We’re honest on our Results page: you can’t always measure brand. That might sound uncomfortable coming from a brand consultancy, but it’s the truth.
In theory, every project should have a clean set of baselines and a clear “before and after.” In practice, it’s rarely that simple. Inside most organisations, brand measurement collides with the realities of corporate life – pressure to move fast, legacy systems, competing priorities, politics, and limited resource. From the outside it can look like a lack of interest or effort, but that’s rarely the case. More often it’s the sheer weight of organisational friction.
That’s why it’s worth looking at the most common reasons brand measurement doesn’t happen. Not to criticise, but to acknowledge just how hard it really is.
Time and priorities
Brand projects often move quickly. Teams want to get something into the market but skip the step of setting a baseline. Without that “before picture,” the after is impossible to prove.
Politics and culture
Measurement makes you vulnerable. It exposes performance, invites scrutiny, and sometimes stirs up competition between functions. In some organisations, that’s enough reason to avoid it altogether. Others just aren’t incentivised to care. If budgets aren’t linked to outcomes, why bother measuring?
Complexity and the wrong tools
Some clients want to boil the ocean – endless dashboards, surveys, KPIs. But when measuring becomes too heavy, it collapses under its own weight. At the other end of the spectrum, projects like vision, mission and values are so foundational that they resist neat quantification. They show their impact indirectly; through the activities they shape.
The short-term trap
Brand creates value over years, not quarters. But business cycles run short, and the demand for immediate proof means the long-term story is often cut short. Easy-to-grab vanity metrics fill the gap, even if they tell us little about the real impact.
Attribution fog
Even when the numbers are good, it’s hard to know how much brand has really moved the needle. Sales, retention, recruitment, reputation—they’re all influenced by dozens of factors. Pinning success solely on brand is rarely possible, which makes measurement feel inconclusive.
Leading and lagging
We believe the best way through is to think in leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators are early signals: changes in awareness, reputation, confidence. Lagging indicators take longer: margin, retention, acquisition cost. Both matter. Without early signs, belief dries up before the long-term numbers show up.
Better something than nothing
Perfect measurement doesn’t exist. Brand work is complex and shared across many moving parts. But imperfect is better than nothing. Even a simple benchmark or directional metric helps build the story over time. Every green arrow matters.
Over to you
Every organisation wrestles with brand measurement. What have you found works (or doesn’t) in your business? We’d love to hear.