We ran a short survey recently asking where brand breaks down in B2B. The response was modest but revealed a pattern that was hard to ignore.
These weren’t flippant answers. They came from senior people in brand-led businesses. Global brand directors. Heads of creative. Marketers in large organisations with strategy in place. Which is why what they said matters.
Because the problem isn’t that these businesses haven’t done branding. It’s that they’ve done it, documented it, and then moved on.
What the survey told us:
There’s no lack of strategy.
Most respondents had what they considered to be a clear strategy, with clear foundations (e.g. vision, mission and values). And many had a senior figure who champions it all…but the challenge is that it’s not being used to guide day-to-day decisions.
Ownership is unclear.
We asked who owns brand day to day. Answers ranged from CEO to sales, from “everyone” to “marketing.” When ownership is that spread, it’s no wonder accountability is vague. And when accountability is vague, things fall through the cracks.
Alignment is shaky.
60% said their leadership team “somewhat” agrees on what the brand stands for. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. And a recipe for inconsistency downstream.
Foundations aren’t the issue. Usage is.
Half said their brand foundations were clear and embedded. The other half said they were “defined but not used.” That’s not a gap – that’s a canyon. Strategy without action is just theatre.
Vision and values don’t shape decisions.
Only 40% said these were regularly used. For the rest, they’re just nice words on a wall.
The biggest blocker? Belief.
Not silos. Not post-acquisition messiness. Not even misalignment between sales and marketing. The top answer by far was this: “Brand is seen as superficial or non-essential.” Even in brand-led businesses.
So, what does that mean?
It means most businesses don’t have a strategy gap. They have a belief gap. Brand isn’t breaking because it’s poorly defined. It’s breaking because people don’t believe in its power to drive the business.
And that belief (or lack of it) affects everything:
• How often the strategy is reviewed. (In many cases, rarely.)
• How decisions get made. (Often by instinct or preference, not principle.)
• Where friction appears. (In M&A, in messaging, in internal comms.)
• How results are measured. (Mostly in silos, rarely as a holistic brand health check.)
What businesses need to understand
Strong brands aren’t just a set of slides or slogans. They’re operating systems. They shape how teams talk, build, hire, sell, and grow.
If your foundations exist but aren’t used…
If your leadership alignment is polite rather than precise…
If your strategy isn’t showing up in sales decks or internal decisions…
Then the fix isn’t more strategy. It’s shifting how brand is seen. From cosmetic to commercial. From “owned by marketing” to used by everyone.
So, what’s the fix?
We need to build belief at the top table. Yes, it’s hard. Proving brand’s value in hard metrics isn’t always possible. But where it is possible, it makes all the difference. It justifies the seat, and the voice, around the boardroom table.
Measuring brand
Start by being intentional. Set expectations up front. We find brand impact can be measured, but only if everyone agrees what ‘impact’ looks like. There are two types of useful metrics:
Leading indicators
These are soft signals. They show early movement and build confidence while the bigger value builds. Think: NPS scores, share of search, sales team confidence, email engagement and customer surveys.
They may not scream ROI, but they give brand and marketing teams green arrows to point to while the compound effect of brand does its thing.
Lagging indicators
These are the ones that count in the boardroom: margin uplift, sales value, customer lifetime value, acquisition cost, share increase. But they take time. They’re the reward for doing the right things consistently over years.
We have to be honest about that. Brand takes time. You won’t see results overnight. But short-term wins build momentum, and belief.
Our results
We’ve recently added a results page to our site to show the impact of our work over the years.
It’s not perfect. It only captures a fraction of the projects we’ve delivered. But it’s something. And we’re getting better at encouraging clients to set benchmarks – long-term or short – so we can prove brand moves the needle.
One final note
Brand breaks down where belief breaks down. Not belief in the idea of brand – most people like the idea. But belief in the discipline. The repetition. The embedding. The follow-through. And the fix is measurement.
Because belief isn’t built by saying “trust us.” It’s built by showing it works. Even when the metrics are imperfect. Even when they take time. Every green arrow helps reinforce the value. Every signal of progress earns another conversation. Another opportunity. Another inch of ground. It’s not glamorous. But it’s the grind that separates brand-led businesses from businesses that just have a brand.
A note on the sample
This was a small, targeted survey. We’re not claiming statistical certainty. But when senior people across brand-led B2B organisations point to the same issues, it’s worth paying attention. These aren’t outliers. They’re signals.