Ask ten people in a marketing meeting what comms strategy is and you will get ten answers, most of them some version of "it's like a media plan, but with more words". It isn't. And the confusion matters, because the work that falls between brand and media is where a lot of good ideas quietly die.
So here is the version I use with clients, with three real cases to show it in action.
What is comms strategy?
Comms strategy is how a brand shows up creatively in media to be noticed and remembered. It sits between brand strategy (what you stand for) and media strategy (where you show up), and it turns an idea into a coherent plan for what to say, to whom, and through which channels.
If media and creative were a couple, comms strategy acts like a very good family therapist. Creative wants the big idea. Media wants efficient distribution. Comms strategy makes sure they are having the same conversation.
Comms strategy vs brand strategy vs media strategy
These three get blurred constantly, so here is the simplest split I know:
Brand strategy: What we stand for in market, to maximise differentiation.
Comms strategy: How we show up creatively in media, to maximise noticeability and impact.
Media strategy: Where we show up in media, to maximise efficient distribution.
Another way to say it: brand strategy supplies the story, and comms strategy decides how to tell it. You can read more about this overlap in brand vs comms strategy: 12 questions answered by two strategists, or if you want to go deeper on the craft and relational side of it, check out comms strategy as songwriting.
What does a comms strategy include?
The format changes by project, but a solid comms strategy usually answers these questions in this order:
Audience truth: What do your different audiences have in common that your brand can credibly speak to?
Core idea: What is the advertising idea that organises everything?
Comms strategy statement: How will comms deliver on that idea?
Audience barriers: What will stop people from believing, noticing or acting?
Comms tasks: What must comms to do address those barriers?
Key messages: Which key messages do we prioritise to solve those tasks?
Media behaviours: What is our body language in media across each task?
Channel mix: Which channels deliver against which media behaviours?
Notice what is missing: a long list of tactics. Tactics come last, and they are much easier to choose once the earlier steps are clear. Now, it’s fair to say you can develop tactics before getting to a comms strategy (emergent strategy is a thing), but in my experience you want to start simple before expanding on it.
It’s also much easier to sell the thinking this way.
Three real examples of comms strategy at work
Definitions only get you so far, so here are three award-winning cases from the IPA and APG archives, across a range of sectors like finance, transport and B2B. Each one shows a different comms strategy shape, and each one follows the same chain: a problem, an idea that answers it, and a clear job for media.
AJ Bell: Own a feeling, and let the name do the work
Source: IPA Effectiveness Awards 2026. Read the case on WARC.
Problem. Only 27% of people could name AJ Bell when prompted, and investing was widely seen as complicated and intimidating.
Comms strategy. Reverse the mood of the category by owning a feeling rather than a product claim, and use the brand's own name as the distinctive asset. The sound of a bell became a joyful signature: a disco classic as the audio hook, a warm voice, and absurd bell characters like a T-rex in a Hawaiian shirt. It ran across TV, radio, out of home, social, the website and the Great North Run sponsorship.
Media behaviour. Aimed at everyone rather than a niche. TV, radio and out of home carried fame, with the aim of an 80/20 split between brand and activation, while programmatic, social, search and SEO converted demand.
Result. Prompted awareness reached 71%, second in the category. Consideration rose five times over, direct-to-consumer customers grew 65%, cost per acquisition fell 36% and lifetime ROI came in at £3.83.
What to steal. In a category that makes people feel they do not belong, a feeling can do more than a claim. Plan fame and conversion together.
Uber: spend less reach, buy more relevance
Source: APG Awards 2025 (Bronze). Read the case on WARC.
Problem. Growth had slowed in London, and elsewhere Uber was seen as a capital-city brand: "for them, not us".
Comms strategy. Make a London-feeling app belong in the North by gently teasing the stubborn streak in the regional character, delivered by a Northern-led team with local proof rather than token localisation. That meant two hero films, ten-second edits for 14 localities with local average wait times, regional voiceovers and slang murals.
Media behaviour. Uber confined activity to the Northern towns with the highest growth potential, trading wider reach for relevance, with geo-matched video, out of home, audio and social near pick-up hotspots.
Result. First-time trips rose 12%, overall bookings rose 6.6% in target locations and favourability rose 20%.
What to steal. A comms strategy is as much about what you choose not to do as what you do. This is true for messages, but also regional targeting and even casting choices, both around the advertising as well as within it.
TfL Cycle Sundays: answer the barrier sideways
Source: APG Awards 2025. Read the case on WARC.
Problem. After Covid, only one in four Londoners had cycled in the past year, and fear of collisions was the main barrier.
