When businesses think about growth, the first instinct is often to “do more marketing”, more social posts, more ads, more emails; however, effective marketing can’t exist without something more fundamental: brand strategy. 

A strong brand strategy isn’t just a logo or a colour palette. It’s the shared understanding, internally and externally, of what your business stands for, who it serves and exactly why customers should choose you over your competitors. Without it, your marketing is guesswork, but with it, your marketing becomes a growth engine. 

The foundation of commercial growth 

A good brand strategy gives you: 

1. Clarity – you can’t sell confidently if you can’t articulate who you are and what makes you stand out. 
2. Consistency – customers choose what they recognise and trust. Consistent brand messaging and design builds that trust over time. 
3. Direction – every marketing division, whether this be a campaign, website or brochure, becomes easier and more effective when guided by clear brand principles. 
4. Value – competing only on price is a race to the bottom. Brand strategy allows you to compete on meaning, not margin. 

So, what does a brand strategy include? 

We help businesses to build strategies that typically cover: 

• Purpose and positioning – why you exist and where you sit in the market.  
• Customer insight – who you’re talking to and what they care about. 
• Brand story & messaging – what you say, and exactly how you say it. 
• Visual identity direction – how you look and feel across different areas. 
• Tone of voice – how you sound in marketing and internal communications.

This isn’t abstract ‘planning for planning’s sake’, it’s a structured way to make every penny spent on marketing work harder and more effectively for you and your business. 

How brand strategy connects to your marketing 

A strategy only matters if it translates into clear action points. Our team takes brand foundations and turns them into live, growth-driving assets through our various marketing services:

• Brand & identity design – bringing the strategy to life. 
• Website design & development – building sites that not only impress, but convert. 
• Marketing campaigns – social, email, content and digital ads with clear and straightforward objectives. 
• Creative design – brochures, packaging, exhibition materials and much more. 
• Ongoing marketing support – keeping your brand consistent as you continue to grow. 

When strategy leads to marketing follows, you get alignment, consistency and measurable impact. 

Is it time to revisit your brand? 

If you’re feeling like any of the following, you’re likely ready for strategic brand work:  

“Our marketing feels random or reactive” 

“We’re investing in marketing, but our results are flat” 

“Some of our competitors are starting to look and feel the same” 

It might be time to build a brand that drives growth. Whether you’re refining an established brand or building from scratch, the right strategy gives you the clarity, consistency and confidence to scale. 

If you’re ready to grow on purpose, not just on effort, we’d love to help you build the foundations that make your marketing work harder. 

Explore our brand & marketing services or get in touch to start the conversation! 

In the ever-changing business world, branding has never been more significant than it will be in 2024. Brands are not just labels. They are powerful entities that convey a unique identity and build a connection with consumers. However, recent legal battles have highlighted the complexities and challenges brands face in maintaining their distinctiveness.

As consumers become increasingly discerning, strong, recognisable brands are paramount. A brand is more than just a logo or a product. It represents a promise and a set of values that sets it apart from the competition. Brands influence consumer choices, foster loyalty and shape cultural narratives.

Superdry vs Manchester City: A battle of logos and identities

One of the most intriguing recent legal battles involves Superdry, the popular clothing brand based in Cheltenham, and Manchester City, one of the Premier League’s most prestigious football clubs. Superdry alleges that Manchester City’s new merchandise line bears a striking resemblance to its own iconic logo and design elements.

This case highlights the challenges brands face in protecting their intellectual property and maintaining a distinct visual identity in a world saturated with logos and symbols.

Superdry argues that Manchester City’s use of similar design elements could create confusion among consumers, potentially diluting the unique brand image that Superdry has worked hard to cultivate since 2003. The case underscores the importance of vigilance in protecting intellectual property rights and the potential financial implications for brands found guilty of infringement.

