Most strategy briefs have the following headings, in some form or another:
- Objective
- Features & Benefits
- Key Message
- Competition
- Target Audience
The objective may be as simple as "we have a new product we want to advertise in a small space newspaper ad" or "build awareness through branding." These are general, but acceptable and worthy objectives. The next section is where weak thinking sets in and leads to trouble: features and benefits. There is a huge difference between the two—a difference that can make or break your message.
What's the Difference?
A feature is something about the product that is unusual or impressive. A benefit is the concrete difference the feature makes in the consumer's experience.
As an example, a copy machine feature might be the collating button. All the copiers have these now, but there was a time when people had to lay out one of each page and dole them out into piles. A tedious waste of time. The benefit of this collating feature is that when the copies are done, you are out of the dreaded copy room. Done and on your way. Same thing for the staple feature. No standing around fiddling with a stapler and getting paper cuts.
The difference between features and benefits may seem elementary, and it is. The problem comes when the well-meaning account executive writes out a list of features and assumes the target audience will translate them into benefits on their own. The news is that people don't want to work to figure out the hidden benefit. They probably don't want to listen to/read your ad in the first place, much less do the math.
A good ad does the translation for them. And it comes from a place of understanding the audience, not preaching at them.
If you look at some of the most successful ad campaigns in history, they don't even bother to go into the features; they just lay one clear benefit out for you on a platter. All you have to do is buy the product. No thinking, no math, no translating.