All companies and brands do strategic planning. Often it’s a ‘paper exercise’ that doesn’t change what commercial teams do.

The best strategic plans – the ones that make a real difference -  are the ones where people understand how they can contribute, are committed to a common, motivating goal, and feel like they are building it together.

When the J&J Oral Care team asked for our help, they wanted to grow in a category that had tons of potential but they were in a period of big change - moving from a local to a global model. We were brought in because of our expertise in consumer and shopper behaviour change and the work we’d done on an Insight and Innovation program shortly before this. Our expertise would help the different functions work together to create a cohesive, high growth plan they would be confident in delivering. We provided a simple process, with rigour, and our expertise and guidance to help J&J develop growth strategies.

We helped them look wider, to do the right analysis, and see the opportunities through a behavioural lens: what people could do differently, why it mattered, and how J&J could help them make that change. Our role was to guide, challenge and simplify, so the right stuff rose to the surface. We helped to guide them on where to grow and how to grow based on specific consumer (or shopper) behaviour change. We helped them get the best thinking and focus from their team to get them to collaborate, with Oxford as a partner along the way.

And it’s easy to say you’re a partner. But that’s what we do really well – partner with our clients because we get the challenges they’re facing. We worked closely with the team and especially with senior leaders like Katie Decker, helping them be ready to convince their board about the investment they were making to enable the growth they desired.

Critically, all of the work we did could be distilled down onto one page – a model for growth that could be easily explained and actioned just from that one page.