The No One Cares Roadmap
Who decides what your advertising talks about?
Right now, it's probably whoever is most senior in the room.
The Roadmap puts your customers' problems head to head in live tests, and builds a Value Map from what they respond to. Then your customers decide.
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.
Three steps to a Value Map
- 01Find the problems behind the problems.Your customers' problems, taken from what they say on the surface down to what they value.
- 02Test them head to head.Two arguments at a time, in live tests, so the result comes from customers, not opinion.
- 03Map what moves your customers.A Value Map of which problems your customers have responded to, and which you're still guessing about.
Step 1
Find the problems behind the problems
Start with what you say now.
I read everything you use to talk to customers today and list every problem it names. The problems you mention most are where testing starts.
Turn each problem eight ways.
What it does to the body. What gets harder. What people do differently. How it feels. What it does to family. What it does to their social life. What it says about who they are. What they think happens next.
Keep asking why.
I follow each angle down until nothing deeper comes up, then trace it to what the person values and back to your product. That route is an argument: a reason to act.
Check it against evidence.
Every line is marked Observed, Inferred or Hypothesis, with its source. Nothing is presented as fact that isn't. A Hypothesis stays in, because it's the reason to test.
You get up to eight arguments for each problem. Five problems give you 40 arguments to test.
Example: one problem, eight angles
Illustrative. Not a client."I'm struggling with the stairs."
Step 2
Test them head to head
Your most-used argument meets your least-used.
I rank the arguments by how often your comms already make them, then pair opposite ends. Every test challenges what you already say.
The argument is the brief.
Your team or agency makes the creative. Each brief says what has to come across and be seen. How it's made is theirs.
Both versions are checked before they go live.
I check each proof against the No One Cares Review. If one version is made worse than the other, the test would measure the making, not the argument.
Every test runs clean.
Same audience, volume, offer, channel and dates. One measure, agreed before the first test.
I read every result myself.
The stronger argument goes into the next round. The weaker one is parked, not disproved.
Example: test 1
Illustrative. Not a client.Step 3
Map what moves your customers
See what your customers value, with proof
The Value Map has one row for every customer problem. Every problem starts as Unknown. Each clean test result adds evidence, and the map shows how much each problem has earned:
Value Map
Illustrative. Not a client.| Customer problem | Evidence so far | State |
|---|---|---|
| Struggling with the stairs | Won 3 of 3 tests | Hot |
| Not wanting to be a burden on family | Won 1 of 2 tests | Warm |
| Worried about a fall | Tested once, no meaningful response yet | Cool |
| Wanting to stay in the family home | Not tested yet | Unknown |
| Worried about the cost | Not tested yet | Unknown |
Only response moves a problem up the map. How often you mention it, how strongly someone feels about it and who said it don't.
The map shows what your customers have responded to, what they haven't yet, and what you still don't know. It only shows what the evidence supports. Every brief after that starts from it.
What you get
- Your customers' problems, each turned into arguments you can test, with the evidence behind every line.
- A numbered test plan, with every argument written out in full.
- A creative brief for every version.
- A proof check on every version before it goes live.
- A written record of every result: what happened, what it means and what's worth asking next.
- Your Value Map, updated after every round of tests.
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
Every Roadmap test needs something to beat. The Consult gives you that.
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 winning piece becomes the control your Roadmap tests are measured against.
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?
It depends on how often you can run a clean test. Each round needs a live test and time to read the results.
Do you make the creative?
No. Your team or agency makes it. I brief it and check it before it goes live. If you want the first piece rebuilt, that's the Consult.
What if an argument loses?
It's parked, not disproved. A losing argument doesn't mean its problem doesn't matter. The map keeps a record of everything.
Which channels does it work in?
Any channel where you can run a clean split test.