Strategic planning has received much scrutiny in the current business climate. It is seen as the magic wand that will help people tackle the future. If they have a plan, the future can be controlled. Yet we all know that the future changes with every second that goes by. How can companies more actively address the future without developing new strategic plans on a daily basis?

Many companies view strategic brand planning as an analytical exercise in looking at the past, assessing the competitive market, talking to consumers to find out their needs and wants and identifying how to link those wants and needs with their brand differences and communicate that message in a compelling advertisement. Most times this process is accomplished by the brand manager sifting through last year's data, checking on current competitive share and analyzing it into a rational request for approval on a plan to generate higher volume sales.

No doubt this is one way to approach strategic planning. But this method only uses half a brain, the left side, or more commonly known as the analytical side of the brain. While the right side, commonly known as the creative or conceptual area, is little used during the above process.

Whether or not you agree with the left brain/right brain theory, many people believe analytical and creative thinking are separate, non-interactive capabilities with a specific time to use one or the other, exclusively. During idea generation, it's time to think creatively. Developing strategy - that's the time to be analytic. Yet experience shows that the combination of creative and analytical thinking adds considerable innovation and value to the outcome. Especially in strategy development, fusing creative and strategic thinking results in innovative solutions that are future-focused, distinctive and actionable.

Brand strategy is particularly in need of creative thinking. As technology provides the wherewithal for rapid product imitation and services all strive to be 24-7, high quality, and loyalty designed, the only thing that distinguishes one offering from another is the brand a company has created. The brand itself, rather than the product or service, is what consumers "connect with." The brand relationship is what retains the consumer over time. The brand relationship is the foundation for business growth.

In the past a brand's premium price promised a certain level of quality. Today's top brands are not always premium priced, but instead offer short cuts to product choice in a time-pressed world and identity badges as shortcuts for human communication - "I am what this brand is." And as products and services become more ubiquitous, the brand is the most important creation a company owns. As the company manages and sells the brand in different forms and offerings, brand strategy becomes the most important task of the company and the responsibility of everyone who shepherds the brand toward its articulated brand vision.

Strategic thinking is comprised of seven steps:

1. Problem identification - what are the issues to resolve, overcome?
2. Learning - research and digging into background and current situation to find critical facts
3. Discovery - put the facts together in new ways, combine with internal wisdom for insights on around the problem
4. Create - generate ideas to resolve the problems
5. Evaluate - assess which ideas are best by refinement and polishing and given the learning
6. Decide - determine what not to do as well as what to do
7. Act - put the decisions into motion and start all over again