Brand ideas don’t have to be full of designer jargon

Thanks to David Bernstein for mentioning us as ‘protagonists of MNP’ (DW 23 January). To clear one thing up though – we don’t offer ‘media neutral planning’ – too much jargon. We do brand ideas.

To get them, we first do ‘brand planning’: for example, we analyse in depth the potential of the brand itself, and its relationship with its users – good strategic practice.

A ‘brand idea’, by definition, is bigger than its individual media-based expressions. It used to be called a ‘Big Idea’, and we are finding that in this media-fragmented world the need is bigger than ever before.

This does not preclude good advertising or design ideas coming from the central idea, it actually encourages it – and it ensures some coherence across media.

The idea is the creative solution. Brand planning is asking the right questions – of the brand, not its media. It’s a means to an end.

It may be 30 years since Bernstein’s group The Creative Business was founded to address these issues, but the need now is greater than ever before.

Stuart Mackay

Partner

Ergo

London NW3