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You guys must have worked with some terrible strategists
The job did exist 10 years ago. A good strategist hands you an insight that’s actually an idea. I’ve worked with them and hope you can at some point too.
Ours are great-they bring insights that ensure our creative hits the right target where, when and how it needs to. There's occasional inter-personal peeves, "so-and-so needs to do their job", etc., but nothing we don't experience with any team member. On the whole, strategy has been integral to our successes, and lack of or poor strategy has been a large element of our failures.
The job's existed for 50 years.
It used to be called account planner. But digital agencies decided to call the role strategist, and traditional agencies glommed onto the title to look like they were hip to digital. And then these agencies hired strategists who just knew how to "do digital," meaning no one knows what the hell they are doing. I don't trust any strategist in a creative agency, digital or otherwise, that doesn't have a background in account planning.
Bump
i would also like to know. working for ten years and still can’t isolate an incident where they’ve helped us or the process.
Somehow they out earn all of us, too.
Strategists also spend much of their time working with clients and creative directors to sort out what needs to happen and clear the way for teams to do their thing. Just because you aren’t involved in those conversations doesn’t mean it doesn’t make your job easier and your output more impactful
OP were you in the biz 10 years ago? They’ve been around, and used to be called planners.
I have been doing this for 18 years, so I’ll take a shot in answering. A GOOD strategist (planner, or whatever the fuck they are calling us) takes consumer research, client/product information and cultural fuel and distills it down to a clear, insightful and focused brief. (Note: the word “brief” is critical- one sided, readable font size). After briefing they act as a resource for their creative teams: having all of that knowledge to pull from, helping their teams expand and grow their ideas, and unsticking them when they get stuck. They are a screen for not just keeping ideas on strategy, but making sure they will resonate with consumers. They set the stage for ideas in client presentations so ideas get presold in. And if the client insists on testing, they use their research knowledge to make sure the work has the best chance of success. They do a lot of other shit too (positioning, brand foundations, exploratory research, etc) but the above is where they fit in to the overall process. I will say the hot second I worked in digital I struggled to understand the department’s role - other that come up with 50 page “briefing decks” that failed to stick the landing and being provocative for provocative’s sake. I will personally throat punch the next person who tells me that the big insight on millennials is that “they are gender fluid” regardless of what the product is (so far have heard it on soda and pet food). Anyhow, I hope that’s helpful .
there’s a reason good agencies all have deeply integrated strategy departments.
That said, there are a lot of worthless strategists. Proper training or mentor ship for strategists would be really helpful to improve the practice where it’s weak.
In one line: voice of the consumer.
Who are they? What do they like? What draws them or turns them away from the category/brand? What speaks to them? What’s at the core of the brand’s #1 fan? How can the brand stand out or speak to the consumer among the competition? What are the consumer’s pain points? How do we reach the consumer?