Should I update my brand?

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From the Desk of the CEO

We’re often asked: “Should I update my brand?” And it’s not a joke. That question usually surfaces in two moments. First: when business is booming—mergers, breakneck growth, some shiny new innovation vaulting you up the ladder. Success makes the spend easier to justify. Second: when business isn’t booming. Brand erosion, a hungry competitor stealing your lunch money, or worse—Vinnie accidentally shooting Marvin in the face in the back of a ’74 Chevy Nova (Pulp Fiction fans know). In short, people revisit their brand when things feel very right or very wrong.

But here’s the truth: the right time is when the research says so. Research isn’t optional. It’s oxygen. (We do plenty of it ourselves—and we’re good at it—but for the heavier lifts we bring in trusted partners with global reach.) Research is the bedrock of strategy, and strategy is the only soil where excellent creative grows. Intel always needs to be clean and accurate. Do it regularly, not just in crisis mode, and adjustments become healthy evolution instead of frantic survival. Root the work in real intelligence, and the solutions don’t just look good—they mean something. Truth, after all, is the only thing that sells.

The toolbox is deep: trust, awareness, perception, customer experience, competitive benchmarking, employee alignment. Each has its place, and together they’re even stronger. Press me, though, and I’ll name the holy grail: the AAU Study—Awareness, Attitude, and Usage. It maps the brand funnel: who knows you, what they think, and whether they act. It explains why growth soars, stalls, or stops. And it shows which levers you can actually pull.

So why should your brand agency geek out on research? Because good research keeps everyone honest. It manages the brand. It supplies the raw material for strategies that hold water and creative that holds attention. It forces the story to match the truth. And that’s the job: uncover who you really are so the world can see it.

Stories that move. Designs that resonate. Brands that connect at the human level. Every brand has something real to offer. A brand agency’s job is to make it unforgettable. Not louder. Not prettier. But truer. And truth, inconvenient as it can be, is always the punchline.

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Michael Dean
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