The Fixer-Upper Concept

Writing a winning concept can be tough. When you read a good concept, it is easy to say “I could have written that,” but trust me, I’ve worked with many teams over the years and creating a simple, single-minded communication is not an easy task. Interestingly, I just read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers. In his book, he highlights that 10,000 …

Do Concept Heat Maps Help?

I can’t tell you how many vendors try to sell the new “best” way to test a concept.  It seems like everyone has a proprietary approach they often tout as the “next best thing since sliced bread.”  Regardless of your vendor, you likely want to know one or all of the following answers: relative appeal, perceived value/expensiveness, purchase intent, relevance, …

F.O.C.U.S. I.T. for Great ACBs

The ACB communicates the unmet need or frustration that your target consumer feels. It provides a fundamental context for the entire concept. Get it wrong and the concept becomes confusing and irrelevant. Get it right and the concept will flow forward effortlessly. Of course, this forward flow also assumes that your benefit and reason to believe (RTB) provide the solution …

T’was the Day Before Concept Testing

The Concept Queen version of the classic – T’was the Night Before Christmas  ‘Twas the day before concept testing And all through the brand Not a creature was stirring, Not even the main (wo)man. The screener was finished, The recruit had begun, With hopes of creating concepts, That were second to none. The team was excited, And snug in the …

Rethink Your Business Positioning

While I have never owned a jewelry store, I have certainly shopped in them.  What always strikes me as odd is how generic the experience is from store to store.   When I go to Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, and Kohl’s, I expect a different sales experience, a different price tag, and different merchandise.  Similarly, a steak from Ruth’s Chris should be somewhat …

“Kitchen Sink” Positioning Concept

Writing an effective concept is an art, rather than a science. Although some basic guidelines can be adhered to in order to maximize success, one of the more typical problems I see with most client’s concepts is the “Kitchen Sink” approach. The “Kitchen Sink” concept is a derivative of the phrase “Everything, but the kitchen sink”. Wikipedia defines this as an …

Iterative Focus Groups

All marketers seem to be under incredible pressure to get their product or service “out the door” quickly and of course, well-tested and positioned for success. The challenge for many is doing all the necessary qualification steps in the allocated time. Perhaps, you should consider adding iterative focus groups to your arsenal of qualification “tricks”. So, what are iterative focus …