Chanel and WGACA: The clash over vintage luxury

On another front, the luxury fashion powerhouse, Chanel finds itself in a legal dispute with What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA), a high-end vintage reseller. Chanel alleges that WGACA’s sale of pre-owned and vintage Chanel items without proper authorisation infringes upon its trademark rights and tarnishes the brand’s prestigious image.

This case raised valid questions about the growing market for second-hand luxury goods and the challenges brands face in controlling the narrative around their products, even after they are sold. Gucci and Burberry have embraced the second-hand luxury market, stating it opens the opportunity to grow a wider market. The outcome of this legal battle could set a precedent for how luxury brands approach the resale market and protect their image from potential dilution.

Investing in a strong brand is not just about creating a visual identity, it’s about shaping perceptions, fostering trust and leaving a lasting impression. Brands want to retain their distinctiveness to stand out in a very crowded market. They also want to establish consumer recognition and build loyalty that sets them apart from the crowd.

A distinctive brand enhances memorability and contributes to long term success and overall brand longevity. Chanel is still as popular in 2024 as it was over 100 years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible without protecting their core identity.

The role of social media in branding and legal disputes

In recent years, social media has also played an essential role in shaping brand perceptions and, ironically, in exacerbating ongoing legal conflicts. The rapid dissemination of information and options can magnify the impact of disputes, making it crucial for brands to manage their online presence and address issues swiftly to mitigate potential damage.

At Resolution, we understand the pivotal role branding plays in defining your business and connecting with your audience.

Let us help you craft a brand that stands out and ensures your success in a competitive digital landscape.

A couple of weeks ago I took a train to London at a very unsocial hour to attend a conference for independent design & marketing agencies in Soho. A mass of senior agency folks listening to marketing leaders and sharing experiences. It was fun and insightful.

One of the themes that came through in the presentations and discussions was the importance of nurturing your brand. The phrase “Your brand is how people feel about you when you’re not in the room,” was used. It’s not a new line, but it is a great way to explain what we mean by brand. The context was larger corporates, but there are important takeouts for all businesses, including micro and SME firms.

Protecting your brand

As you can imagine, we’re regularly asked about the specifics of marketing, but as a business owner, it’s critical to remember to protect and develop your brand and to do that you need to consider all customer touchpoints. That may sound a bit daunting but think of it this way, imagine your business is a single person, you want that person to have consistent values and personality no matter what they are dealing with. No sudden shift in personality between interactions with sales and those with finance for example. Always friendly, positive, and helpful.

Reminds me of a bad joke, which I’ll share anyway. Man asks the devil what hell is like, devil says it’s all sex and parties. Man says great, I’ll have some of that and goes to hell. On arrival he sees it’s not all sex and parties, it’s pain and torment. “Hang on”, he says to the devil, “I wasn’t expecting this”, ”Ah no”, says the devil, “but you were a prospect then, now you’re a customer”.

The fact is that ensuring people think of your business positively takes work over the long term and one slip-up at any stage can undo all your efforts. I’m delighted to say that the overwhelming majority of businesses that we advise offer a great service, but whether the brand experience is communicated effectively is a more mixed picture.

So if you’re unsure what marketers mean by brand just think about what customers feel about your business in their own time. Naturally, you want your customers to feel extremely positive, so protect your brand by doing all you can to ensure an excellent experience across all touchpoints.

Let me start with this, I was disappointed by ‘Star Wars; The last Jedi’ and also by ‘No time to die’, the recent James Bond. Both films were entertaining and had some fantastic scenes, but, in my opinion, key elements of storyline, characterisation and overall philosophy were disposed of in order to assist in the reinvention of the franchises. The result was that people like me, who had bought into these worlds, were left in consternation at what unfolded… why? what? are you serious?

My strong reaction to these films was a consequence of the feeling that the filmmakers had crossed a line, that they had damaged the worlds that had been so carefully constructed by previous films. This brings me to the point of this post… stories are powerful. We all love a good story well told and we all hate having a favourite story ruined. So it’s no surprise that there’s a good deal of talk about stories in marketing… if a business can tell a good story it can be a very powerful way of engaging with customers.

