1 JANUARY 2025

The Alluvus Brand Execution Path

The Alluvus Brand Execution Path is the device we use to work with clients to align our collective effort with execution. The path consists of five layers:

1. The Brand (and/or Campaign) Purpose

2. Awareness, Favorability, Action and Preference Pillars

3. Target Audiences, call-to-action, engagement KPIs and preference metrics

4. Tactics

5. Marketing spend

Layer 1: The Brand (and/or Campaign Purpose)

The first layer features the brand purpose – or in some instances a campaign purpose that is informed by and intrinsically connected to the brand. We use this as the starting point for the Alluvus Brand Execution Path because we often find that when we engage with an organization, we may encounter two camps. One camp may be focused on a new brand and/or a renewed brand. This focus usually means that the organization is focused on brand development as the primary effort.

On the other hand, by working with our clients to examine the brand purpose, we often find that the brand is actually strong and supported by all necessary brand assets such as an identity guide, core messaging and consistent application across all brand channels. By working with our clients to begin with a focus on the brand purpose, we are able to discern if identity and messaging are the primary focus. This is important because if brand development is the focus, we can then discuss whether or not the team is prepared to invest in a rebrand. Typically, we have found that brand development is an important effort in its own right and could require six- to 12-months to examine, explore and create a new or renewed brand.

We also begin with an examination of the brand purpose because any and all related marketing efforts will need to ensure that they are dual purpose. The brand is going to need to cascade down to inform and support all related efforts and any and all activity is going to need to ladder up to support the brand. It is very much a two-way street.

Agreement on the brand purpose and its value ensures that we begin the engagement with a shared perspective.

Layer 2: Awareness, Favorability, Action and Preference Pillars

With the brand purpose and value established – Alluvus then works with our clients to examine where target audiences are when it comes to awareness – do they know who we are (awareness), do they like us (favorability) and do they support us (action – aka, the CTA). Finally, we examine preference – are customers or stakeholders passionate supporters?

We define awareness, favorability, action, and preference as pillars because the pillars then serve as a construct we can use to examine how target audience research, calls-to-action – especially when it comes to trial – and engagement and re-engagement lead to the ultimate outcome – preference. The Alluvus Brand Execution Path is designed to ensure that we are working together to continuously move target audiences across the funnel from discovery to becoming passionate brand advocates.

The awareness, favorability, action, and preference pillars also serve as a useful organizing device to examine where a team’s comfort level may be. For example, our experience has found that in some instances a client may have outstanding awareness metrics, yet when we examine action, we may find really low engagement metrics.

We don’t want to single any one organization out, so we’ll use an example of an emerging space – enhanced reality and/or virtual reality goggles, glasses, etc. Virtual reality devices have fantastic awareness metrics – be they from Apple, Meta or soon, Samsung. The virtual/altered/extended reality device space gets a lot of attention. As a result, if an established and trusted company announces a virtual device, they can count on extensive coverage. However, as adoption and sales metrics make clear, the experience, comfort and cost of virtual reality devices all factor into play and impact adoption.

So, for those individuals working on the next virtual reality device, they can probably expect fantastic awareness metrics – the media and influencer interest is there. Virtual reality devices are always going to make a big splash and get a lot of attention, but if the user experience isn’t there, social media will follow and no amount of coverage or promotion will overcome the authentic voice of the customer.

Layer 3: Target Audiences, CTAs, Engagement KPIs & Preference

Layer 3 of the Alluvus Brand Execution Path is pretty much embedded in layer two. Before we set out on any brand/campaign journey, we’re going to need to know who we’re talking to. Segmentation – informed by market research – is key here. The opportunity we have found is to examine what inputs are available when it comes to understanding target audience. Many of our clients can’t afford to spend on in-depth market research spend. While we’re not here to say market research isn’t worth the investment – it is! – working with our clients to examine target audience data that is available serves as a pragmatic starting point. And, this step often informs the value of investing in market research that is informed by what we know – and don’t know – based on this assessment.

Calls-to-action (CTA)s follow with any and all CTAs informed by the simple question: “What are we asking them to do?” An obvious point, perhaps. But it is surprising how many organizations spend so much time on who they are trying to reach and then fall short on the next question – what do we want them to do and how easy is it to reach us? 

This then leads into the action pillar of the Alluvus Brand Execution Path. What KPIs are being used to ensure target audiences remain engaged? The names for engagement metrics will vary – repeat sales, recurring donations, annual subscriptions – but they will all share the same essential quality: succinct metrics that make clear that target audiences keeps coming back.

While repeat buyers, supporters and donors are key – the final pillar, preference – ensures that your most passionate supporters are ranked and rewarded for being a passionate fan, advocate or supporter. The holy grail – aka, word-of-mouth – is what we’re all after. Word-of-mouth makes clear how target audiences value your organization and what they are ready to do with you.

Layer 4: Tactics

This usually consists of three, four, maybe five sub-layers. When we use the Alluvus Brand Engagement Path to align the flow from brand promise to brand preference, we then work to audit and align all tactical efforts against the brand awareness path pillars to examine how advertising, communications, digital and marketing efforts are working together to move target audiences down the path. By making clear the KPIs across each pillar, this effort ensures that we are able to work with our clients to audit and align tactics using engagement metrics aligned with the Alluvus Brand Engagement Path as our predictor.

This is important because we’re looking to examine the tactics through a value-neutral lens. We’re looking for those “better than’s” with the metrics being the arbiter. With that said, we’re also looking for the “different than’s” or “have we asked ourselves this than’s.” By better we don’t mean bad – we’re just asking if the way we have thought about supporting tactics can change. We’re also using this lens to examine if investments can be shifted across the brand engagement path to address where the outages are across the brand engagement path.

Layer 5: Marketing Spend

We find this to be the favorite layer of the CFO. This is where we work with clients to examine marketing spend across the four Alluvus Brand Engagement Path pillars with a close examination of how dollars are being allocated to move target audiences along the path. This exercise may find that resources are being spent addressing opportunities that have actually turned into challenges, or where spend may be informed by a level of comfort rather than the customer’s perspective.

That’s okay – we can work through that. The goal of this layer is to simply get all the resources aligned across each of the four pillars and then total them up to understand the current spend. Then, working in partnership with our clients, we can work together to reallocate total spend across the four pillars to ensure that resources are applied based on what we have learned together on our journey. This ends up being an informed conversation that ensures a team views any reallocation as nothing more than an investment in each other as we work together to connect with the customer.

Now What…

Well, time to build that dashboard! If we are effective in using the Alluvus Brand Execution Path, we can then move to working with our clients to build an equally cohesive dashboard that measures progress. The dashboard becomes a shared accomplishment that reflects the shared commitment to learning that we have all participated in as we walk the path together.