Comms strategy. Telling nervous people that cycling is safe would only reinforce the fear. So TfL pulled them in with the pleasure of company instead: Cycle Sundays, a weekly, friendly occasion to ride with other people on the quietest day on the roads. Around it sat a colourful illustrated brand world, a Strava club, community partners, beginner routes, free Santander Cycles rides and weather-triggered CRM emails.
Media behaviour. Spend was weighted to summer weekends and to postcodes with lots of would-be cyclists near safe routes, backed by CRM and community groups rather than blanket reach.
Result. Strava reported an extra 8% uplift in Sunday activity year on year. 63% of those redeeming the free ride code were new users, and the CRM emails hit a record 54% open rate, nearly twice the benchmark.
What to steal. Start with the barrier, then choose an idea that sidesteps it rather than arguing with it.
What the three cases have in common
None of them started with a channel list. Each began with a specific problem or barrier, found an idea that answered it, and then gave media a role in making that idea noticed and remembered. That is the whole job.
Why comms strategy matters
Because the evidence is fairly consistent that how you combine creativity and media shapes returns. Here are the main points I bring up with all my clients:
Creativity multiplies ad profitability by 12x (Paul Dyson, 2023).
Campaigns using three or more channels see 23–35% more impact (Analytic Partners, 2019). I wrote about the practical side of this in comms strategy advice for startups: three or four active channels beat going deep on one or two, with diminishing returns past five or six. The value is in the right dosage.
Only about 5–25% of category buyers are in market at any time (James Hurman, 2026), which is why long-term reputation matters alongside short-term conversion. A healthy brand also makes everything else work harder, and comms strategy is how you orchestrate all the work to do just that.
Comms strategy is not decoration. It is how you make sure money spent on media is spent on an idea people will actually notice and remember.
Be coherent, not just consistent
One of the most common mistakes is confusing consistency with coherence.
Consistency: One execution adapted everywhere.
Coherence: Different executions that feel part of the same world.
Consistency looks more efficient because you can repurpose the same video everywhere, but it tends to be less impactful. Orlando Wood, using IPA data from 2026, shows coherent campaigns see +10pp in customer gains, +6pp in share gains and +15pp in reduced price sensitivity. The job of comms strategy is to create cultural resonance by being coherent, not just consistent.
How to start writing a comms strategy
Interrogate the brief. Pin down business, marketing and communications objectives. The last one tells you what comms needs to measure.
Understand motivators and barriers. Why might people want this, or not?
Look at how competitors answer those motivators. Find what feels conventional vs potentially differentiating. Be forensic about it.
Find the idea. Build from an audience truth and a product truth, and let the comms strategy flow from the advertising idea, not just the brand platform itself. It stays closer to what people will actually see in market.
Assign roles to media. Decide what each channel is for, not just which channels you can afford. Remember, media should work in coherent ways.
Decide how you will measure it. Ideally run a baseline study before you go live, then a post-campaign lift study. Most brands don’t don’t do this, and then wonder why 8 months later finance is questioning the value of all this.
Don't treat this as a rigid sequence. In practice, order in comms strategy tends to emerge over time: strategy is a layer across a project, not a phase of one. And if you are working with more limited budget (aren’t we all), moneyballing your comms strategy is a good way to find undervalued pockets of value.
Common comms strategy mistakes
Jumping to execution too quickly. Media agencies default to fitting briefs into channel boxes. Creative agencies fall for the big idea, or the stunt that will make them famous, and ignore budget and channel realities.
Defaulting to the cheap, abundant and fast. Comms strategy can become too ultra-processed for its own good. Lower CPMs are just one variable!
Over-trusting targeting. Fidelity levels are often around 50–60%, so it is closer to random than it feels. Also, brands grow by targeting large sections of the population, so you probably want to go broad reach 95% of the time.
Writing a document nobody commits to. A strategy is only as good as the things that get done. Comms strategy needs to feel useful, not just smart. Remember, a creative will need to read your thing and know what to do!
Comms strategy FAQ
What is comms strategy in simple terms?
It is the plan for how a brand shows up creatively across media, so that its idea is noticed and remembered by the right people.
What is the difference between comms strategy and brand strategy?
Brand strategy defines what you stand for. Comms strategy decides how to tell that story across audiences and channels.
Is comms strategy the same as media planning?
No. Media planning decides where to show up and how to distribute efficiently. Comms strategy is broader: it connects the idea, the audience barriers, the messages and the role of each channel.
How is social strategy related to comms strategy?
Closely. Good social strategy is born out of comms strategy fundamentals, and good comms strategy helps direct how a brand should show up in social. I wrote about why social strategy and comms strategy are merging.
How do you measure a comms strategy?
With a baseline study before launch and a post-campaign lift study after, tied to the objective (e.g. awareness, likeability, associations, consideration and intent).
Learn more about comms strategy
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