Six business headaches that are probably a brand's fault

Most leaders don’t recognise brand problems in their business. They recognise symptoms that show up as something else – a nagging feeling, a recruitment battle, a sudden, unexpected sales drop-off. There are many possible reasons, some of which are tactical. But beneath it all, a brand that’s doing its job would make things a whole lot easier.

Here are six of the most common conditions we come across.

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Work is all at a certain level and struggling to break through to the next

The brand that's stuck at day one

Every business starts somewhere. But a brand created at launch (when, let’s face it, the offer was broader, the experience was leaner, and the positioning was educated guesswork!) rarely survives contact with years of growth and learning. The business has become genuinely expert, probably in something more specific than the original brand suggests. But the identity is still describing version one. Growth stalls not because the capability isn't there, but because the perception hasn't caught up with the reality.

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Every big business change adds new levels of confusion

The brand that needs to represent something new but can't

Acquisition. Expansion. A change in direction. Businesses evolve, and sometimes the brand needs to evolve with them. The problem is that brands without clear strategic foundations – no defined principles, no framework to apply to new situations – have nothing solid to build from when that moment arrives. Every new product, channel, opportunity or market becomes a minor crisis. Identity was assembled rather than curated, and it shows the moment anything changes.

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Marketing works hard but doesn’t seem to stick

The brand that blends in

In competitive markets, brands tend to converge; never more so than in this age of AI. The same language, the same values stated in slightly different words, similar logo concepts. It happens gradually and nobody intends it, but the result is a brand that's perfectly competent and entirely forgettable. Changing a font or a colour doesn't fix it. The problem isn't aesthetics, it’s DNA. Distinction has to be found before it can be expressed.

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Inconsistency and insincere rules hold back progress

The brand that's been patched too many times

A logo that’s been tweaked every few years by the latest marketing manager. A strapline that came from a team day and gets thrown in from time to time. Raised eyebrows as a new ‘font police’ telling off is announced across the department. Over time, well-intentioned updates accumulate into something with no coherent thread – a Frankenbrand that represents every decision ever made rather than any clear point of view. It doesn't look obviously broken. It just never quite holds together.

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The tail is wagging the dog when it comes to comms 

The brand that isn’t really a brand

There’s a deck somewhere with a mission statement on it. Marketing runs regular campaigns. The leadership team nods along to the values at the away day. But ask someone in sales how they’d describe the business, then ask someone in operations and a new starter three months in. You’ll get three different answers (and none of them will sound like the website). What the organisation has isn’t a brand, it’s a collection of materials and good intentions. A real brand gives everyone in the business – not just marketing – something to reach for. Without that, every conversation, every decision, every new piece of work starts from scratch.

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Design feels like a grind and creativity dries up

The brand that gives nothing to play with

Technically it all seems to be there. Clear strategic values. A well-loved logo. Visual elements that appear everywhere. But there’s no spark of character. New materials are monotonous to produce and driven by rules rather than creativity. This isn’t to say it needs to be crazy or “FUN”, but personality is a spectrum with many facets, none of which have really been explored. 

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Which of these have you seen most? Do any resonate with your organisation’s brand? Want to challenge any of them? Drop us a line!

Upshot’s Brand Health Check takes about an hour and gives a clear picture of where a brand is strong and where the gaps are.

Book in for a Brand Health Check, or a 30-minute intro call.

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