The Method / seven steps, fixed order
Every step has an input, an output and a point where we'd tell you to stop. Skipping one is how good businesses end up with interchangeable advertising.
Interviews and decision archaeology until the business's real belief is on paper in its own words.
Output: A stated belief, boundaries and vocabulary.
We stop if: There's substance nobody inside the company will stand behind.
What the market, the category and your own customers are already saying, in their language, not a report's.
Output: Verbatims, live tensions, category clichés to avoid.
We stop if: The belief is only visible internally and never surfaces in demand.
Why someone would move: the fear, the identity, the friction, the thing they'd be embarrassed to admit.
Output: Motivations ranked by strength, not by segment size.
We stop if: The only motivation left is price.
Belief crossed with motivation. Each angle is a specific claim we'd be willing to defend publicly.
Output: Eight to twelve angles, each one a sentence.
We stop if: No angle survives without borrowing a competitor's line.
Angles scored on truth, distinctiveness and how much of the audience already agrees.
Output: A ranked shortlist and an argued rationale.
We stop if: The top angle is true but nobody cares about it yet.
One document: what we're saying, to whom, why it's true, and what would make it false.
Output: The brief every later piece is held against.
We stop if: The brief can't be written in plain sentences.
Ads, content, brand language, pages. Production is the last step, and the least interesting one.
Output: Work in market, traced line by line to the brief.
We stop if: A piece can't be traced back to the brief.
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