My desire to treat all things in an agile way is creating internal discomfort.  Over the weekend I was reflecting on how to develop a new or refreshed brand using an agile approach.  Given the need for consistency and repetition in building a brand, it seems that this may be one part of the marketing universe that that truly needs a waterfall approach.

So how can we make the brand development process more agile?  Here are some ideas.

  • Start with a straw list of ideas to test
  • Dedicate one wall in your office to post these ideas and your competitive landscape
  • Use less expensive, faster-to-deploy exploratory research techniques like online focus groups to supplement your traditional customer outreach
  • Continuously adapt, test and kill concepts as you acquire data from the market
  • Get your team to use Digg or Delicious to share competitive marketing
  • Brainstorm frequently to make sure you are innovating and expanding your list
  • Share the ideas with your team on a regular basis
  • Concept test final idea using email surveys as a sanity check
  • And last but not least, trust your gut as this a creative process not a geometric proof

Did I miss anything?  I would welcome your thoughts and experiences.