strategy craft skills v2 - digital fragments, brand ...• uses new or inspiring methods of...

Core Creative Strategy Craft Skills Matrix v1

Discipline Skill Area Graduate Associate Senior Associate Leader Director Partner

I can…..understand the purpose &

context of a client engagement and agency's role

…help shape a client engagement and ensure it delivers for their

business

…rigourously articulate & interrogate client needs to keep

the strategy on track

…reframe the problem to identify new opportunities for the client

and agency

…challenge assumptions & lead across disciplines so that the entire picture makes sense

…can act as a counsel to C-suite clients and form valuable

partnership for the agency

Craft Skills & Deliverables

• Summarise a client brief• Read a sales or company report• Know the fundamentals of branding (emotional/rational, blind/branded)• Understand the role, benefits & limits of digital

• Interpret a client brief• Understand sales & revenue dynamics of a client (volume, value, share, pricing, distribution, AWP)• Understand di�erent aspects of client's business (marketing, sales, org, IT)

• Capture & Translate a client brief into an actionable plan to guide agency disciplines• Understand the fundamentals of a client balance sheet & business plan• Complete a Business Model or value proposition canvas for client or project

• Senior stakeholder & industry expert engagement• Articulate the di�erent types of brand & business strategy for di�erent sectors (retail, luxury, service, corporate)• Define the true nature of a client problem (decreased loyalty, category or favourability decline, new entrants, changed purchase dynamics)

• Understands how to give direction and partner with client and di�erent brand, comms, service design and IT agencies• Help senior clients to formulate better briefs and tasks

• Formulate and make recommendations regarding a client's business strategy

I can……identify & report on interesting &

relevant patterns from diverse sources

…communicate an actionable data-led insight from brand, audience,

culture & category

…understands how to use research to create original &

innovative insights

…help others to develop actionable insights that are based on rigourous understanding and

proof

…develop an insight or reseach framework that becomes

fundamental to a client's or agency business

..develop an insight or research framework that influences wider

culture or industry


• Know an Insight v Observation• Understands categories & roles of research (Qual v Qant)• Create & present summaries of trend reports• Create & present competitor reviews• Synthesise desk research for relevance• Well versed in free social & analytic tools (Google Trends etc)

• Understand principles & practice of consumer segmentation & personas• Knowledge of key research sources (WARC, Mintel, Forrester, TGI, GWI, IDIOM)• Design questionnaires, exit surveys, card sorts, screeners, discussion guides• Make recommendations from user testing & usability studies• Consistently demonstrates ability to synthesize implications ("so whats?") from analysis

• Writes research briefs/proposals• Experience of moderating qual research (on & o�ine)• Originates consumer/technology trend thinking• Pushes for the use of more original research approaches (semiotics, Ethno)• Knows where to look for insightful research and discoveries• Provides a high quality interpretation of research findings

• Fluent moderating qual research (on & o�ine)• Quick to understand how psychology impacts brand choice & human behaviour• Experience applying behaviourial economics principles & frameworks• Quickly identifies the sources of information & insight appropriate to a defined client problem (Existing research, behaviour data, theory, case studies)• Able to manage data science team outputs (can tell an Intertopic from a K-Means)

• Able to assess research findings at speed to find new knowledge & insights• Directs others to quickly access relevant sources of information & techniques for analysis• Understands how to create/run a major research project

• Produce original research that results in ground breaking or industry recognised innovations• Recognised by industry as a thought leader in field(s) of expertise

I can……understand the role & process of

creating a great idea or experience

…see the alternate strategic routes for a problem and articulate the

chosen one

…inspire a wider team and act as the domain expert to keep them

on track

…brief and collaborate constructively even when the final

outcome is unknown

…act as a triumvariate with CP & CD to ensure positive direction of

client activity

…originate a new vision that transforms a client's business and

organisation


• Understand a brief v briefing• Know what makes a good/bad brief(ing)

• Defines clear, actionable objectives• Appreciates the components of brand & communications strategy (objectives, segmentation, positioning, targeting)• Write a single minded creative brief• Confident briefing creative & UX teams

• Articulates detailed, cross-discipline objectives frameworks tied to measurent• Uses new or inspiring methods of briefing

• Knows how to brief for an idea versus di�erent media and channels executions• Leads multi-discipline innovation workstreams

• Leads the creation of a new digital & brand experience strategies across wider client business not just campaign/project• Integrates on/o�ine business, experience and campaign elements

• Defines and communicates "What's Next" and future trends• Able to lead other leaders and provide strategic direction to the organisation

I can……express my enthusiasm and

passion for ideas in a helpful & valuable way

…support the creation of an idea that is right for audience & brand

…act as a team catalyst via persuasion and facilitation

…develop new & innovative ways for ideas, experiences &

campaigns to work

…lead a project commanding attention & action to get the best

from everyone

…ensure ideas are industry leading and reputation building


• Make a valuable contribution to brainstorms and workshops• Documents and shares great work (problem, insight, idea, execution)

• Facilitating brainstorms• Supporting creative with relevant and timely stimulus• Provide sensitive and clear advice in creative development of an idea• Help creative teams articulate ideas

• Identify and articulate "the idea" and whether it is on or o� brand• Act as a presenter or activity owner during internal & external workshops• Develop & communicate guildelines for content & tone of voice

