Football + Brand Planning: Putting in the Work in the Off-Season

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t” -Jerry Rice, San Francisco 49ers

A new football season is upon us, and it made me start to wonder: what do football and brand planning for markers have in common?

You can’t just show up and expect results. It takes research, insights, and preparation to be ready for the season ahead. Let’s explore what it takes to bring a marketing “game plan” to the field for the 2022 season.

Reviewing the Game Tape: Complete an honest assessment of where you are as a brand.

Look at your 4Ps and 4Cs. Do the SWOT analysis. Take a really honest look at what’s working and what’s not. Do market research, which is something many marketers don’t want to invest in. When you’ve compiled those insights, answer a very simple, but impactful question — “so what?”

Building a Roster: Define your brand’s key issues.

Now armed with a lot of great insights and implications, try to ladder them up into a few key issues facing the brand. Put it another way, what are the top three things that are impacting the brand’s ability to grow or deliver on its long-term objectives?

Defining the Team’s Strategy: Develop your brand’s OGSM.

Objectives: What are your brand’s overall business goals?

Goals: What are the financial metrics that support the delivery of your brand’s objectives?

Strategies: What are the two (2) to three (3) key strategies that will address these issues? Not a laundry list — keep it down to two or three. This forces you to be choiceful in how you’re going to grow your brand. Also, define the tactics that will deliver those strategies. What are the most critical ones for each?

Measurements: This is an often overlooked step. Ask yourself how you’d define success? How would you measure it?

Cover Your Blindside: Protect your brand by taking the time to do it the right way.

It requires a ton of work to ensure you’ve been thorough and rigorous in developing your plan. Because it’s such a large initiative, it’s easy to take shortcuts, especially on the situation assessment. Either marketers are too optimistic in their assessment of their brand’s situation or they’re unwilling to invest in market research to help answer critical business questions, thinking their experience is enough.

Play the Big Game: Apply your plan to demonstrate success.

It’s now “game day” — time to launch your plan. Think of this as the end of the beginning, as all of the preparation that you put into developing the plan is now going to be tested in-market.

Be ready to adjust your plans based on in-market results — think of them as in-game adjustments. As new information becomes available, just ask yourself if those insights would change how you’ve framed your situation assessment, your SWOT analysis, your key issues, or your OGSM. If the answer is yes, then adjust accordingly. Otherwise, just stay the course.

If anything forces you to revisit your plans, trust yourself and the work you’ve put into developing the plan. By developing a robust situation assessment, a clear SWOT analysis, a concise set of key issues, and a choiceful OGSM, you’ve already developed the tools and applied the techniques that will allow you to analyze any new insight and make the best decision for your brand.

Put it another way, trust the process, then just play ball.