Logic. Magic. Action. The Rudiments: Making Your Strategy Document
The rudiments of a winning strategy document, a class by Eyo INAmeti, Senior Deputy Director of Strategy, SO&U (MTN account).
For a strategist, especially one in the advertising industry, or the product marketer to their team, one thing is clear: they are always pitching, getting buy-ins, looping stakeholders, and “showing their vision.”
Even if you've been in this field for a while and are well-versed in it, you still need to pitch, whether you're striving to rescue a client's failing business, assisting them in launching a new product, or crafting an award-winning campaign like our speaker. You need to pitch.
Just like Eyo rightly said, pitching is an art, and that art comes to life through your strategy document. Your deliverable to the client which brings out your best idea, vision for the brand, and strategic propositions.
“Strategy is not just a document. It’s a performance.”
This line is how Eyo kicked off his strategy hour session; he said, For a strategist, see yourself as an artist; the document has your hit singles, and the presentation is your stage performance.
This wasn’t about a “frameworks and bullet points” session. It dives straight into how to build strategic documents that “move people.” Keyword: move people. It doesn’t just tick boxes or impress stakeholders but inspires clarity, action, and belief.
I want to use this opportunity to plug in my best Rema performance—Ravage Uprising: Rema Live from The O2, London
We had a lot, but here’s what stood out.
Beyond Information: Create Feeling
We often treat strategy like a data dump, charts, insights, research, and models. But Eyo flipped that completely.
“A great strategy document doesn’t just inform. It performs.” (32:06)
Your job isn’t just to present facts. Your job is to make people feel something. And that shift, from logic to emotion, is what turns a good deck into a compelling story.
Logic. Magic. Action.
Like the statue above, Eyo shared a simple, 3-way framework for building your deck:
Logic. Magic. Action.
- Logic is your foundation. The data, the insight, the research.
- Magic is the story you tell. The emotional current that runs underneath.
- Action is the point. The direction, the shift, the recommendation.
“It’s not enough to be smart. You have to be clear. You have to connect.” (47:51)
The best strategy decks don’t just deliver answers — they create alignment.
Slide Structure as Storytelling
strategy hour sessions are about “doing” and “practical tips,” and this is one of the most practical parts of the session. Slide design.
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Eyo, using examples from experience, presented a repeatable structure that transforms your slides into narrative blocks:
- Header — A sentence that tells the story at a glance
- Visual Evidence — A graph, chart, or image that backs it up
- Recommendation — A clear implication or action
Each slide is its own self-contained scene. But together, they build toward a bigger strategic arc. (53:25).
Emotion > Facts
If you’re not taking anything from this, take this line:
“Prioritize feeling over facts. Facts you can get from Google. Feeling you have to work for.” (35:34)
And that’s the truth. AI can give you data. Tools can write you bullets. But emotion — real resonance — comes from you.
This is achieved through a thorough understanding of your audience. From crafting with care. From leading with heart.
Curious to see it all in action? 🎥
Watch the full session with Eyo Inameti here: https://youtu.be/pmEHpmTZdhk
