Improve the power of proposals and flip commercial marketing briefs

I have known Mr. Wu Yuhu (Wawa) for some time, and I am attracted by his funny and rich lectures every time.

On the evening of April 24th, Teacher Sun’s “[Growth Strategy Thinking Exchange Group](https://www.youtube.com/hash tag/%E6%88%90%E9%95%B7%E7%AD%96%E7%95%A5%E6%80%9D%E7%B6%AD%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%81%E7%BE%A4)” invitation Wawa teacher shared live. Speaking of briefings, I believe everyone is familiar with them. In today’s world of information explosion and rapid business pace, briefings are no longer just a reporting tool, but a comprehensive medium for presenting value propositions, creative presentations and decision-making influences.

Teacher Wawa’s live broadcast was not only a lively and interesting briefing class for me, but also an in-depth training in reconstructing persuasion and resonance.

Mr. Wawa is a practical expert in the field of advertising. He uses humor, own sound effects and a way that gets to the core of the issue, transforming the original boring presentation skills into thought-provoking story interpretations. During the live broadcast that day, I seemed to see the offensive and defensive logic and psychological dynamics behind every proposal. Those design details we thought were actually strategic choices.

This article is my in-depth review and personal internal record of this live broadcast. From my personal perspective, I will take you through the process of reading briefings with “advertiser logic”, to the golden ratio of “data and stories”, and then to the marketing tactics of how to break the myth of negative people and reverse the trend of brand reputation. I hope this long article is not only a record, but also a practical guide for you to build your presentation power and flip your thinking.

Reinventing the briefing of advertising logic: Let the story go with the data

The essence of a briefing was always considered to be the organization and transmission of information in the past, but in this live broadcast, Mr. Wawa completely subverted this view. He reminded everyone with one sentence: “The briefing is a persuasion of values; it is not just an explanation, but a technology for changing people’s hearts.” This sentence is like a key, opening another door to strategy briefing for all the partners watching the live broadcast.

Overall, in the well-known advertising field, briefings have never been a display wall piled with data, but a weaving of stories and data. If data is the skeleton of persuasive logic, then stories are the flesh and blood of emotional resonance. Only when the two are fully combined can the effect be achieved. Having said that, this is also the high-level play style of the briefing.

Teacher Wawa used his proposal experience to tell us: “If a customer deals with numbers every day, then what he really needs is to be led by stories to understand the value of numbers.” This argument suddenly made me realize: We are not using numbers to convince customers, but using stories to open their hearts, and then use data to ring the bell of trust.

He designed a ratio distribution in the presentation-”70% emotion × 30% data”—in sharp contrast to the “70% data × 30% emotion” commonly seen in traditional business presentations. Such a proportion setting is not just a style preference, but a choice of proposal communication strategy.

For example, when Mr. Wawa started talking about the Double Sound Bubble instant noodles case, he did not rush to analyze the taste data, but first told a sour story about “Taiwan’s most unpalatable instant noodles”. This story instantly grabs everyone’s attention because it reflects the emotional reality of brand perception. Then he turned back and used the actual sales data of No. 2 in the market to explain in contrast: “Do you think everyone is scolding it? In fact, it sells very well.”

This is not just a briefing technique, but an emotional diversion method for proposals: first lay out the emotional tension, create curiosity and anxiety, and then present surprising facts as a turning point. This layout pattern made me rethink the narrative sequence of the briefing logic, and also made me realize that a successful briefing is not about blindly piling up information, but about arranging the rhythm of knowledge in an orderly manner.

The CTA trilogy of business briefings: touching people’s hearts but also guiding action

Another thing that impressed me deeply was the “CTA Trilogy” emphasized by Mr. Wawa - business briefings must ultimately be implemented in action design and not just stay in the touching stage.

Call to Action (Call to Action, CTA) is not just an advertising term, it is the ultimate action instruction for all business briefs. Teacher Wawa breaks down CTA into three steps:

1. Business Objective
2. Consumer Action
3. Verification indicators (KPI)

These three trilogies are not only process logic, but also the core of strategic integration. The teacher said: “The presentation is not for you to have fun, but for the other party to decide whether to do business with you.”

Starting from the business purpose, we have to think: Is the purpose of this briefing to sell? For brand recognition? Or to trigger a trial or download? Once the purpose is clear, content architecture will be focused.

Next, there is the specific design for “what actions consumers should take”: download the app, scan the QR code, visit the site to watch, leave messages for interaction, or even just remember the brand impression. If this step is unclear, the entire brief will be in vain, no matter how creative it is.

