Evidence-based strategy is the foundation of all effective marketing communications. Developing a strategy that uniquely differentiated the adapt offering was a key challenge of our work. Our expert inhouse strategists undertook a series of intentional projects to uncover some of the core truths behind adapt. This included:

• customer/prospect interviews
• competitor analysis
• market positioning
• target customer personas.

With a full set of informed data on hand, we formulated a strategy that could shape the branding and marketing for adapt. Investing in foundational strategic and research work produces superior outcomes as it provides direction and insights that may not otherwise be easily available.

The research and strategy work showed that adapt had different core targets and that messaging needed to be nuanced to increase their individual engagement. The development of customer personas allowed us to form and channel different information to each target group.

With such a varied group of audiences, adapt benefitted from a bespoke customer journey that helped them shape messages for each audience at each step of their journeys—from a start-up seeking funding through to an established, mature business needing transformation.

adapt's product offering also differed from other business consulting platforms and organisations in terms of the criteria it focuses on and the methodologies it utilises. For example, adapt's framework provides a critical look at succession in a business entity, an all-too-often ignored element of business operations. Therefore, the strategy for the work was to highlight these key points of difference to enable adapt to create a more ownable space in their sector.

Even though a large part of adapt's offer revolves around their unique IP platform, the creative approach was to avoid concentrating on the technology features but rather the human outcomes. Being relevant and relatable is a shortcut to connection—so, much of our creative thinking was anchored in the lives of our business targets.

Being personal means you can build more emotion into your communications and talk to them in a more social way. It also allowed us to avoid the use of clichéd business buzzwords, a common trait among many of adapt's competitors. Hence, the creative work we produced had a level of ‘lightness’ that counteracted the traditional seriousness of business information.