Summary

At moments of expansion, pricing change or integration, the reflex is to refresh the look or push harder on campaigns. The real issue is fragmented choices. The shift happens when brand strategy defines where to play and how to win. Then focus returns, execution speeds up, and pricing holds.

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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Real Mandate

When leaders feel pressure, the reflex is often to adjust the look and launch more activity. The real risk isn’t aesthetic; it’s strategic. When choices outpace clarity, organisations spread effort thin and rely on promotions to prop up performance. Brand strategy earns its keep by acting as a decision system: it tells you which battles to win, which to ignore, and how to hold your nerve when pressure mounts.

Media Wall Street, citing Interbrand and NewtonX, reports that 76% of analysts believe brand strategy has a moderate-to-large effect on price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples—put simply, markets price clarity and conviction.

When It Matters

The useful question isn’t “do we need a new look?” but “are we entering a phase where choices multiply and the stakes rise?” In our experience with startups, scale-ups, and mid-market organisations, this typically shows up not as one event but a queue of decisions that won’t reconcile.

• Entering a new market where incumbents set expectations.
• Stretching the portfolio or pricing, where trade-offs must be explicit.
• Integrating acquisitions or navigating leadership shifts that reset priorities.
• Activity up, impact flat—campaigns multiply, conversion doesn’t.

What Consultants Do

A brand strategy consultancy helps leadership replace ambiguity with an operating logic for growth. The work is less about theory and more about the structure that enables consistent, confident choices across functions.

• Build the decision system: point of view, where to play, how to win, non-negotiables.
• Clarify the economics of focus: priority segments, proposition hierarchy, pricing narrative.
• Align governance and cadence: who decides what, and how promises are kept across channels.
• Translate into usable tools: messaging architecture, proof points, and guardrails for product, sales, and service.

The output isn’t a slogan; it’s a set of choices that concentrate investment and reduce rework.

Leadership Implications

Two implications matter for leadership attention and timing:

• Treat brand as a board-level operating code: wire it into planning, hiring, product, and pricing. Track leading indicators such as deal velocity, win rates, and price realisation.
• Invest ahead of the turn: do the strategy work before expansion or integration, when it can still shape scope and sequence.

Deloitte notes that high-growth brands are 66% more likely to let purpose guide employee decisions and are far more likely to measure it with key performance indicators (KPIs)—93% versus 72% for negative-growth peers—signalling that alignment backed by measurement compounds performance.

As choice sets widen and cycles shorten, the organisations that build and use a clear decision system will move faster with fewer compromises—and the market will notice.

Sources:

• 76% of Analysts Say Brand Strategy Moves P/E — Media Wall Street (citing Interbrand × NewtonX)
• Growing with a holistic purpose — Deloitte

Further Resources

1. How CEOs Align Brand and Strategy for Success
2. When to Hire a Fractional Chief Brand Officer
3. Unlocking Strategic Choices: The Role of Brand Strategy

Brand clarity often begins with the right questions — we’d be glad to explore them with your team. Start the conversation.

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