Psychoanalysis for brands
Sit on this couch. Tell me about your mother.
Hey friend. Every Sunday whenever!, this silly email helps you make better creative and strategic decisions. This week, I’m sharing a 12-Step Brand and Content Framework for making brand content that sucks less. Fun stuff. Absolutely delightful. Anyway, hello, it’s good to see you. -Steve
Oh hello, it’s me again!
Ha ha!
Nothin’ like an old person joke in a new person meme amiright.
Anyway.
✨New updated brand and content strategy deck✨
Good news, true believers.
I’ve updated the 12-step brand and content strategy framework. The deck now contains six of the 12 exercises.
The previous version contained exercises for brand purpose, vision, and values. Old strategy heads will recognize those exercises as fundamental brand definition exercises often applied to clients, or in creative workshops.
The additions to the deck include a few more brand exercises you may have played with before, including personality:
The fun thing about the personality exercise is it’s based (kinda!) on Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes. Marketers are always referring to this archetype wheel as if it were scholarly, but Jung’s archetypes were more complex than the twelve you see above! Simply referring to Jung out loud to a room full of people, however, is enough to provide the patina of learned erudition to your work and fool everyone into thinking you’re smarter than you are.
Moving on! There is also an exercise on Voice:
And an exercise called Voice Principles, which helps you dial in your voice a little more:
What is this framework again?
If you’ve just joined us and you’re wondering what this framework is all about, this post right here provides a swell introduction.
The exercises in the framework will help you—or help you help your client—accomplish three very powerful and fundamental things:
Establish who you are (brand)
Define who you’re talking to (audience), and why (goals)
Develop what you’re talking about (content topics and ideas).
I’ve used each of these 12 exercises throughout my career (air quotes) to develop editorial strategy, voice, and content for brands like Amazon and MetLife and Box and Adobe (and, also, one creative agency).
All the exercises in the framework come with famous brand examples, in case you’re terrified of thinking for yourself!
It’s okay, me too. That’s why I make decks to help other people think and get worried nobody will care!
✨ Also available as a Miro board ✨
Ah yes, this framework is also available as a Miro board.
This is literally my first time making anything in Miro so if you have any feedback on the layout, suggestions, high fives, whatever, please drop me a line.
The Miro board doesn’t have all the famous brand examples and speaker notes that the framework deck does. But on the other hand it’s not a giant 100+ page deck, and it’s easier to use for collaboration.
The Miro board, like the deck, currently has six of the twelve exercises.
I’ll be posting the remaining six exercises soon!
you’re beautiful,
-s.
p.s. Yes, I absolutely provide workshops for this framework, either in person or over zoom. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
More delightful resources
The Essential Guide to Frameworks
The Essential Laws of Creativity
The Creative Problem Solving Reading List
You don’t get it, you’re not the point
Make relationships, not things
How can I help?
This is a 100% organic, free-range, desktop-to-inbox newsletter devoted to helping you navigate uncertainty, seek the most interesting challenges, and make better creative decisions in marketing and beyond. Delivery at 6pm ET most Sundays. Your host is Steve Bryant, who is for hire. He’d love to help you develop and deploy creative and bold ideas or staff your newsroom, content, or marketing project.
Thanks for reading. Be seeing you.
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