A Holistic Framework for Program Identity Design

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Since my earlier post on Brand Marketing Programs Made Social By Design there has been an up-swell in interest on our methodology for designing social programs. As such I’m going to open up the kimono further to provide a deep-dive into our Program Identity Design process.
The process is a set of calculated exercises which result in a program that has integrity; a program that marries business objectives with consumer wants and the appropriate deployment channels with the appropriate mechanics and functionality.

Design The Business Requirement

The first step in the process is to Design the Business Requirements. This step is broken down into two sub-steps, each having a set of distinct attributes: Design the High Level Business Objectives — business objective(s), business metric(s) and social metric(s), and then Design the Program Level Business Outcomes: these are open ended and dependent on the High Level Business Objectives.

Consumer Audit Reconciliation

Next comes the bridge that connects and ensures integrity between the first and second step, the Consumer Audit & Reconciliation. This involves an empathy mapping exercise wherein we dive into what the target consumer is hearing, thinking, seeing, saying, and feeling. The goal of this exercise is to come up with a set of Affinity Drivers that will frame the program from a consumer point of view.

Design The Program Frame

The second step is to Design the Program Frame. This step contains three sub-steps, each building on top of each other to arrive at a set of drivers that motivate the target consumer to engage and take the actions that will help to achieve the objectives of the business. Starting with a synthesis of the Affinity Drivers; to the development of the Interaction Driver Map–that correlates the importance of 5 general interaction drivers (Fame, Riches, Emotion, Utility, and Distraction) to consumer wants and program objectives by assigning each a percentage share that when all added together sums to one and then defining program specific interaction drivers for the highest ranking top level interaction drivers; to plotting the interaction drivers onto an Affinity Fingerprint canvas to complete the second step of the Program Identity Design process.

Presence Audit Reconciliation

A Presence Audit & Reconciliation bridge is sandwiched between the second and third step to ensure continued alignment between the first two steps to the next and last step of the process. This exercise involves taking an audit (size and strength of community) of all of the owned media presences (Facebook, Twitter, mobile, YouTube, etc.) of the brand and reconciling them with the business objectives from Step One and the affinity and interaction drivers from Step Two to arrive at a set of channels for the deployment of the program that are best suited to achieve the desired program and business objectives. It should be noted that it is possible that the channel that reconciles best with the business objectives and program frame may be a channel wherein the brand does not have an existing presence.

Design The Program Mechanics

The last step is to Design the Program Mechanics. This consists of building out the Platform Map and the Mechanics and Functionality Map. The Program Platform Map is a characterization of the platforms that the program will be deployed on and the Mechanics and Functionality Map is a breakdown of the various program mechanics and functionality and how these and Identity, Conversation, and Community are carried across the deployment platforms.

The result of the above is what we call a Program Identity Map. It provides validation and a roadmap for the execution of the program. Everyone on our team and our client teams that touch the program, touch the Program Identify Map before they start work on their respective tasks. We do this to ensure that everyone has a holistic understanding of all of the facets of the program and can stand confidently behind the reasoning for the execution of the program.

Program Identity Design

Consider that Design = the intentional creation of X. With that in mind, are your programs Designed to have a unique Identity that ensures that the program has integrity across business objectives, consumer wants, and platforms? Does everyone in your organization from your CMO, brand manager, etc., down to your UX design, production, and engineering partners have a holistic understanding of the program and can they speak to the “why” behind each facet of the program? If your answer to the above is yes, then you’re doing it right and are overwhelmingly pleased with the success of your programs. If your answer to the above is no, then there is no better time then the present to add the Program Identity Design framework to your toolbox.  If you have any specific questions on the above, feel free to reach out to me via Facebook.

This post originally appears on the Dachis Group Collaboratory.

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