Hills on Which to Die

Thoughts on AI and Brand Strategy

AI is fundamentally changing how we conduct brand strategy work. We can now conduct audience and competitive research in a fraction of the time, uncover patterns, analyze data, and even begin to structure messaging platforms more quickly than ever before. These are big wins in many ways.

But here's the catch: the speed and efficiency are great… until they step on the heart of the work.

When AI drafts that first strategy doc or writes the outline of a brand platform, the results are often solid. With the right collaboration between strategists, creatives, account folks we can refine it into something good. But good isn’t the goal.

Great strategy work hinges on a simple, powerful insight—an idea that someone on the team deeply believes in. Something you’re willing to defend. Something you’d fight for. A hill to die on.

When we (humans) don’t write the first draft—or don’t pour something of ourselves into it—it becomes too easy to shrug and say, “Let’s tear it apart, I didn’t write it.” That can lead to a product that’s technically correct but void of needed emotion.

I’m all for using AI to support strategy work. But I also believe strategy needs a human heartbeat. Our clients—our CMOs, our VPs—deserve more than just efficiency. They deserve conviction. And that means writing ideas worth defending.

Not every hill is worth dying on. But a few are. And those usually make for the best work.