Summary

Growth introduces complexity — leadership changes, new offerings, hurried pivots. What was clear can slip into brand drift, tangled by ad hoc decisions. Clarity comes from a shared decision filter and credible proof of value. When teams see the same picture, execution tightens, and the market experiences one coherent story.

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Our Perspective

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

Why Drift Appears

Brand drift rarely begins with a campaign. It starts when small exceptions to the promise become routine—new leaders, new pricing models, hurried pivots, ad hoc briefs. Each decision looks reasonable on its own; together they sever the link between what you say and what people experience. That gap is an alignment problem disguised as a marketing issue.

Leaders also tend to overestimate cohesion. Harvard Business Review notes that while executives report alignment at roughly 82%, observed alignment has been closer to 23%, a reminder that optimism can mask real execution gaps. In our experience with organisations at inflection points, this usually shows up first in handovers where ownership, timing, and criteria are unclear.

Clarity Before Consistency

When a business is changing, consistency can trap you in yesterday’s logic. Clarity creates the right kind of consistency—the kind that follows from well-set choices. The task is to make trade-offs explicit so teams know what to prioritise, what to pause, and what to stop. If the decision filter isn’t crisp, every brief becomes a negotiation and drift accelerates.

Make clarity operational with a few simple artefacts:

• A shared decision filter: what is on- and off-strategy, in a sentence.
• One definition of priority audiences, their jobs to be done, and value.
• Non‑negotiables in tone, claims, and experience across key touchpoints.

Three Lenses In Practice

Treat brand as a system that multiplies value when its components reinforce one another. Use three lenses together, not in sequence:

• Macro: A north star for value, audience, and promise tied directly to commercial goals and board-level choices.
• Micro: Codified behaviours, language, and guardrails so day-to-day work is faster to brief, easier to approve, and simpler to say no to.
• Market: Proof that sets you apart—customer evidence, product signals, and outcomes—expressed consistently across channels.

Executed in unison, these lenses prevent drift by narrowing interpretation without narrowing ambition. The point isn’t more rules; it’s fewer, sharper ones that speed decisions and raise the floor on quality.

Leadership Implications

Redirect energy from slogans to operating discipline. A few moves make the difference:

• Establish a cross‑functional brand council with authority to set guardrails and resolve trade‑offs quickly.
• Tie funding and incentives to proof points—customer outcomes, renewal rates, and adoption—so claims and reality stay aligned.
• Track leading indicators of drift: conflicting briefs, exception volume, rework rates, and inconsistencies found in key journeys.

This is quieter work than a new campaign, but it compounds. When leaders choose clarity and back it with simple governance and evidence, the organisation coheres, execution gets lighter, and the market starts to experience one story from strategy through to service. Over time, drift gives way to momentum.

Sources:

• 3 Keys To Organizational Alignment — Harvard Business Review

Further Resources

1. Aligning Brand Strategy with New Leadership
2. Brand Strategy: Moving from Founder-Led to Team-Led
3. Aligning Your Brand with Reality: A Strategic Necessity

Curious how this applies in your market? We’re speaking with leaders across industries every week. Let’s talk.

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