The short answer
Start with the problem, not the firm. If you need to decide where to compete, a strategy consultancy fits. If you need to know where your brand stands, a research firm or brand tracker fits. If you need great work made, an agency fits. If you need to know why buyers choose or reject your brand, and what to change, a brand growth specialist fits. Many brands use more than one. Before you hire, ask each firm what it measures, what you get at the end, how long it takes and who does the work.
Start with the problem you need to solve
Start with a better question. “Who is the best brand consultancy?” has no single answer. “What do we need to find out, and what will we do with it?” does.
| If you need to | Look for | You usually get |
|---|---|---|
| Decide where to compete, what to price, what to buy or cut | A strategy consultancy | A market and business strategy |
| Know where your brand stands against competitors | A research firm or brand tracker | Scores and trends over time |
| Make new work: identity, campaigns, packaging | A creative or branding agency | The work itself |
| Test how people react to one ad or pack | An implicit or neuro research specialist | Response measures for that asset |
| Know why buyers choose or reject your brand, and what to change | A brand growth specialist | A diagnosis, and a plan your teams and agencies act on |
The kinds of firms, and what each does well
Each kind of firm is a partner, not a rival. They answer different questions, and many brand teams use several. Here is what each one does well, and what it is not built to do.
Strategy consultancies
Strong at market sizing, portfolio choices, pricing, operations and growth plans backed by financial analysis. Brand is one input among many. They are not usually built to show what buyers instinctively feel about your brand.
Research firms and brand trackers
Strong at measuring awareness, consideration and image over time, at scale and against competitors. A tracker that asks people what they think shows that a score moved, and leaves your team to infer the cause. It is not built to show the associations people can’t put into words. See what brand tracking misses.
Creative and branding agencies
Strong at making the work: identities, campaigns, packaging and content. The best work comes from the best brief, and a brief is only as good as what the brand knows about its buyers.
Behavioral and implicit research specialists
Strong at measuring fast, automatic responses to a specific ad, pack or concept, with tools such as implicit tests, eye tracking or neuro measures. They show how people react to an asset. Some also advise on strategy, so ask how far each one goes.
Brand growth specialists
Strong at finding why buyers choose or reject a brand, and at turning that into a plan. The best work on memory and instinct, not on stated opinion, and give your teams and agencies something specific to act on. Triggers® is this kind of firm.
Questions to ask any brand consultancy before you hire
- What do you measure: what people say, or what drives the choice? Most brand choices are instinctive. A firm that only asks people what they think will miss what decides the purchase.
- What do we get at the end? A report describes. A plan tells your team what to keep, what to stop and what to add, and where. Ask to see what the deliverable looks like.
- How long until we can act? Ask when your team will have something it can use, not only when the final presentation is.
- Has your method worked in categories like ours? Ask for examples in your category or a close one, and ask what changes from one category to the next.
- How do you work with our agencies and research partners? Find out whether the firm will run your marketing, compete with your agency, or equip the teams you already have.
- How will we know it worked? Agree up front what will be measured, by when, and against what starting point.
- Who will we work with day to day? Meet the people on your project, not only the people in the pitch.
Where Triggers fits, and where it doesn’t
We are a brand growth specialist. Since 1995, across more than 70 categories, from packaged goods to pharma to financial services, we have mapped how brands live in buyers’ memory and found the triggers that make them the instinctive choice. We work beside your other partners:
| Your partner | What they do | What we add |
|---|---|---|
| A brand tracker | Reads the score | What actually moved your brand, and how to do more of it |
| A consultancy | Finds the opportunity | Where to build memories so you become the instinctive choice |
| Your agency | Makes brilliant work | A brief built on evidence. Same team, same budget, better aim |
Triggers is a good fit when
- Your brand is well known but not growing, and nobody can say why.
- Your tracker shows flat scores while sales fall.
- You need to win new buyers without losing the ones you have.
- Your agencies need a brief built on evidence about what buyers instinctively feel.
Triggers is not the right fit when
- You need media buying, ad production or a campaign made. We do not run your marketing, and we do not compete with your agency.
- You need a continuous survey of awareness and ratings. A brand tracker does that well, and our work sits alongside it.
How a project runs: we build your Brand Connectome® in the first twelve weeks, then identify and test the triggers in weeks twelve to twenty-four. You get a plan, not a report. See our approach, or read why brand leaders choose Triggers.
