Why does “brand” still make so many boardrooms flinch?
Because too often, the only brand stories that make the news are disasters. Jaguar’s rebrand fallout. Cracker Barrel’s messy evolution. To the outside world, brand change looks like a high-stakes gamble where the upside is unclear, and the downside is career-ending. No wonder the default reaction is: “We’re fine just now, thanks.”
It’s not that boards don’t value brand. They are terrified of it. The industry hasn’t helped. We gossip, pile on hot takes, and critique logos like armchair pundits on a Sunday afternoon. It makes branding look like fashion commentary rather than serious business strategy. If that is the perception, why would a board trust us with their reputation?
The truth is different. For every Jaguar hand grenade, there are thousands of brand evolutions happening quietly and effectively. They refresh and strengthen without throwing away what customers already know and trust. But quiet, responsible work does not trend on LinkedIn.
That is where our approach at Good comes in. We believe the trick to creative change is to change as little as possible. Most brand assets have lived long enough to carry equity, whether we think they are “good” or not. Our job is not to bulldoze them. It is to respect them, simplify them, and sharpen them until the brand’s character shines through.
We start with words. Vision, mission, values. Then a language platform, a central organising thought that guides everything. If strong language already exists, we keep it. From there, we audit design elements. What stays, what evolves, and what gets scrapped. The logo is usually “untouchable,” but evolution beats revolution. Think Coca-Cola: the script has shifted subtly for a century without breaking recognition.
The rest is careful pruning. Slimming colour palettes. Simplifying type. Defining image styles. Clearing out the debris that accumulates when departments make their own tweaks over time. The effect is cohesion without chaos.
The real win is this. When it works, nobody can quite put their finger on what changed. Clients tell us their brand feels more energetic, more dynamic, but they cannot spot the exact shift. That is the goal. Brand evolution is not about fireworks. It is about keeping most things the same, while knowing exactly where to smooth the rough edges.
Changing nothing, when done right, changes everything.