Once upon a time

In the early days of advertising, products were promoted based almost entirely on their features and benefits. In the 1960s a new idea emerged, the idea of wrapping the product up in an exciting world to create a unique brand story. Famous examples of this approach are the Marlboro cigarette adverts, commercially very successful if sadly promoting an incredibly unhealthy product. The Marlboro world was exciting, glamorous and rugged; consumers wanted a slice of that. The game was no longer how smooth or satisfying a cigarette was, it was about what smoking that brand said about you, and smoking Marlboro said you were cool.

If you’re a smaller business you’re clearly not going to be creating giant international ad campaigns like Marlboro. But there are important lessons we can learn.

Move beyond product

Faster, bigger, cheaper, shinier… whatever. The problem with talking about features is that anyone can do it, it’s hard to establish a difference and most of your customers will tune out. Of course, people want to know what your product or service can do for them and you should share engaging success stories. But increasingly, customers also want to feel aligned with the businesses they are buying from. Are you ethical? what do you stand for? do you share my values?

Tell your brand story

So what’s your story? The good news is that all businesses have a great story they can tell that no one else can. It’s the big story, the story about why you exist and how it happened. Clients often ask me what they should put in the about us section of their website, the feeling being that no one is going to be interested in knowing more about the people involved in the business or how it all started. Nothing could be further from the truth. Customers want to know all about you, they want to know who they are buying from and what your values are.

So be sure to tell your story. Use your about us section to tell everyone about your business. Be sure to include information about your people, company history, purpose and philosophy. These key truths are the foundations of your brand and will help customers understand and buy into your company… maybe not with the passion I bought into Star Wars as a teenager, but perhaps sufficiently to convince them you are a better choice for them than your competitors.

Ok, so you’re considering rebranding. (Perhaps our thoughts on reasons to rebrand gave you that final push.) What next?

As we know, a stellar rebrand calls for exceptional creative, sensitivity, strategy, and, more than anything, a deep understanding of your business and your customers. If you want to build a lasting brand with a devoted, ever-expanding fanbase, it’s essential to get all of these things right – not just one.

So, how do you make sure your rebrand is successful?

You:

1. Follow a proven process
2. Use a talented and experienced team to assist with the strategic and creative work

Our rebranding process

We love breathing new life into brands – and we’ve been doing it with great success for many years.

Rebranding is a journey. Conducted well, it’s extremely enjoyable, rewarding, and often delivers far more than expected, imbuing your business with a renewed sense of purpose, enthusiasm and drive.

1. Understanding who you are

As a start point, it’s critical that we understand your business. We ask all those difficult questions… what makes your business different? What’s your mission? What’s your vision? What’s your basic proposition? Your USP? Your values? You may not have all the answers, but that’s fine; we will be working with you to discover them so we can position your business perfectly.

2. Understanding your market

Understanding your sector, competitors, positioning, and audiences is vital. By analysing what you’re up against, how you’re currently placed in your market, and who your target customers are, we form the foundation for a powerful, knowledge-driven rebranding.

3. Creating your new logo & identity

Once we have a clear grasp of your current situation and what you want to achieve, we can start the rebranding process. This begins with the creation of a new logo to reflect your personality and objectives.

If you’re opting for a complete rebrand, we’ll consider other key elements of your identity as well, such as your mission, proposition, and tone of voice.

We’ll also provide you with a corporate identity document: this is a guide for the application of your new identity to core elements of your marketing, such as your website and print materials. It can be as simple or as comprehensive as you need.

4. Applying your new identity

Armed with your new corporate identity, we can start the exciting process of applying it across your marketing materials and other key customer touchpoints. It’s also highly valuable to share your new brand and values with your staff, so they can play an active part in actualising the new company vision.