• Develop & moderate original workshops• Able to develop di�erent territories and brief teams to explore them• "Bakes in" channel/technology thinking to creative strategy

• Creates radical new models for the future of brand and communication• Draws upon external sources & discipline experience to inspire and enhance strategies

• Challenges what the agency's expected "product" is and takes it in new directions

I can……assist in the communication and

bringing to life of an idea

…make a successful deliverable that tells a compelling story or is a

tangible proof

…communicate clearly & intelligently about complex ideas,

systems & strategies

…adapt approach to prove concepts and ensure a winning

outcome

...pioneer new ways of working and "selling" the idea

…advances ways for realising strategy and ideas that impact

industry culture


• Articulate the di�erent types of idea (brand, campaign, execution)• Assist in the creation of stimulus and experiments

• Can formulate a clear hypothesis and recommend methods for testing it• Confident representing data in visual formats and telling a story• Transform an idea into a coherent outline, storyboard or paper prototype

• Articulate the idea & why it works• Can create pitch standard deliverables• Engage clients regardless of position with a narrative that wins them over• Apply real-time feedback into idea• Lead & manage experiments to prove viabilty of concepts, ideas & executions

• Present compelling stories in original rather than formulaic ways• Can structure and lead a winning pitch• Pre-test, validate and adapt an idea to ensure impact on brand/business (MB, Link, System1, Qual & Quant stim tests)

• Hold Marketing Director & C-suite level presentations• Assists in or lead the creation of "convincers" or proof of concepts

• Creates deliverables or think pieces that are widely replicated and built upon internally and externally

I can…..help with the practical

implementation of stategic & digital work

…take a strategic idea or plan and with supervision & support bring it

to life

…take a strategic idea and expand it out into a fully realisable

initiative

…implement deeper, practical knowledge about key disciplines &

opportunities

...influence senior clients in experimenting with new channels,

content & technology

...partner with senior clients to transform their wider digital

capabilities


• Explain the pros & cons of di�erent channels for a task & audience• Understanding of experience journeys• Experience in process & requirements for managing social platforms (e.g. YouTube)

• Document & visualise simple experience journeys in clear & compelling ways• Can write a channel/technology plan across Paid, Owned, Earned media• Knows the potential reach, a�nity & reaction value of di�erent channels for brand and audience

• Identify & proritise key barriers & opportunities in an experience journey• Create a brand experience eco-system• Detailed Requirements Capture & stakeholder interviews• Write use cases, user journeys & stories• Understands the requirements and practicalities of content/social ideas and how to incorporate into a strategy• Creates messaging frameworks

• Detailed but clear holistic frameworks• Apply service design thinking • Roadmap the practical phases to a campaign or project in collaboration with the wider team• Develops detailed strategies for specific disciplines (e.g. social, mobile, content, CRM)

• Create recommendations about media spend levels and apportionment• Own the development of a T-map or roadmap for digital transformation• Develop service/experience blueprints• Creates tools & frameworks adopted by other strategists

• Provide consultancy level digital transformation skills and advice

I can……understand what drives the

impact of strategy & help gather the evidence

…understand the mechanics of effectiveness and how to build a

case

..define what true effectiveness looks like and why; gather &

analyse the proof

…lead the cross discipline & agency teams needed to prove

effectiveness

…show recognised expertise linked to the proven the value of

ideas

…evolve and enhance new methodologies & theories behind

effectiveness


• Understand di�erent categories of measures (e.g. lead, lag, sales, ROI)• Reads e�ectiveness papers• Knowledge of SEO & SEM principles• Create basic analytics reports (e.g. tra�c, sources, bounce rates, conversion)

• Understands the logic of how to prove e�ectiveness (controls, econometrics)• Understand KPIs, targets & data sources• Understands the uses & implications of testing methodologies (A/B, multivariate)

• Uses data and analytics tools to measure the e�ectiveness of activity and optimise as a result of learnings (e.g. GA, YouTube)• Di�erentiates between helpful & unhelpful data to enable clients to appreciate its true value and relevance• Develop an e�ectiveness roadmap or model• Knowledge of channel specific KPIs and their importance

• Write a KPI plan that ladders to clear business & brand objectives with a practical source & implementation RACI• Model the impact of tra�c, conversion rates & purchase behaviour on ROI (funnels, growth formulas, AWP trees)• Can understand, select and optimise di�erent attribution techniques (e.g. Markov)

• Writes e�ectiveness case studies or award entries• Contributes to the creation of econometric models and tracking activity• Sets up projects for integrated evaluation from the start

• Writes winning entries to e�ectiveness awards (e.g. E�es, IPAs)

MEASUREMENT & EFFECTIVENESSProving if, how and why the work created real value for the business and consumers

CLARIFY THE PROBLEMWhat have we been asked to do,

what can we do, what should we do?

INSIGHT CREATIONFinding things out, filtering them, rethinking them laterally to inspire

SET THE PATHGiving inspiration, clarity & confidence to the team about what needs to be done

IDEATIONHelping creative & other disciplines come

up with better ideas, faster

PROTOTYPING & STORYTELLINGDefining the idea, proving, communicating & selling it

MANIFESTING THE WORKCrafting the experience journey and

delivery detail that brings the idea to life