Finally, there is the most ignored but most fatal key - KPI setting. We often hear about KPIs, but KPIs are not just as simple as “complete the proposal”, but rather quantify the results: How much exposure is there? How much interaction is there? And how many conversions did it facilitate? Mr. Wawa reminded us: “Don’t make the briefing a price competition, but a value competition.” He particularly emphasized that KPIs should correspond to value measurement rather than price calculations.

He shared a detail during the live broadcast that impressed me deeply - if the briefing emphasizes “the goal is to increase brand awareness” at the beginning, then the client will review the briefing content based on “number of exposures”; but if you say at the beginning “we hope to create an emotional connection with consumers”, then the other party’s standards will shift to “feelings and memory points”. This is what Mr. Wawa repeatedly mentioned about the so-called “importance of default viewpoints.”

This set of CTA trilogy is not only the strategic skeleton of the briefing, but also a set of logical designs that teach us how to persuade the world.

Transformed from “the most unpalatable instant noodles” to a popular brand: the revelation of the double-ring bubble marketing counterattack

When Mr. Wawa said, “What we are going to talk about today is the most unpalatable instant noodles in the history of Taiwan,” I could feel everyone snickering in front of the screen. This is not a joke, but the starting point of a strategic briefing—and of course, a story of the brand’s self-revolution.

This case is the famous “Double Ring Bubble Noodles”. It was ridiculed as the “King of Unpalatable” by the masses on social platforms such as Dcard and PTT. Even during the rush to buy during Typhoon Day, it remained motionless on the shelves. This kind of negative buzz was originally a marketing disaster, but it was transformed by Wawa teachers and team into a lever for brand breakthrough.

This is the best evidence of “Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Festinger, 1957” in marketing. When consumers have inner conflicts (for example: I think double-snap bubbles are disgusting, but I often buy them), they will use various behaviors to repair the conflict: some choose to criticize the brand to alleviate the conflict of identity, while others simply choose to eat it secretly in silence.

The key point that Mr. Wawa realized was not that there were many dissatisfied people, but that consumers who really liked this instant noodles did not dare to speak out because of the social atmosphere. This is the Spiral of Silence (Spiral of Silence, Noelle-Neumann, 1974) under group pressure. When mainstream public opinion overwhelmingly ridicules something, those with different opinions will choose to remain silent, thereby amplifying the bias in social perceptions.

Mr. Wawa’s strategy is not to fight against negative reviews, but to ask from a brand perspective: “Is our problem really the taste? Or is it the silent ones who are being bullied?” This is a “Reframing” operation—changing the question from “how to respond to negative reviews” to “how to protect silent loyalists.”

He created “brave marketing” - turning people who dare to say delicious food into heroes, and created a year-long consumer protection plan. This coincides with Value Co-creation Theory(Value Co-creation, Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004): Let consumers participate in the definition of the brand story, no longer just accept the message, but become part of the action.

This strategy not only improved the brand’s favorability, but also successfully pushed up the sales figures of double-sounding bubbles, which even overlapped with the sales of Ah Q barrel noodles. This is not only a victory in marketing operations, but also a narrative miracle based on consumer psychology and community dynamics.

How to design a strategy to get customers to buy: Asking the right questions is more important than answering them

“Why can’t our products sell?” - This is the first question most brands will ask advertising agencies or briefing planners. In the past, we were often eager to answer this question, but Teacher Wawa reminded us: “The key is not to answer correctly, but to ask the right question.”

This is exactly the same logic as the first stage of “Design Thinking” (Design Thinking) “Empathy and Definition of Problems”. Tim Brown (CEO of IDEO) once said: “The way the problem is defined will determine the direction and effectiveness of the solution.”

Teacher Wawa asked back: “Maybe we shouldn’t ask why things can’t be sold, but - why don’t consumers buy? What do they care about? Where are their real obstacles?” The redefinition of this “from supply to demand” problem is actually STP analysis (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) The starting point of the strategy─we do not give presentations to sell things, but to solve the resistance points of the target customer group.

In other words, when you ask the right questions, your briefing strategy becomes less about surface creativity and more about demand deconstruction initiated by market understanding. In the case of double-sounding bubbles, instead of trying to persuade people by “packaging the instant noodles in a more advanced way,” we go directly to the real pain point: “Why do consumers think it’s delicious but don’t dare to say it?”

This also echoes the theory of Consumer Involvement: In the era of digital communities, brands must win not by speaking more than others, but by saying what consumers “dare not say but want to say”.

Teacher Wawa calls this strategy “story-based creativity” and defines it in one sentence: “If you want to convince consumers, first ask yourself, what can you dare to say for them?” This sentence shocked me deeply and became an important belief in my future design briefings and courses.

