A large QSR brand paid €75K for a strategy report. Then daily priorities took over and it never really made it into execution.

For this brand we work for, the strategy was not the problem. It had already been shaped by experienced teams and expensive consultants.

The issue started after the deck was approved. Leadership set the direction. But no one owned the move from strategic intent to day-to-day execution.

You could see it in the way the marketing, CRM, data, loyalty, and operations teams responded: What does this mean for our roadmap? Who decides what gets priority? What are we expected to change first? Every team was involved, but no one was truly leading the move into execution.

Large consultancies often deliver from a distance, hand over the report, and move on.

We worked differently. For this client, we became part of the team early. More importantly, we stayed involved until implementation was underway. Team members told us they could finally see progress: decisions were being made, priorities were clearer and the first changes were visible across teams.

To make the strategy land, we did four things.

1. We created clear execution ownership across functions, so decisions no longer stalled between marketing, CRM, data, loyalty, and operations.
2. We translated the strategy into a practical sequence of decisions, so teams understood what had to happen first, what depended on what, and where to focus.
3. We started with visible quick wins, so progress became tangible early and the strategy felt workable in practice.
4. We treated adoption as change management, not as a handoff. That meant staying close as teams adjusted, decisions were made, and the new way of working started to take hold.

That is what makes a strategy report worth its money. Not the quality of the slides, but whether the business can actually execute it.

Where do you see strategy break down most often: in the thinking, or in the execution?