Welcome to Strategy Finishing School
15 Years Of Strategy Training Shared With You Right Now
Progress to a leadership role in strategy with the Strategy Finishing School.
The BIG-T Strategist model gives you a:
- Strong foundation in the strategy craft with 9 modules
- BIG-T modules (Diplomacy, Management, and Selling Strategy) that elevate you to leadership
The School includes lifetime access to:
- 80+ video lessons
- Private Facebook Group (1000+ members)
- Private mentorship groups
- Access to Julian Cole
The Ultimate Course For Strategy Misfits
If you are…
A blindfolded strategy misfit who has never been taught the fundamentals of strategy
Looking to gain confidence in your process and role
Transitioning from another discipline to strategy and need some practical information
In a part of strategy where you’re dealing with the creative industry…
THEN SFS IS DEFINITELY WHAT YOU NEED.
Master the skills of strategy needed at the 3 levels of your career
The modules help you at the three levels (Strategist, Strategy Director and Head Of Strategy).
Chapter 1 – Strategy Fundamentals (Strategist)
Chapters 2-8 – Research, Insights, Briefing, Brand Strategy, Comms Planning, Advertising Effectiveness, Business Strategy (Strategy Director)
Chapters 9-11 – Diplomacy, Management, Selling Strategy (Head Of Strategy)
Learn whenever, wherever. Access all the content immediately.
You get access to all the content in the School right away.
No gated access or waiting for school to start.
The course was designed for busy strategists, meaning if you need to learn something right away you will have a video and template ready for you.
Join a private community of world class strategists
Become a part of our private Facebook community, which consists of the other members of the Strategy Finishing School; a vibrant, trusted, and talented network of strategists that you can easily bounce ideas off with.
Save your time with templates you can copy/paste
You will have access to the Strategy Finishing School Library, which is a Google folder containing presentations and templates that have saved Julian and other strategists hours of presentation creation time.
You can copy and paste templates including strategy set up decks, content strategy, scoping strategy, comms planning, strategy department vision, to over 100+ frameworks that are designed for you to swipe and save.
A partner for your whole strategy career
All Strategy Finishing School members have lifetime access to the content, allowing you to always refer to the content throughout your career.
It was designed to help you at each stage with different content bespoke to that role.
The content in the school is also getting updated every year based on the new demands of the members of the Strategy Finishing School.
You’ll get industry recognized certification
When you complete the first chapter of the Strategy Fundamentals, you will get the Strategy Finishing School certification.
The certification is recognized by Chief Strategy Officers at leading companies around the world and has led to a number of members being hired into leading strategy roles.
Strategy Finishing School Modules & Lessons
Strategy Fundamentals
- What is strategy?
- Writing a strategy
- Different types of strategy
- Managing Downtime
- Short Sharp Strategy
- Who’s Who In Agencies
- Strategy In Under An Hour
- Helpful Strategy Resources
Research
- Kick Off Questions
- Strategy Scrapbook
- Art of Interviewing Clients
- Evaluating Data Sources
- Validating Problems/Insights
Insights
- What are insights?
- Insights vs. observations
- Flipping Insights
- Polishing Insights
- Adding Tension
Creative Briefing
- How to write a creative brief
- Sacred Six Brief Template
- GET-TO-BY Brief
- Tactical Briefs
- Single Minded Proposition
- Biggest Mistakes With Creative Briefing
- Giving Creative Feedback
- Tips for Briefing Remotely
Brand Strategy
- What is Brand Strategy?
- Brand Frameworks
- Brand Benefit Ladders
- Brand Architecture
- Brand Archetypes
Comms Planning
- What is Comms Planning?
- Consumer Journey Tools
- Consumer Journey Mapping
- Comms Framework
- Comms Planning Questions
- Tactical Briefing
- Articulating An Idea
- Idea Formula
- Building Out An Execution
- Campaign Ecosystem
- Content Strategy (Annual)
- Framework Factory
- Innovation Checklist
- Blueprints
Advertising Effectiveness
- How Advertising Works
- Cogs of Marketing Effectiveness
- Mental And Physical Availability
- Distinctive Assets
- Category Entry Points
- ESOV
- Different Types of Measurement
- Creating a KPI Framework
Business Strategy
- SWOT Analysis
- Reading a Financial Report
- Proactive Strategy
- Growth Matrix
- Business Strategy Models (Coming Soon)
Professional Development
- Transitioning Into Strategy
- Strategy Confidence
- How To Get A Raise
- Creating Your Pitch
- Strategy Portfolio Website
Diplomacy
- Politics 101
- How To Work With Creatives
- How To Work With Media Agencies
- Giving Creative Feedback
- Designing Decks
- Writing Presentations
Management
- Managing Planners
- Strategist Interview Questions
- Setting Up A Strategy Department
- Setting Up A Strategy Department Vision
- Scoping Strategy
- Being Strategy About Resourcing
Selling Strategy
- Scoping Strategy
- Being Strategic About Strategy
- Proactive Strategy
- RICK Sales Model
- How Agencies Make Money
- Strategy Sales Models (Coming Soon)
Meet Julian Cole
Julian Cole is a strategy consultant to global brands including Apple, Facebook, Disney, Snap and Uber.
Previously he’s held the role of Head of Comms Planning at BBDO and BBH in New York.
He’s created award-winning work for PlayStation, Bacardi, Pepsi, Google, and Coca-Cola.
With a void of practical strategy education, Julian founded the Strategy Finishing School (previously Planning Dirty Academy) in 2019.
Since then, he has taught his world-class experience to more than 3,000 strategists.
Course publish year: 2022
Julian Cole – Strategy Finishing School: Videos, PDF’s
