The No One Cares Roadmap
Who decides what your advertising talks about?
Today, it's decided by what ran last time, stakeholder bias and the approval process. Two years from now, it's decided by what your customers value.
The Roadmap puts arguments built from their problems head to head in live tests. The results build your Value Map: which problems make your customers act, and which you're still guessing about.
The problem
One good argument isn't a plan
- You've found an argument that beats your control. You don't know whether a better one exists.
- Every new campaign reopens the same debate about what to say.
- Briefs start from what the brand wants to say, not from what customers have responded to.
- When you do test, it's headlines, images and formats. The argument rarely changes.
Don't test creative. Test arguments.
The Value Map
A map of what makes your customers act
Every problem your comms talk about goes on the map. Each one shows what your customers did when you tested it.
| Today | With a Value Map |
|---|---|
| What ran last time, stakeholder bias and the approval process decide what your advertising says. | Your customers' response decides it. |
| Every campaign reopens the same debate. | Every brief starts from the argument that won. |
| You know what you sell. | You know which of their problems make them buy. |
| You can't see what you've never tested. | Every untested problem is on the map, marked Unknown. |
Value Map
Illustrative. Not a client.| Your customers' problem | In your comms now | What the tests show | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I'm struggling with the stairs." | 6 of 8 pieces | "Let your daughter be your daughter, rather than your carer" beat the control three times, with two audiences. | Hot |
| "I'm worried about falling." | 4 of 8 pieces | Its best argument beat the control once, with one audience. | Warm |
| "I don't want my home to look like a hospital." | 1 of 8 pieces | Tested against the control twice. No win yet. | Cool |
| "I'm not ready for one yet." | Implied, never said | Not tested yet. | Unknown |
What it tells you: your comms talk about the stairs. What makes people act is what the stairs are doing to their family. Brief the next campaign on that, and test falling against it.
Hot means the evidence holds up beyond a single win. Cool doesn't mean they don't care, only that nothing's won yet. Unknown means you don't know yet. No clean test has put it against the control, a benchmark or another problem.
Proof
It's been done
Tapi Carpets tested arguments head to head in direct mail. Response doubled, from 2.59% to 5.18%. Order rate rose 22% year on year.
How it works
Find the problems behind the problems.
I read everything you send customers now, list every problem it talks about, and rank them from most talked about to least. I look at each problem through eight lenses: physical, functional, behavioural, emotional, relational, social, identity and future. For each one, I ask why until I reach the deep problem, then ladder it back to your product. That gives up to eight arguments for every problem. Every line is marked Observed, Inferred or Hypothesis, and checked: don't invent, don't leap, don't accept generic.
"I'm struggling with the stairs" becomes "Let your daughter be your daughter, rather than your carer."
Test them head to head.
I rank the arguments by how many of your current pieces make them, and pair opposite ends: your most-used against your least-used. Your team makes the creative from my brief. The argument is the brief: strict about what has to come across, open about how it's made. I check both versions at proof, while changes are still cheap. Each test is two arguments: same offer, same audience, live. You can run more than one at once. The first tests to go live also carry your control, the piece I rebuilt in your Consult. A test that isn't clean isn't read. The stronger argument goes into the next round. The weaker one is parked, not disproved.
Example: test 1
Illustrative. Not a client.Build your Value Map.
Every problem goes on the map, and every one starts Unknown. It heats up only when an argument beats your control, a benchmark or another problem's argument. Hot, Warm, Cool or Unknown, and I write down the reason for every call. It shows what's proven, what isn't yet, and what you haven't tested.
What you get
- Every problem your comms talk about, turned into arguments you can test.
- A test plan, and a brief for every version.
- A check on both versions before anything goes live.
- Your Value Map, updated after every round, with the reason for every change.
Who does what
You
Make the creative, in-house or with your agency. Run the tests. Share the figures.
Me
Find the problems, build the arguments, write the briefs, check the proofs, read the results and keep the map.
Where it starts
The Consult
The Consult gives your Roadmap its control.
I rebuild one piece of your comms around a stronger argument, then you test it against the version you run now. Churchill Living doubled response against control this way.
The rebuilt piece becomes your control. It goes live with your first tests, and every version in them is read against it.
From £5,999, depending on the format.
Is it for you?
- You sell something people need but don't want to buy.
- You spend enough on acquisition to split-test. Your volume sets how many tests can run at once.
- You can run a clean split test in your channel, in print or online.
- You want your next brief to come from evidence, not opinion.
Questions
How long does it take?
Plan for two years. You set the pace: how many tests you run, how often and at what volume. Each round needs time live and time to read the results.
What does it cost?
The Roadmap is £25,999, or a mix of upfront fee and cost per acquisition. It starts with a Consult, from £5,999.
Do you make the creative?
No. Your team or agency makes it. I brief it and check it before it goes live. The one piece I rebuild is the Consult, and it becomes your control.
What if an argument loses?
It's parked, not disproved, and neither is its problem. Every clean test stays in the argument's evidence history, which only grows.
Which channels does it work in?
Any channel where you can run a clean split test.