12 steps to a strategy
APG checklist from brief to one-page strategy.
A structured 12-step path from the British Account Planning Group for turning a client brief into a usable comms strategy. Steps: (1) Understand the brief, (2) Define the problem, (3) Explore the category, (4) Explore the brand, (5) Explore the audience, (6) Find the tension, (7) Insight hypothesis, (8) Strategic idea, (9) Proposition, (10) Role of comms, (11) Proof & KPIs, (12) Summarise strategy. Each step narrows the previous — from broad exploration to a single sentence.
When you have a brief and need discipline instead of brainstorming, onboarding a junior planner, as a strategy-deck template, or as a checklist before presenting — did you skip any step?
Walk the steps in order, capture each in one sentence on a single slide or in a table. Don't move on until the previous sentence holds. Steps 6–9 (tension → insight → idea → proposition) are the heart — give them most time. The output of all 12 steps = one strategy page, not ten slides.
Related frameworks
Agencies execute. Consultants advise. And then everyone wonders why the two never add up.
Clues does both. We look for the clues that point to the right path, and then we walk it with you all the way. Because strategy without execution is just a well-paid hypothesis.
We put this library together because we see structured thinking as the foundation of success. Whether you're working on your next campaign or building a brand-new brand.
Share it, use it, build on it. The Clues team.