6 Reasons Why: Templates don’t work
- Amitabha & Isha
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
How much learning and quality of brand planning is achieved by marketing folks through the well-known ‘Templates for the Brand Planning’? 🤔
Well, don't get me wrong! I use templates too... I am only raising these questions to challenge our traditional marketing methods.
👉 Can strategic thinking be templatised ?
👉 Can one free-wheel through the fixed lanes of the maze of a template?
👉 Can you inspire 'out of the box' thinking by being ‘within the box’ of a template?
Templates are often looked upon as an overly glorified inherited ritual to be ‘filled up and then filed up.’ 📝 I believe colleagues from MNCs will be able to relate to this more. This is how the intended purpose of the template was subverted as we all became overdependent on the templates. It's as if we ask children to color the pre-drawn sketches. While they learn how to color, they do not learn the foundational skill of sketching!
Therefore, the very use of templates is critical. Treating the template as a 'thinking template' rather than a comprehensive 'fill-in-the-blanks' document transforms the practice into training/coaching the ‘thinking’ and not the ‘filling’. As a result, brand practitioners will apply their most valuable insights to real-world scenarios through a structured thought process. According to my understanding, that’s the purpose of standardizing brand planning.
All of us observed marketers struggle to capture strength, opportunity, issues, and such fundamental conceptual elements despite days of customer/consumer connects through exhaustive fieldwork! Not surprising! Since they were driven ‘to see’ what was happening in the market but not ‘to observe’ anything. Observation is a scientific art, and it needs training and coaching!
Once again, do not get me wrong! It's time to create a collective boost towards good marketing through training and coaching on 'brand thinking’, rather than just filling in templates.
What’s your take on this? 💭
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