Comments on: Sponge, Idiot Savant, Creative, Geek.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:48:08 +0000

Yes! The sponge part is great, but while it's important to leverage knowledge from one engagement to the next, it's also sometimes important to be able to forget everything you know. Knowledge gained from one project can sometimes equal "baggage" for another. Great post, I wonder if this will fly on my resume…

By: Sue Spaight

Sue Spaight — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:44:58 +0000

Al Krueger –

Wow you finally commented on my blog. It took you long enough!

I agree with you on the importance of gut feel. It's a huge part of what makes the Idiot into the Savant!

RE: being a storyteller. You know I agree with how essential that is in general. As a strategist, though, it's not really my gig. I feed the storytellers what to tell stories about. Make sense?

Thanks for commenting!

By: Sue Spaight

Sue Spaight — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:41:06 +0000

AL #1 – I totally agree – a huge part of being a sponge is soaking up those emotional insights into what makes people tick. While marketers often refer to them as needs, wants, drivers, motivators, whatever, and those are useful terms, I prefer "insights" as I find it to be a bit more human. Likewise I try to avoid calling them "consumers" as it feels very detached for me personally from the fact that they are people like you and me. Its semantics, but I think that for some people it can be reflective of their outlook and ability to truly step out of their cubicle and look at their customers as people. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting.

By: Al Krueger

Al Krueger — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:49:44 +0000

I feel a brand strategist needs to have a good solid gut feel for a brand and its imformation as well. On top of that, it's very important to be a strong storyteller.

There is a significant element of emotion and meaning/essense that can and needs to be driven into a brand and a lot of the time, you just have to rely on what your gut is telling you.

It helps to have a counterpart who can help prove the position, but guidance by gut is a powerful tool.

Being able to tell the rich and powerful story is where it all comes together.

My favorite branding books are Personality Not Included (Rohit Bhargava) and one not-intentionally-branding book: Blue Ocean Strategy. It's brilliant.

By: AL

AL — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:30:20 +0000

A Consumer?

You could argue that being in the shoes of the consumer is part of knowing a brand inside and out, but you should be savvy of current consumer trends, wants, and needs to understand the right strategies to recommend.

By: Sue Spaight

Sue Spaight — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:32:49 +0000

Absolutely – a brand is, by definition, an emotional relationship. You can't build a relevant brand strategy without including relevant emotional benefits. (Building Strong Brands explains this in a ton of detail.) Part of the "Savant" part of the job should include recognizing those emotional insights. In bigger agencies, Account Planning typically takes a leading role in that part of the gig. So if that's the part that turns you on, you might want to consider Account Planning. And you'll love Truth, Lies and Advertising.

By: Seth Hosko

Seth Hosko — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:32:49 +0000

Thank you so much for these resources, I already have the books on order.

Do you think there are any relevent ties between brand strategy and recognizing relevent emotional responses to a brand? How would you harness that ability and translate it into action that can apply to molding a brand's strategy?