Contact

➤ LOCATION

7417 Rocky Ravine Dr.
Fairfax Station, VA 22039

☎ CONTACT

billy@commonwealthbrandstrategy.com
(804) 683-2389

brand Positioning & strategy

Establishing clear point of difference for your brand begins with understanding the values of your consumer & company.  It must extend beyond the list of product features into your ownable brand values, product assets, visual identity and tone. 

Often this requires making clear choices to provide focus for communications & creative inspiration.  This clarity leads to a more relevant relationship with your consumers & increased brand loyalty.

Larger companies spend too much time building this and not living it; while smaller companies try to live everything or lack consistency in executing these values.  We help guide you through this to prioritize & live those values.                                                             

Competitive ANalysis & Positioning

Understanding the point of difference for your brand will only take you so far, you have to understand the ever growing competitive landscape and adjust your strategy accordingly.  Often smaller brands rely on shouting what makes them unique without considering if that is what the consumer wants or if that separates them within their competitive set.

Identifying the openings within a category to direct brands through their evolution can reinforce the brand positioning and make communications even more effective with the right choices.  These fundamentals of competitive analysis & consumer insights allow for brands to win against competition because it can provide shortcuts for consumers who have limited awareness of the brand.

Digital Media & E-Comm Strategy

The changing Media landscape begins with the change of how & where consumers view content but it does not change why some communications work and others are ineffective. 

We guide brands through the changing media landscape by identifying measurable ways to test creative, targeting & media channels, both traditional & digital.  This allows for quick test & learns to see how media impacts demand to then increase investment around winning media recommendations.

It is also key to link the ideas within the test with the larger marketing & brand strategy.  Each idea or vehicle should remain within the established brand guidelines but provide inspiration by presenting the brand in a new way to the marketplace.

New product pipeline & Concepts

Managing new products and services involves balancing new product strategy formation, customer needs assessment, creative concept development and marketplace execution. It is best accomplished using a clear strategic framework, online research for speedy optimization and stage-gate collaboration tools to identify a go/no go decision.

We work closely with cross-functional client teams to establish new product objectives, strategies and plans. We help clients develop innovative new product concepts which are then tested quickly to identify optimization opportunities. Plans for commercialization and launch are then developed, guided by strategic, financial and operational screening.

Creative Challenges

It is key to get the most out of the creative people who bring brands to life. From large agencies, to internal teams, from boutique firms to freelancers, we excel in partnership with these teams to bring the brand strategy to life.  We've worked with all types to transform packaging, create breakthrough communications or develop new products that allow consumers to experience each unique brand.

This partnership goes beyond creating a clear brief or planning what task needs to be done.  It means knowing when to step back to provide creative freedom and when to step in to guide the work back to the brand strategy.  It also requires that the creative groups are integrated into the marketing teams to get a clear picture of the business challenges, consumer needs & competitive opportunities.

CPG VC counsel & Scorecards

The acquisition activity around growing CPG startups matches with the trend of larger CPGs looking to identify investment opportunities to fuel their growth, supplement their innovation and low the risk of their investments by proving sales & consumer interest.  We have spent time on both side of the investment table, learning what to ask, to watch out for and to see as real opportunities to synergies.

We've worked with partners to establish a framework, scorecard and implementation plan for identifying matches between startup and multinational.  We work with you to identify the right hard metrics to measure and the necessary "soft" skills to determine how to smooth the integration between different cultures and approaches.