A leading law firm brought me in to lead the strategic development of their flagship financial services campaign, a significant piece of work that would position the firm as a genuine thought leader in one of the most competitive and fast-moving sectors in the market.

Here’s how I approached it, and what we built together.

Starting with the right questions

Before putting a single idea on paper, I took the time to truly understand the business. I met with client managers and the marketing team, asking the questions that would shape everything that followed. What were the firm’s real commercial ambitions? What were clients most concerned about? Where did the firm have the strongest right to lead the conversation?

I also worked through the firm’s marketing and business plans in detail, not just to understand where they’d been, but to get a clear sense of where this campaign needed to take them.

Building the framework

With that foundation in place, I developed a campaign framework built around three interconnected layers of thought leadership.

The first was a market landscape piece, an authoritative overview of the key opportunities and challenges reshaping financial services. This would give the firm a platform to speak with authority on the issues that mattered most to their clients.

The second drilled into regional impact, with a particular focus on the Middle East. With significant client interest in that geography, it was important that the campaign reflected not just global trends but how those shifts were playing out in the markets that mattered.

The third identified three flagship opportunity themes, carefully selected to resonate with target clients and aligned tightly with the areas where the firm had the deepest expertise. These formed the actionable heart of the campaign and give it longevity.

What happened next

The strategy was ready. The framework was solid, the content pillars were defined, and the campaign had a clear direction.

At the point of moving into execution, however, the agency brought in to deliver the campaign was unable to proceed as agreed. It was an external setback and, frustratingly, it brought the project to a halt before implementation could begin.

Why it still matters

Good strategy doesn’t lose its value because circumstances change. The groundwork laid during this engagement, the stakeholder insight, the market analysis, the campaign architecture, remains a strong foundation the firm can build from whenever they’re ready to move forward.

For me, this project is a reminder of something I believe strongly: getting the strategy right before you start producing content isn’t a luxury, it’s the difference between a campaign that lands and one that doesn’t. The brief came first, and that’s exactly how it should be.

If you’re planning a thought leadership campaign and want to make sure the thinking is right before the work begins, let’s have a conversation.