A recent blog post titled, Brand Work is No Job for Ad Agencies, made an interesting case for strategy separate from marketing communications. It got me thinking about a really basic question, are brand strategists even competing with ad agencies? What makes a brand strategy consultant different than an ad agency?

What makes where I work different from an advertising agency is the depth and reach of our brand work within a company. The brand strategy is a set of tools that a company will integrate into every aspect of what they do. It encompasses HR practices, decisions about new products and services, training and budgeting decisions, and even how they answer their phone. The visual identity and marketing campaigns flow from this as well, and in fact many of our clients come in through that door, but it is only a portion of what a company’s brand promise is. We are not trying to compete with advertising agencies but see them as vital partners when we get to that step.

~ Krista Joy Johnson