Overview

This guide explains how to turn the Brand Vision and Brand Challenge into a long-term equity development plan.

The key messages are:

• It explains how brand equity will be built using a proactive five-year plan.
• It identifies yearly milestones and activities and is executed through annual marketing plans.

• It also helps brand management set brand development guidelines and marketing support staff set Marketing Plans.
• It identifies the major equity-building strategies for the brand for 3-5 years, and sets targets (Brand Equity scores) to measure progress.

• It explains the execution and communication across all consumer touch-points (e.g. advertising, packaging, promotion, merchandizing, point-of-sale, PR, sponsorships, etc.).

In this guide, you learn:

You will also find:

What is the LEAP?

The LEAP helps set the framework for all brand activities over five years by bringing together the core elements from the Brand Vision, Brand Promise and the important Brand Challenges.

Essentially, the LEAP answers:

Why is the LEAP important?

The LEAP sets the long-term plan for the brand equity, which is incorporated in the strategic growth plans, articulated via guidelines and executed via Marketing Plans.

The LEAP is designed to provide the metrics framework for defining and tracking success (such as identifying the equities to be owned, and the specific measurements that constitute the year-by-year goals).

How do you develop a LEAP?

The LEAP document has the following components:

• Brand Vision Strategy, Brand Promise, Rational and Functional Support
  These elements are simply restated from the Brand Vision Strategy step.
• LEAP Summary
  Summarizes how the brand plans to achieve its Vision in a few sentences. The intention is to call out the major direction the brand will take and the consequent major actions that must be taken to support that direction.
• Five-year Brand Equity Targets
  Sets targets to track performance in Brand Equity building. (See Five Year Brand Targets: Guide). Most brands will also want to include their strategic growth plan financial goals alongside the Brand Equity Targets (see template)
• LEAP Imperatives
  The LEAP Imperatives define the five or six major strategies that must be executed by the brand team in order to make progress towards the brand’s equity goals.

In addition, the LEAP is accompanied by the Master Creative Brief, which sets the direction and tone for all external brand communications, whether it is advertising, packaging, POS or PR.

The next sections explain how to develop the LEAP document components.

LEAP Summary Section

The LEAP begins with a summary of the overall strategy driving the plan. This section identifies:

An example LEAP summary:

“The brand will achieve its targeted growth rates by leveraging its strengths in the ___________ product category, defining them more broadly, and entering the adjacent consumer domain spaces of ___________, ______________ and ____________ over a five-year period. To establish the basis for this strategic expansion, the brand will reinforce its ownership of its Brand Promise,_________________, by accelerating the pace of innovation and quality of delivery in the area of _______________, and by establishing and maintaining a lead of +25 points over Competitor A in attributes ___________ _________”

Five-year Brand Equity Targets

Setting the Five-year Brand Equity Targets is a necessary step in grounding the LEAP plan in specific goals. With the right target metrics, the brand will be in a position to answer definitively:

They also forge a link between:

The targets are Brand Equity scores that represent:

A Brand Equity Scorecard is developed and used to track the brand’s progress against the Five Year Targets by measuring the:

Note that Brand Equity scores may change slowly over time.

LEAP Imperatives

The LEAP document identifies the imperatives, five or six activities that will deliver the Brand Vision. The LEAP document describes:

The LEAP Imperatives usually reflect the previously-identified Brand Challenges (part of the Brand Vision document). The strategies are for closing the gaps between the current state and the Brand Vision.

LEAP Imperatives should be mapped from Year One to Year Five to set the vision and guidance for the Annual Planning team. Although each brand may differ, here are some typical areas to consider:

• Does the brand need a LEAP Strategy for entering into consumer-defined spaces adjacent to the brand’s current category or categories?
• To meet the Brand Vision, are there plans to enter additional categories?

• Does the brand need a LEAP Strategy to address a newly defined target consumer, or attitude change in the current consumers? The brand could have LEAP Imperatives designed to address these changes in the target consumer.
• Are there changes in the target consumer profile that we need to reach to achieve the Brand Vision?

• Does the brand need a LEAP Strategy to develop Equity Ownership through the strategic development and delivery of communications? LEAP Imperatives can address a full range of communications, including every consumer touch-point, from advertising to packaging and in-store marketing.
• Are changes in communication strategy required to achieve the Brand Vision?
• Will a significant change in marketing spending strategy be required?

• Does the brand need a LEAP Strategy to improve the Brand Equity and Gross Margins by developing or focusing on products that command higher unit prices and margins?
• What strategies will shift consumers to higher margin products (such as trade-up or higher margin line extensions)?

• Does the brand need a LEAP Strategy to be successful in delivering consumer value by being successful in delivering customer value?
• Channel-focused LEAP Imperatives can help the brand obtain a superior retail presence and improve its opportunity to grow sales and realized revenues.

Example: LEAP Strategy

“Our Target Consumer LEAP Strategy is to broaden the consumer base to include women 49-64 years. In the skin-cleansing category, we will specifically focus on re-entry points for women 45+, and in the skin moisturizing category we will focus on stopping erosion of women 60+_from our brand.”

Integrating LEAP with strategic growth plans

LEAP is an important input into the strategic growth plan because sets the direction for many key marketing activities. The Brand Vision is an important input to the strategic growth plan goals. The Brand Challenges are important considerations in the development of key issues. LEAP Imperatives become key strategies in the strategic growth plan.