Veksner: Is it time to retire the proposition?
August 26 2013, 8:02 am | | 1 Comment
By Simon Veksner
Head of Ideas at
Naked Communications
If you’re anything like me, the first bit of the brief you look at is the ‘proposition box.’
And the second question anyone asks you after “what are you working on?” is “what’s the proposition?”
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The proposition is not really the issue – the issue is really the meaningfulness, believability and relevance of the propositions we choose to focus on.
The brand’s mission statement ‘or purpose’ represents what the company stands for and what it is moving towards.
The proposition should therefore represent HOW it’s moving towards that goal; the brand-mission is the aim, and the proposition is the means.
Brand mission is the ‘WHY we do it’ story – the proposition should therefore be the “HOW we are CURRENTLY doing it’ story.
The brand purpose is a long-term strategy, the proposition is the short-term tactic – a step along the road to reaching the long-term strategy.
The proposition only becomes a problem when it is removed from the brand mission’s overall context. The ‘Mission’ and ‘Proposition’ should support and reflect each other – this is what builds cognitive weight and transparency to your brand.
Once you start offering individual propositions that are out of keeping with your overall brand mission, that’s when credibility starts to break down.
Never put your brand’s “means” and “ends” into conflict or misalignment – otherwise your risk miring your brand in examples of self-serving pragmatism with audience disillusionment being the inevitable outcome. If your brand’s behaviour doesn’t mirror its principles then it never really had any principles in the first place.