Creative Strategy:
The Young & Rubicam
Creative Work Plan
A strategy format
Why the Y&R format?
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Simple
Specific
Durable
Advertisable
The Y&R CWP
1. The Key Fact
2. Consumer Problem the Advertising
Must Solve
3. The Advertising Objective
4. Creative Strategy
a. The Prospect Definition
b. Principal Competition
c. The Key Consumer Benefit
d. The Reason Why
5. Mandatories & Policy Limitations
1. The Key Fact
• A single-minded statement
that sorts out from all the
information about product,
market, competition, etc. the
element that is the most
relevant to advertising.
Helpful ways
to think about the Key Fact:
• the biggest opportunity that
advertising can help a brand to
seize at that time, or
• the biggest obstacle that
advertising can help a brand
overcome, if the brand is going to
survive and be successful.
• A key fact can come from many
places, and if the key fact isn't
right, the rest of the work plan
usually doesn't hang together.
Key Fact is often the
client’s perception of a
problem.
• Why they need advertising!
2. Consumer Problem
the Advertising Must
Solve
• A real problem the consumer
has which, by taking an
action as a result of
advertising, can be solved.
About the Problem:
• Related to the Key Fact
• Consumer’s point of view
• A problem advertising can
help correct
• What keeps the consumer
from buying/trying the
product?
3. The Advertising
Objective
• A clear, concise statement of
the effect you hope
advertising will have on the
consumer ... to solve the
stated problem.
• What you will do to overcome
the consumer’s problem (&
the client’s problem).
The Key to a Good
Objective
• be specific
• Too general:
"We want to convince people
that we are the best, the
premier brand in our
category."
Consumer
Problem
Key Fact
Advertising
Objective
4. Creative Strategy
a. The Prospect Definition
b. Principal Competition
c. The Key Consumer
Benefit
d. The Reason Why
a. The Prospect
Definition
• Who are the prime
prospects?
• Demographics
• Product Usage
• Psychographics
NOTE: not all these
things
b. Principal Competition
• a clear, crisp statement of the
arena in which your product
will do battle.
• Brands: Who are they? What
benefit do they offer?
• Consumer’s mind: What
does the message compete
with?
c. The Key Consumer
Benefit
• (the Promise) The best
argument your brand can
offer.
• the primary message to be
communicated
About the Benefit:
• specific to target
• as competitive as possible
• a consumer benefit, not
product attribute
More about the Benefit:
• any ad/commercial's effectiveness
should be evaluated, to a
significant degree, on registration
of the key consumer benefit.
• Bill Westbrook: The Single
Sentence should be written from
the consumer perspective and
should encapsulate the one
thought we want the consumer to
have about our product or service.
d. The Reason Why
• the one reason it will do what
you promise.
The Reason Why =
Support
• Why can we make the offer?
• Should come from product
performance.
• Be as competitive as
possible.
• A single fact.
5. Mandatories & Policy
Limitations
• (If Necessary) Restrictions or
client data which are
necessary to a clear understanding of creative direction.
It must be a real
mandatory:
• legal restrictions / cautions
• carry-over of a successful
slogan
• items of a line to feature
• type of casting acceptable
• corporate tags
• media mandatories
• none