It’s important that you fully embrace the change and ensure your new identity is applied quickly and consistently to all aspects of your business, from your website to your signage, livery, stationery, and any other marketing deliverables. This extends beyond look and feel to tone of voice and the verbal communication of your new vision, values, and proposition.

It’s at this point that an integrated agency partner can be a real asset. We are such an agency. By being integrated, we are experts not only in identity creation but also in identity application.

In short, we offer a full rebranding service, from its strategic beginnings right through to the design and build of your new website, signage, interiors and more. After that, we can create and manage your ongoing marketing – everything from adverts to social media.

5. Protecting your brand

A footnote. Somebody somewhere needs to be the custodian of your brand: to be your brand police, to check that consistency continues to govern brand application over time. It’s very easy to let the brand slip unintentionally… stray adverts, incorrect logos, you know what I mean.

So, once you’ve created your new brand, protect it.

We all know the saying if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Building a solid, memorable identity requires money, time, and energy, so embarking on a rebrand is a big decision.

Why then do even the very biggest businesses take flight and go for it? Because, sometimes, the moment has come to accept that customers are not engaged with key aspects of your business personality. Sometimes, you have to acknowledge that your brand power is failing and act on it.

We’ve helped many businesses successfully reboot their brands. In this piece, we’ll walk you through some common reasons to consider a rebranding.

Reasons to consider a rebrand

We’ve talked about Gap’s logo redesign disaster before. Tropicana lost 20% of its revenue in just one month after a poorly conceived identity shift.

Done right, a timely rebrand can be hugely beneficial to your business, upping your brand recognition, winning customers, and boosting revenue.

So here are 6 compelling reasons to commit to a rebrand…

1. Do I have a brand?

It’s possible that you have not really considered ‘brand’. You may never have been through a ‘branding process’. What you do have is a brand that, like all brands, is defined by the many and various ways you interact with your customers.

If you have not yet looked to clearly define your brand, or to clearly communicate what you are all about, you’re missing out a big marketing opportunity.

2. Your brand is dated

Yes, some traditional brands have used the same logo for hundreds of years to excellent effect. But, for most businesses, staying relevant over time requires brand change.

If you look at your logo, your marketing materials, and other important customer touchpoints, and you feel your business looks dated, it’s a glaring sign.

Perhaps your current brand identity was shaped when you were starting out on a shoestring budget. Perhaps it was created many years ago and no longer reflects the business as it stands today. Perhaps it isn’t applying well in today’s digital-first world.

3. Your strategy has shifted

You’ve seen an opportunity to focus on a new audience… and realised they’re unlikely to connect with who you are now. You want to win over new customers without alienating your existing client base, so are looking to strengthen your look and shift your market positioning without sacrificing your original appeal.

Alternatively, you may be thinking about changing the service or product range you offer, and feel your brand needs a revamp to reflect this.

4. You’re failing to stand out

When the market you’re competing in gets crowded, you’re less likely to stand out – especially when brands that look and sound similar to you start cropping up. To counter this, you need to effectively communicate that your offering is unique; in this instance, rebranding in some form is necessary to bring your point of difference into focus.

5. Your values aren’t translating

The modern customer is increasingly drawn to purpose-led brands with a tangible mission… but the core values driving your business aren’t being articulated via your brand identity. If so, it may be time to reevaluate everything – your mission, your look, your tone of voice, your strategy – to more powerfully convey your reason for being.

6. Your business has grown

If your business has undergone a merger, takeover or moved into new markets, a rebrand may be in order. Your identity may longer fit with your expanded offering and audience, or, in the case of a merger, you may need to thoughtfully combine your existing identities into a unified whole.

How to rebrand

Ok, so you’ve decided rebranding is the way forward. What next?

An airtight rebrand requires strategic consideration, sensitivity, creative flair, and, above all else, a genuine understanding of your business, your customers, and your aims. Get these right, and the finished product will be a brand with lasting impact and a loyal, growing audience.

Look out for part 2 of our insights on rebranding… Next, we discuss our in-house process and the consistent, impactful application of your brand.