategist at B-Reel 

Do strategists and creatives belong to the same breed? 

To me, oui, they do. Actually, they should if the goal is to create awesome effective comms. Creative and strategy aren’t two separate entities in creative agencies – and they should not operate siloed away from each other. Strategists and creatives don’t only have to work together, their work has to become one. Creating something so tight that one doesn’t even know if we are speaking creative or still strategy during the creative presentation. 

The related question of knowing if strategy is a creative exercise is an interesting one too. Agencies’ biggest value is bringing outside perspective, both on audience and business, and how the two best come together in culture. And it starts with strategy. A lot of creative briefs don’t make any leap that genuinely reframes the problem or opportunity in a new way. In my opinion, when you’re able to do this as a strategist, you’re really adding value to the creative development process. I believe the best creative briefs are the ones where the embryo of the idea is in there. 

Strategists are the first creative minds to tackle a project. The one who focuses on the why. When The North Face asked us to create an anthemic piece around their ‘Never Stop Exploring’ mantra, we simply thought “Why can they claim that?” The answer is pretty clear: they take their product development sooo seriously. During the process, we asked them why their logo was on the back of the garments. They started as a climbing brand and wanted to be seen on the walls. The feeling of ‘We’ve Always Got Your Back’ was starting to take shape. 

Some say strategists need to be the smartest persons in the room, others say they aren’t afraid to be the dumbest and ask the stupid questions. I prefer the latter. The biggest quality of strategists is the same as that of creatives: being open and curious.

Do I Need a Strategist on This?

Tania Wendt,  SVP, engagement and strategy, tms

It’s the wrong question…

Many strategists are accustomed to this scenario… a meeting you find out about after the fact, five minutes beforehand, or never. Then someone pulls the fire alarm because the work needs a story or reason for being. One of my least favourite phrases is “Let’s retrofit the strategy.” It has happened for a long time and in many different agency formats. 

So why? (our favourite question, btw).

It is rooted in the question that gets asked at the beginning: “Do I need a strategist on this?” Spoiler alert…The answer is always yes. And anyone that has received top notch strategy work won’t argue that. However, the solve for the problem isn’t in the answer, but in the question itself. As an industry, we need to go from a very transactional, limited “Do I need?” to “How should my strategist show up in this instance? In this assignment/project/discussion/work?” Strategists are often part of a very linear process. A colleague of mine used the analogy (I love a good analogy, too) of passing a baton. For example, after the briefing the strategist is no longer needed – the baton goes to the creative team.

Strategies and strategists should be integral in the entire process of how we come at any assignment, challenge or opportunity. A strategist wears many hats and has many skills; they can spot patterns, solve problems, and guide or elevate any output. They can rationalize or yes, even post-rationalize the work 

The point is that there is always a WHY to be discovered or declared; at the beginning, middle and/or end; from the smallest revision to the biggest idea. Integrating your strategist throughout generates and enhances strategic thinking and creativity in the work and gives clients the permission and passion to say yes to great ideas. So, how can we help you?

Is It Time to Ditch Our Favourite Target Group, Gen Z?

Antariksh Sengupta, strategic planner, Cheil MEA

Something that is almost as native to client briefs as gen z are to the digital world. While brands wish to tap into this demographic, with their intentions in the right place, the term ‘gen z’ is nothing more than that – a demographic, a number. One that groups people between 9-24 years of age.

Did a coin drop? Let’s pick it up and look at how this impacts briefs. When you use one brush to paint this demographic, you’re not only generalising the uniqueness of a nine year old v/s a 24 year old, you’re also limiting the relatability and therefore impact that your campaign will have from the get-go. For instance, does a nine year old use a television or a mobile phone the same way as a 24 year old? Do they feel the same about it? No. However, are there common threads that can appeal to people across this group? Yes.

This brings us to psychographics and arguing the importance of it over demographics in a brief.

Maybe age is truly just a number. Because if we focus on mindsets, age naturally becomes secondary. If I’ve made you uncomfortable because you’re suddenly thinking of the word ‘niche’, fret no more! Because speaking to a ‘mindset’ actually widens your horizon because you’re no longer applying a filter of age. 

Picture this. The brief is to increase the sales of ABC staplers.

Brief 1: 

GET ‘en z WHO are fashionable TO buy ABC staplers BY highlighting the variety of colour options available at ABC Staplers.

Brief 2:

GET anyone WHO has ever felt like their life is/was falling apart TO prefer ABC Staplers BY showcasing how with ABC Staplers, while a lot may seem to be falling apart, your papers are one less thing to worry about. 

Sophie’s choice? 

How Much Time Is Enough?

James Bagan, strategy director at McCann Birmingham

Time. Planners never have enough time. We’ve never had enough time. We get three days (dreamy, right?!), we want four. We get an hour, we want two. And it’s getting worse; we’re living on a piece of rock that is seemingly spinning faster than it ever has and ‘short-termism’ is slowly killing any notion of thinking beyond the now and building brands for the future.

Irritating? Often. Inspiring? No chance. Intriguing? Absolutely. 

Yes, intriguing. Because our job has never just been about time. Of course, time gives us the opportunity to interrogate clients, dig deeper, and ultimately ensure the path we’re walking is the right one. But insightful, creative, and powerful strategy isn’t a product of just time, it’s also a product of what a planner does away from their desk, outside of the time they have. It’s about being out in the world, observing, talking, questioning. Listening to the words that are said and hearing the ones that aren’t. Looking at the things that look like nothing. 

A planner’s greatest skill will always be the ability to connect the dots and find sense in the nonsensical, magic in the mess. More time is always helpful, if for no other reason than to give you a bit of slack to put a wash on when you’re working from home. But the work itself isn’t done at your desk in the allotted segment of time, all you’re doing there is connecting the dots and putting it down on paper. However, if you get to your desk and there are no dots to connect, well, you’ve got a bigger problem than time… 

Why Are We Still Using Outdated Models?

Sarah Sanderson, managing director, TGI at Kantar Media

One of the biggest issues I think needs to be tackled in strategy and planning is demographic targeting.  It’s easy to slice up audiences along traditional lines like age and gender, but this makes huge assumptions about people’s behaviour based on old-fashioned stereotypes. Our identities are complex and as social norms and cultural expectations change, consumers have the freedom to make – and are making – very different choices. That’s exciting and this kind of flux often creates opportunities for marketers, so why are we still using outdated models? 

Marketing teams know that the world is far more complicated than traditional targeting allows for, but there’s probably some risk aversion at play. It’s the challenge of we’ve always done it this way, so how do I explain to my boss that we’ve been getting it wrong and now need to change?

The problem is advertisers aren’t only failing to represent the world as it is, they’re also massively underpowering the effectiveness of their campaigns. For example, we used our TGI Europa consumer data to explore how a baby products brand might reach new parents. There’s some sense in targeting 25 to 34 year olds, and in Western Europe, this cohort is three times more likely to have bought nappies in the past year than the average consumer. But if we don’t presuppose who is about to start a family based on their age and instead look at people who’ve actually had a child in the past 12 months, we find they are eight times more likely to have bought nappies than the average consumer.

My rallying cry to the advertising industry is to break out of the targeting mould. We’ve got the data now to segment audiences in far more creative ways so let’s use it. If teams are worried about making the case for doing things differently then they just need to remember: The results will speak for themselves.

Photo by Vinicius "amnx" Amano on Unsplash