CRAFT Tutorials · Advanced

Run a full brand campaign with the cookbook

The Branding & Identity cookbook isn’t sixteen separate tools — it’s one path. This walkthrough takes you the whole way: define your brand, turn it into a campaign, and produce the content, with each step handing its work to the next.

Before you start: add the cookbook to your project first. If you haven’t, see the Branding & Identity Cookbook page for the one-step setup. You’ll know you’re ready when CRAFT can list the cookbook’s recipes.

How the cookbook flows

The cookbook works in three stages, and the order matters because each stage feeds the next. The first recipe writes a shared brand profile that every later recipe reads, so you never re-explain your business. The foundation stage produces your messaging pillars; the campaign stage turns those into a message library; the content stage turns that library into a calendar and the posts to fill it. Run them in order and the pieces line up on their own.

Stage 1 — Brand Foundation (Morgan): who you are, what you stand for, who you’re for.
Stage 2 — Campaign Planning (Maggie): how you’ll reach people, with what messages, on which channels.
Stage 3 — Content Execution (Quinn): the calendar and the actual posts — then what worked.

Good to know: each stage is led by its own specialist. You don’t have to summon them by hand — starting a stage brings in the right one. You can also ask for any of them by name if you want a specific perspective.

Stage 1 · Lay the foundation

Always begin here. The first recipe gathers your business context and writes the shared brand profile the rest of the cookbook depends on:

›Start the Branding & Identity cookbook with the Brand Context Initializer.

CRAFT (with Morgan, the brand specialist) asks about your business, then works through audience, pain points, value proposition, and differentiation. When you’re ready to pull it together, run the synthesizer — it writes your full brand profile and the messaging pillars the campaign stage will use:

›Walk me through the rest of the foundation, then synthesize my brand profile.

✓ You’ll know it worked when CRAFT can show you a written brand profile and a short set of messaging pillars — the themes your campaign will repeat.

Stage 2 · Plan the campaign

Now hand that foundation to the campaign stage. Maggie picks up your messaging pillars and turns them into structure — phases, a message library, content themes, channels, and a timeline:

›Move on to campaign planning using my brand profile.

The key output here is the message library from the messaging matrix — your pillars mapped to phases, audiences, and platforms. That’s what the content stage draws from, so it’s worth a look before you go on:

›Build the messaging matrix and show me the message library.

✓ You’ll know it worked when you have a campaign with phases and a timeline, plus a message library you could hand to anyone writing posts.

Stage 3 · Produce the content

Finally, Quinn turns the plan into a publishing schedule and the posts to fill it. Start with the calendar — it reads your campaign timeline and lays out what goes where, when:

›Generate the content calendar from my campaign plan.

Then fill it — social posts drawn from your message library, blog pieces with an SEO plan — and, once things are live, close the loop by analyzing what performed:

›Draft this week’s social posts from the message library, then plan a blog piece.

✓ You’ll know it worked when your calendar has posts in it that echo your brand pillars — not generic filler — and you know which recipe to revisit when you want to adjust.

Tips for a smooth run

Go in order. Foundation, then campaign, then content. A later stage expects the earlier stage’s output; skipping ahead means re-doing work.
The brand profile is shared memory. It’s written once, early, and every recipe reads it. If your business changes, update it and the rest follows.
You can pause anywhere. The work is saved in your project as you go; pick back up at the next recipe whenever you like.
Ask a specialist directly. Want Morgan’s take during the content stage? Just ask — the personas stay available across the whole cookbook.

Common questions

Do I have to use all sixteen recipes? No — but the stages build on each other, so the foundation recipes are worth doing even if you only want content at the end. The more the foundation knows, the more on-brand the content is.

Can I run it again for a second campaign? Yes. Your brand foundation carries over; you can start a fresh campaign from the same profile without redoing stage 1.

That’s the full run: foundation to campaign to content, each step feeding the next. A good next step: Make the most of personas — get more out of Morgan, Maggie, and Quinn, or build your own specialist.