Julian Cole, one of the sharpest strategy minds in advertising, distilled the role of a marketing strategist into an 8-column, 42-cell table that functions like a diagnostic dashboard. Save it, print it, live in it. Every cell is a skill; every gap is a liability. Below is a guided tour of the map - column by column - translated into actionable competence so you can audit yourself and level up where you’re leaking value.
1. Strategy Fundamentals — The Operating System
No strategy flies without a clean definition of *what strategy actually is*.
This column is your intellectual hygiene:
- What is Strategy? A repeatable system for creating customer preference, not a one-off campaign.
- Writing a Strategy vs. Writing a Creative Brief: Strategy defines the problem space and winning logic; the brief translates that logic into creative fuel.
- Different Types of Planners: Brand planners, comms planners, digital planners - know your lane.
- Transitioning into Planning / Managing Downtime: Turn idle cycles into signal (reading, interviewing, synthesizing).
Core Muscle: Structural thinking. Train yourself to see campaigns as nodes in a system - market forces, product truth, cultural currents, human behavior - not isolated stunts.
2. Research — Beyond Google Sheets
Research is not data collection; it’s question engineering.
- Strategy Kick-Off Questions: Start every brief with 5–7 questions that force the client to confront trade-offs.
- Art of Interviewing: Ask “What keeps you up at night?” only after three warmer questions. Silence is your scalpel.
- Evaluating Data Sources / Validating Problems: Triangulate survey data with sales data with frontline anecdotes.
- Strategy Scrapbook: A living swipe file of cultural signals, competitor moves, and micro-trends.
Core Muscle: Curiosity with rigor. The goal is not volume of data but fertility of questions.
3. Insights — The Atomic Unit of Strategy
Insights are not observations (“people like cookies”); they are tensions that move money.
- Insights vs. Observations: An observation is “Gen Z uses TikTok.” An insight is “Gen Z uses TikTok to escape the pressure of being perceived as productive.”
- Flipping Insights: Take the cliché “busy moms need convenience” → “busy moms crave 3 guilt-free minutes of ‘me time’ disguised as productivity.”
- Polishing Insights / Adding Tension: Every insight must contain a *paradox* (want/avoid, now/later, self/others). Tension is the engine of behavior.
Core Muscle: Reframing. Practice the “So What? → Keep Pushing” loop until the room goes quiet.
4. Creative Briefing — From Analytics to Ignition
A brief is not a document; it’s a provocation.
- How to Write a Creative Brief: One page, four questions max.
- GET / TO / BY Framework:
- GET the right people in the room (audience).
- TO change a belief or trigger an action.
- BY giving creatives a single-minded proposition and a tension-rich stimulus.
- Tactical Briefs vs. Single-Minded Proposition: Tactical briefs are for execution; the SMP is the North Star.
- Biggest Mistakes from Junior Planners / Giving Creative Feedback: Never say “make it pop.” Say “amplify the tension between X and Y.”
Core Muscle: Translation. Turn spreadsheets into sparks.
5. Brand Strategy — Building the Operating System of Identity
Brand strategy is architecture, not decoration.
- Brand Strategy 101 / Brand Frameworks: Mission, vision, values, personality—yes, but only if they *constrain* creativity.
- Brand Archetypes: Use sparingly; they’re training wheels, not the bike.
- Brand Architecture: House of brands? Branded house? Endorsed? Map it before you message it.
Core Muscle: Constraint design. A strong brand says “no” more than “yes.”
6. Comms Planning — Orchestrating the Customer Journey
Comms planning is storytelling at scale across touchpoints.
- Consumer Journey Planning / Tools: Awareness → Familiarity → Consideration → Conversion → Loyalty → Advocacy. Map *emotional state* at every stage.
- Comms Planning Questions: “Where is the moment of maximum receptivity?”
- Campaign Ecosystems: Paid, owned, earned, shared—design for leakage and amplification.
Core Muscle: Systems thinking. Every channel is a character in the same narrative.
7. Advertising Effectiveness — Proving the Magic with Math
Creativity without measurement is indulgence.
- How Advertising Works: Mental Availability (be easy to think of) + Physical Availability (be easy to buy). Thank you, Byron Sharp.
- Cogs of Marketing Effectiveness: Distinctive Assets, ESOV (Excess Share of Voice), Creative Quality Score.
- Mental & Physical Availability / Distinctive Assets: Your logo should be recognizable at 5% size; your jingle at 5 decibels.
- Different Types of Measurement: Brand lift, sales lift, attribution, econometrics - know which lever you’re pulling.
Core Muscle: Scientific humility. Run the experiment, then double the budget on what works.
8. Business Strategy — Where Marketing Meets P&L
Marketing is a profit center, not a cost center.
- Proactive Strategy / Growth Matrix: Ansoff in one slide—Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, Diversification.
- SWOT / Reading a Financial Report: Know gross margin from EBITDA; know ROAS from ROIC.
- PESTEL on Steroids: Turn macro forces into *strategic bets*.
**Core Muscle: Commercial translation. Speak fluent CFO.
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Your Personal Audit Checklist
1. Print the table.
2. Score yourself 1–5 on every cell (1 = “I fake it,” 5 = “I teach it”).
3. Pick the three lowest scores. One from columns 1–3 (foundation), one from 4–6 (translation), one from 7–8 (proof).
4. 30-day micro-sprints:
- Write one strategy doc from scratch.
- Run one depth interview and flip the insight.
- Build one ESOV model in Excel.
The strategist who masters this map doesn’t just *run* campaigns—they *design* preference at scale. Start where you’re weakest; the system will thank you.
