Research: Leveraging what you know, accounting for what you don’t.
The discovery process sets the stage for essential insights. From surveys, interviews and focus groups to illuminate audience perceptions to competitive and comparative audits to reveal what’s happening throughout your category, research is the foundation of an informed strategy. We utilize data you’ve already compiled and add in where appropriate. While research sounds expensive, the truth is that a healthy discovery process is possible on any budget (just ask our nonprofit clients). We even have an in-house, custom online survey tool for quickly and cost-efficiently gathering and benchmarking data.
Positioning: Standing apart in crowded marketplaces.
The unfortunate truth is that most organizations are unsuccessfully positioned in their categories. Vanilla messaging, shared color palettes (blue, anyone?) and me-too marketing concepts all contribute to a lack of meaningful differentiation. But it all starts with positioning. If you can’t define your organization’s positioning strategy in a word or short phrase, there’s likely an opportunity to articulate how you’re different in a better way. Using insights from internal and external research, we create positioning strategies to align your marketing efforts and leave the competition behind.
Messaging: Saying the right line, and saying it the right way.
Most organizations spend too much energy driving home messages that their audiences actually don’t care about. Or worse, they attempt to say everything to everyone in a wasteful cluster-bomb approach to marketing. Using a unique and compelling positioning strategy as an essential starting point, we develop concise messaging frameworks that put your story in fighting shape.
Brand Architecture: Optimizing your brand portfolio.
Brand architecture defines the relationship among business offerings and describes how external audiences should interact with those offerings. Since more brands require more resources to support them, the goal is to build the fewest number of brands required to succeed in the marketplace. We review your entire portfolio of offerings to develop the optimal brand architecture for your organization.
Naming: Using a proven approach to achieve creative (and legal) objectives.
Great names come from experienced naming teams that understand the inherent legal challenges and then make creative leaps of faith. As well-practiced naming experts, we know how to start with a clear strategy and then break new ground creatively. From name generation and evaluation to preliminary trademark searches and selection methods, our proven process leads you through what can be a complex and difficult decision. This 7-step process includes:
- Strategic Analysis
- Name Ideation
- Suitability Screening
- Preliminary Availability Checks
- Qualitative Research
- Presentation of Research and Naming Candidates
- Name Selection Facilitation
Learn more about some of the brand names we’ve developed.
Ideation Lab: Inspiring better brainstorms.
Archimedes and Newton showed us that the best ideas happen when you 1) put yourself in a position to receive new information that helps you think about something in a different way or 2) create a different way of brainstorming so you come up with something new. A PBDH Ideation Lab, which often directly involves clients and/or industry luminaries, continually creates new and different ways of brainstorming to help teams develop breakthrough ideas.
Marketing Planning: Developing an actionable roadmap.
A well-defined brand strategy creates new opportunities to proactively manage all marketing activities. That’s because brand strategy clarifies the creative and business goals driving communications. We assist clients in developing sound marketing plans, collaborating with in-house teams and other partners to outline hard-hitting, budget-conscious strategies and tactics.
This process goes hand-in-hand with our overarching dedication to proof. Whenever possible, we set critical benchmarks during the research phase so we can measure the effectiveness of solutions after they’ve been implemented. This approach makes strategies and tactics accountable to specific objectives and ultimately ensures the development of creative that accomplishes those objectives.