Building a brand is a marathon. D³ Brands sets the training plan before the miles: who is in the market, why they would choose this brand, and which assets get reached for at the buying moment
Execution follows the plan. It is never sold ahead of it.
Building a brand is a marathon. D³ Brands sets the training plan before the miles: who is in the market, why they would choose this brand, and which assets get reached for at the buying moment
Execution follows the plan. It is never sold ahead of it.
What D³ is not
One axis decides the engagement: where the brief enters the sequence.
D³ Brands
Enters at the diagnosis: who is in the market, why they would choose this brand, which assets get reached for. Answered from market orientation and consumer research — category, distribution and sales data, and buyers interviewed in the market being sold into.
A management consultancy
Enters at the diagnosis, on a different discipline, and hands the marketing to someone else to execute
A branding agency
Enters at the artefact, and reasons backwards to a rationale that will support it
A performance shop
Enters at the channel, and optimises against a buyer it has not established is in the market
ENTERS AT DIAGNOSIS
ENTERS AT EXECUTION
A personal brand is not on this axis. It is held to attention rather than to revenue, margin, distribution or share, and where it enters the sequence varies with the practitioner.
Briefs that enter at diagnosis - TAKEN
"On-trade share is falling in London and the distributor data disagrees with the sales narrative. Establish which is right."
"Occupancy is fine and margin is not. Identify which segment is actually booking and whether the marketing addresses it."
"The identity has been signed off. Hold it to the positioning before anything goes into production."
Execution, entered in sequence: the diagnosis it answers was already made.
Briefs that enter at execution - returned or declined
"Rebrand us. The current identity does not reflect where the business is going." Returned to diagnosis; the identity work follows if the strategy calls for it.
"Take over paid social and bring the cost per acquisition down by a third." Declined. Not the discipline, and the channel precedes the buyer.
"Sit on the board and be the marketing voice in the room each quarter." Declined. Held to presence rather than to a documented method.
What D³ is not
One axis decides the engagement: where the brief enters the sequence.
ENTERS AT DIAGNOSIS
D³ Brands
Enters at the diagnosis: who is in the market, why they would choose this brand, which assets get reached for. Answered from market orientation and consumer research — category, distribution and sales data, and buyers interviewed in the market being sold into.
A management consultancy
Enters at the diagnosis, on a different discipline, and hands the marketing to someone else to execute
A branding agency
Enters at the artefact, and reasons backwards to a rationale that will support it
A performance shop
Enters at the channel, and optimises against a buyer it has not established is in the market
ENTERS AT EXECUTION
A personal brand is not on this axis. It is held to attention rather than to revenue, margin, distribution or share, and where it enters the sequence varies with the practitioner.
Briefs that enter at diagnosis - TAKEN
"On-trade share is falling in London and the distributor data disagrees with the sales narrative. Establish which is right."
"Occupancy is fine and margin is not. Identify which segment is actually booking and whether the marketing addresses it."
"The identity has been signed off. Hold it to the positioning before anything goes into production."
Execution, entered in sequence: the diagnosis it answers was already made.
Briefs that enter at execution - returned or declined
"Rebrand us. The current identity does not reflect where the business is going." Returned to diagnosis; the identity work follows if the strategy calls for it.
"Take over paid social and bring the cost per acquisition down by a third." Declined. Not the discipline, and the channel precedes the buyer.
"Sit on the board and be the marketing voice in the room each quarter." Declined. Held to presence rather than to a documented method.
The method
The sequence is the substance of the engagement. Stage 01 is answered from market orientation and consumer research, and nothing downstream is entered before it holds.
01
Market orientiation
Who is actually in the market for what the client sells, and at which category entry points.
02
Positioning
The real reason those buyers would pick this brand over the alternative.
03
Distinctive assets
What gets reached for in the consumer's mind when the buying moment arrives, and what is left alone.
04
4P execution
Product, price, promotion and placement all built against that strategy and to the standard of the diagnosis, where the strategy calls for it.
Qualitative and quantitative consumer research as well as category, distribution and sales data in your target market
The position tested against the alternatives buyers can choose and are choosing
Prompted and unprompted asset recognition measured before and after
Revenue, margin, distribution and category share, on the measures the diagnosis named
The path is not only forward. A stage whose output fails its check returns the engagement to the stage above it.
A brief that begins at 04 is returned to 01 or declined. That is the sequencing discipline, and it 's what the engagement is being bought for.
The method
The sequence is the substance of the engagement. Stage 01 is answered from market orientation and consumer research, and nothing downstream is entered before it holds.
01
Market orientiation
Qualitative and quantitative consumer research as well as category, distribution and sales data in your target market
02
Positioning
The real reason those buyers would pick this brand over the alternative.
The position tested against the alternatives buyers can choose and are choosing
03
Distinctive assets
What gets reached for in the consumer's mind when the buying moment arrives, and what is left alone.
Prompted and unprompted asset recognition measured before and after
04
4P execution
Revenue, margin, distribution and category share, on the measures the diagnosis named
The path is not only forward. A stage whose output fails its check returns the engagement to the stage above it.
A brief that begins at 04 is returned to 01 or declined. That is the sequencing discipline, and it 's what the engagement is being bought for.