Distinctive Brand Asset Planning

So you’ve done your distinctive asset research or audit, you understand the equity in your distinctive assets and have clarity on which assets to hero, where the gaps are, and also have sight of the watchouts. The team has also completed a prioritisation job, you are clear on which assets will take the lead or which will play a supporting role. There is also no ambiguity in terms of which assets might be playing other roles, for example aiding category navigation.

The next step is all about planning. This is the blueprint for using your distinctive assets. What is your approach to static advertising? What are the barriers to embedding? What should inform the next pack refresh? What tools will you provide to local markets to help embed the assets? These questions should be answered in a planning document for all to see.

We find it useful getting this into a plan on a page. This should sit in your brand bible/guidelines/playbook with clear guidance on how you are aiming to move the distinctiveness dial. This normally fits somewhere between your brand onion/key (very strategic, pointed and holistic from a brand planning point of view), and your brand guidelines (more tactical in execution).

Below is an example template you can use as a starting point. We like versions that detail out the following

Objective – Overall objective or one liner on your approach
Prioritisation – Simply highlight which asset(s) will play the lead role
Pillars/levers – Key jobs to be done, and what tools or assets will be available to activate against each, especially relevant for global teams. What are 2 or 3 things you are planning on doing to improve levels of distinctiveness? This could vary from the development of a lead new asset to the creation of a globally consistent advertising style, through to the development of a new design system for packaging.
Barriers – Call out barriers or challenges