Transform briefings from information delivery to trust building: creatives should become solution directors

In the world of business presentations, too many people assume that preparing content is enough to impress clients. But Mr. Wawa once again reminded everyone in this live broadcast: “The presentation is not just about displaying content, but also about generating trust.” This reminds me of the classic theory in marketing circles - the Brand Trust Model. Simply put, if a brand wants to gain trust, it needs to go through the following three key aspects:

1. Consistency: Is your message consistent?
2. Competence: Do you have the ability to solve problems?
3. Empathy: Do you understand me and think from my perspective?

The briefing is the container for these three elements of trust. When what you show in your briefing is not just data or ideas, but “you understand me”, “you can solve my problem” and “everything you say is consistent with each other”, a sense of trust will naturally arise.

This view corresponds exactly to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) The distinction between “peripheral route” and “central route”:

• Border path: Persuasion by impression, style, and emotional appeal (for example: good-looking design, contagious voice)
• Central path: Rely on logic, evidence and the other party’s internal motivation to persuade (for example: clear proposal structure, precise insight)

Mr. Wawa perfectly integrates the two. On the one hand, he uses voice, rhythm and humor to attract attention (border path) in the briefing, and on the other hand, he uses market observation, creative strategies and the precise design of customer CTA to promote understanding (central path), forming a high-level persuasive field.

This gave me a deep understanding: “The briefer is not just a designer, but a “Solution Director."" In other words, you must have expressive skills and on-site appeal in front of the stage, and at the same time, you must have strategic vision and problem deconstruction ability behind the scenes.

Teacher Wawa said: “Creativity is not inspiration floating in the air, but a precise proposal based on reality.” This sentence changed my imagination of the role of creative people: we are not only content producers, but also catalysts of brand trust.

Every proposal is a redefinition of brand value

In the last segment of this live broadcast event, what I learned was not a briefing structure technique, but a highly strategic “Reframing Brand Context” (Reframing Brand Context).

Mr. Wawa said it well: “You think you are giving a briefing, but in fact you are redefining the reason for the brand’s existence.”

This kind of narrative strategy reminds me of the theory of the father of content marketing Joe Pulizzi. He pointed out in the book “Epic Content Marketing”: “The goal of brand content is not to sell products, but to give customers a new world view (a new world view) worldview). “This worldview is not only an extension of brand value, but also the starting point for a deep connection between customers and the brand.

Mr. Wawa’s strategy in the double-bubble case reflects this practice of “narrative reconstruction.” He did not rush to explain that “the double-shot cannon is actually not so unpalatable”, nor did he forcefully whitewash it. Instead, he rewrote the core of the brand narrative: “This is an instant noodle that was once bullied, but finally stood up - it is the epitome of each of us.”

This is a powerful emotional reframing: turning the original weakness (being ridiculed by the masses) into the brand’s source of strength (fighting against bullying), further generating emotional resonance, substitution and value recognition.

Such a strategy corresponds to Symbolic Interactionism in marketing theory: brands are no longer one-way message senders, but mediators in the field of meaning co-creation, allowing consumers to participate in the construction of brand meaning.

Every briefing proposal is an opportunity to create meaning together. You get your customers to rethink who their brand is, how they face the market, and how they respond to consumers. It’s no longer just “what do I want to sell?” but “what kind of relationship do I want to have with the world?”

Teacher Wawa told us: “A good briefing does not make customers clap, but makes them nod.” Nodding means trust, being understood, and the conclusion of trust - this trust is the greatest output of strategic briefings.

Teacher Wawa taught me five briefing principles: the intersection of theory + practice

Briefing is not a single technique, but a multi-dimensional strategic presentation. From Teacher Wawa’s sharing, I have gathered five principles for presentations that I think are the most valuable. These are not just a set of presentation skills, but also a strategic framework for “how to make the content meaningful, powerful, and effective.”

1. Start with data, don’t end with data: Combined with the persuasion logic of the ELM model: the briefing is not about throwing away data, but “using data to lay out values, and then finishing with stories.” This echoes the “central path” + “peripheral path” persuasion model of the Elaboration Likelihood Model: laying the foundation with logic and ending with emotion is the strongest combination.
2. Start with a reasonable beginning, be logically supported, and end with a strong conclusion: These three sentences can almost be regarded as the golden rule of presentation. In particular, “clarify the task at the beginning rather than directly entering the data”, which exactly reflects the Empathy stage of Design Thinking.
3. Asking questions is more important than answering: Many presenters are eager to provide solutions without going deep into “defining the problem.” Teacher Wawa emphasized: first clarify what the real problem is, and then design a strategy. This is the core logic of Problem-Based Learning.
4. Strategy briefing is an emotional design, not a format output: making the audience feel is the core of strategy briefing. This extends to Emotion-Driven Communication Theory: Only by inducing feelings can it be possible to guide action.
5. Every briefing is a rebranding, designing a relatable context: As mentioned before, a good briefing is not just sales, but context design. Our goal is to let the other party see “their relationship with the brand” again. This is the application of Symbolic Interactionism in business presentations.

