Okay, so on with the individual feedback. Once again, I won't apologise for typos, I need to get this out.
Samara
This was interesting. Great that you had insights that were simple and supported. Great you challenged the convention of this all being about just health, perhaps too many entries were like kids playing soccer, just all chasing the same ball. I liked that you had a clear strategy.
Great that you built your planning from a product truth, without it being dull, that you gave it context. And while trial is not exactly a new task for a drinks communications campaign, I'm glad it was clear.
I engaged with the pen portrait and really got the insight. It's dead simple but also true that the story of an object directly dictates our experience of it.
Perhaps the idea went a little far, perhaps it's a little conventional to have 'from deepest Peru or whatever' but it was still a plan I think that would get people to appraise/re-appraise the brand and product.
I thought you did a great job of creating a plan that addressed specific tasks. I just wish you hadn't made changing the packaging part of it. It costs the earth, probably the entire budget. I thought you missed a trick with the daily routines thing, that might have been a bigger thought. And maybe it's a little bitty, for a penetration job, I wondered if you needed something simpler and more scaleable.
Rob said, "I like that they went beyond ‘health’ and into taste. That’s interesting.
I also like that they had a POV in there that took that ‘taste’ proposition and gave it meaning.
Maybe they went a bit overboard with the ‘geography/origination’ element of their idea … because I think there’s something in simply attacking the brands that say their from ‘a mountain in the deepest part of the Congo, when really they’re bottled in Slough … but I’ll let them go with it"
Richard Duncan
Once again, thanks for framing the goal using data. Great it was boiled down to a clear consumption task. Perhaps you could have surprised a bit, but it's solid!
I got really interested in the performative/not being the best stuff – that felt like some sort of attitudinal tension to play with. While before as well as after seemed like a rock hard opportunity to grow consumption.
And I really liked the light buyers strategy which seemed realistic. Then the implementation feels solid, but I wanted you to give me it in a simpler manner. As it happens, 'be a counseller, not personal trainer' felt like a springboard for the whole strategy. This all felt good, but after establishing the principles, I wanted to see some thinking on implentation. As a client or creative agency, I kind of need to know if you're saying this is TV, all digital or whatever.
Rob said, "I was hoping they would have taken that on more directly – just to see someone come up with a new business plan – but instead they decided to go into the areas that were expected.
That sounds like a criticism, it’s not … it’s just that if this was a pitch and everyone is saying the same thing, then the ‘winner’ is going to be determined by factors that might put you at a disadvantage.
For me, I believe winning is about articulating a strategy that demonstrates your ability to identify unexpected relevance for the client and their problem which you can express in a way that sounds the most sensible decision they could possibly make.
Easier said than done, but building up all the data and then coming out with a solution that sounds category convention, just leads to a feeling of underwhelment. But then I am a cynical fuck.
That said, I loved their insight that ‘people are interested in better, not best’.
That’s great and to be honest, could have been the platform they could have used to really drive the business forward … especially once they detailed how the brands current customers could drive growth on their own"
Will
Ending with your summary is great. This should have been done more. It's critical in a world where we seem to write documents for folks to read, rather than get to talk to them, so having the one pager is really important.
Great naming of a clear audience and articulation of the issue.
I really love the tension you uncover in their lives- being seen to be something they're actually not. So much to play with, do you target the image or the reality? How do play with the tension or even help resolve it?
So I'm excited for commnications role to hit it out of the park and for me, instead it seems you recommend something that doesn't live up to your great insight work and is something any brand could do.
Your framework is solid and well thought out, but I was left disappointed at what might have been!
Rb said he was, "All excited that I was going to see something that really resolved the tension in this audiences mind/lives…..I’d of thought the insight was that this group are continually trying to appear in control when really they are plagued with self-doubt.
Rather than highlighting that, I’d of thought letting them feel they are the women they want to be would be the best way forward.
Less apologetic, more control.
But that’s just me.
I suppose my issue with this is that while I like they articulated an audience, their idea to move forward felt very different in tone to who they were.
Of course, whether that suggested voice was more appropriate for the brand is another debate altogether [as is the fact, like some of the other submissions, they seem to be chasing a new audience rather than leveraging existing customers] … but I guess my issue is they got me thinking this could be different and then ended up feeling quite similar to the others"
Now some more overall observations.
It's quite right to chase penetration in my book, but we were surprised in most cases there was little thinking about how to leverage people already buying. Authenticity, credibilty, it felt involving current buyers was a missed trick. Few thought about what was already working v what they could change.
We also thought perhaps that while every presentation had some great points, some really moments of greatness, in nearly every case, the resulting strategy rarely felt like it was addressing a genuine issue, or an issue was found but the plan didn't do it justice and tended to be just a shade different to what other brands were doing.
On balance, Samara wins, because, the taste and stories idea seemed the freshest challenge to the market conventions on health. Others perhaps had deeper insights, but didn't put them in the back of the net. So well done Samara.
This was a tough task, really hardcore. Well done to everyone for rising to it. But if I could boild my feedback down, it would be simplicity always wins. No need to look clever, say it with passion and intelligence, but make it look cleverer than it needs to be. Trust me, busy clients will thankyou for simple, clear thinking they can repeat to their boss in a few words.
ISSUE
INSIGHT
IDEA
IMPLEMENTATION
Rob said.."but what really stood out to me was that people need to define the real problem more clearly … understand the audience beyond just what they do and articulate a point of view that actually brushes up against the category/competition rather than tries to find a territory that for all intents and purposes, is 2 degrees what everyone else is already doing"
Anyway, that's it. Thanks for all that got involved, If you want more detailed feedback, do email me.
NORTHERN PLANNER 
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