👉 _Practical application: _Design a three-stage structure of “Who am I, do I understand you, and how do I want to help you” to become the psychological script for each proposal.

An action plan for workplace presenters: How to build your presentation power system?

After listening to this live broadcast, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “Then how do I turn these into an executable capability system?” The following is the structure of the briefing proposal that I compiled from both a personal and organizational perspective.

📍 Personal level: Become a “strategic presenter”

stage

Key tasks

Tools and Methods

preparation period

Clarify the goals and context of the proposal

5W1H, Empathy Map, SWOT analysis

design period

Establish logic, emotional rhythm and visual transitions

Storyboard, CTA three-step, sentiment curve chart

Exercise period

Adjust tone, composition, and master feedback mechanism

Recording self-assessment method, 10-minute condensed version of drill, audience feedback form

📍 Organizational level: Create an internal “briefing and practical training module”

When companies introduce briefing-related courses, they often stay at the technical level (such as briefing design skills, word-of-mouth training, etc.), but Wawa teacher’s live sharing inspired me: What is truly valuable is that you can combine your own majors to design strategy-oriented briefing training modules.

Business Blueprint Planning: Evolve from Party B’s thinking to a creative leader

On the surface, this sharing was a briefing skills class for Teacher Wawa and Teacher Sun, but it was more like a reconstruction project of career outlook. Not only did I learn how to speak well, but I also rethought: As a content creator and strategic thinker, how many possibilities are there for my role?

Mr. Wawa used his practical experience in the advertising industry to demonstrate the career path of evolving from Party B executor to creative director. From his story, I discovered three career blueprints that I should continue to deepen:

1. Creative consultant and content strategist: Use “story + data” to lead corporate transformation: In the past, I was more often a transmitter of knowledge and a designer of lesson plans; now, I see that I can also be a navigator of corporate brand narrative. Content strategy is not just about “writing well”, but “helping the brand speak a conversation”.
2. Innovation promoter within the organization: Introduce briefing proposal and communication culture as cross-department collaboration tools: Briefing power is not only the ability to make external proposals, but also a powerful tool for internal collaboration and consensus generation. I began to imagine how to turn this set of logic into an accelerator for internal cultural upgrading.
3. Instructional designer and published author: As an [author] (https://vista.im/ai-book) who has written nearly twenty books and a lecturer who teaches in companies and universities, I have a deeper understanding: the essence of education is not only to fill the information gap, but also to find ways to open students’ imagination. I hope that in the future I can transform my professional experience and learning results into a set of systematic courses that can be exported and empower more people.

Thank you to Teacher Wawa for sharing, and thank you to Teacher Sun for facilitating this live broadcast. After listening to this live broadcast, I felt: when we can translate creativity into strategies and align stories with business goals, we are no longer just “executors of Party B”, but true “catalysts of value.”

When a briefing becomes a career booster for you and me

Seeing this, I believe you can already understand: Briefing is no longer just a creative arrangement game, nor is it a stage performance that relies on video and animation to win applause. A truly efficient briefing is a strategic device that allows value to flow. It is the beginning of dialogue, cooperation and trust creation between you and the world.

What Mr. Wawa brings to us is not just [briefing proposal skills] (https://wawa.kaik.io/courses/wawaworkshop11), but a thinking framework - from consumer psychology to brand context, from story layout to emotional strategy, from asking the right questions to co-creating answers, every briefing is a precise battle and a process of value reconstruction.

For me, this live event was like a profound inner transformation. It made me realize:

• The essence of the brief is a proposal of values;
• What really convinces people is the orchestration of emotions and logic;
• Creative people are no longer just idea production machines, but planners of organizational change and leaders of value translation.

In the past, I have provided consulting and training services to the public sector and enterprises for a long time. Starting this year, I also teach at the university. In the future, I look forward to integrating my major with the presentation skills I learned from Teacher Wawa and Teacher Sun, and transforming it into a system that can be copied, shared, educated and disseminated. Whether designing in-house training for companies, preparing lesson plans for students, or preparing books for my future publications, I hope to continue to practice this concept: turning briefings into a tool that can change the perspectives of others.

I hope that this article of my experience will become a journey we share with each other, and it will also be the beginning of thinking about “how to make every proposal you make a career advancement.”

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