BRAND STRATEGY EXPERT ARTICLES

Would AI choose your brand?

Back in 2019, just before publishing my book, I needed a lawyer to help me review a number of intellectual property issues. As you would expect, I didn't simply choose the first firm that appeared on Google. I spoke to people I trusted, asked for recommendations, read reviews, looked at websites and eventually selected a firm that felt right. Looking back, the decision was influenced by all sorts of factors. Reputation. Recommendation. Experience. Trust. Perhaps even a little

4 days ago3 min read

How to measure the intangible

Last week I was on a work trip in Miami and, on an afternoon off, found myself sitting on South Beach watching a series of gigantic cargo ships ease slowly out of Miami Port and head towards destinations across the world. Stacked to the gills with containers, all perfectly aligned, I found myself wondering how something on that scale manages to fit together so neatly. The answer, of course, is standardisation. For decades, the global shipping industry has operated around agre

May 203 min read

The Hidden Cost of Not Having a Point

In my last blog, What’s the Point of a Point?, I set out the case for why having a clear point matters — how it helps a business stick in the minds of its audience and gives teams a single focus to align around. What tends to get less attention, however, is the other side of that argument: what actually happens when that point is missing, or not clear enough to do its job. In most organisations, the challenge isn’t a deliberate decision to operate without a point, but the gra

Apr 214 min read

What's the Point of a Point?

Points are useful as they’re sharp, tend to stick into things, and there’s just one of them (think arrow). Being singular means a single focus – only one thing to communicate. The oft-told story still holds true: it’s easier to catch one tennis ball than twenty – just don’t try the exercise with arrows. For a business, however, corralling features and benefits, different target markets and audiences into a single point is tough. To express the offer in a single-minded way tha

Mar 193 min read

Clarity First: Better Decisions Start with Alignment

Over the years of running Brand Arrow, I have worked with many organisations that struggle to articulate a clear, unified expression of what they stand for and where they are heading (or, as I like to put it, their point). While individuals across the team can usually describe the brand in their own words, those descriptions rarely align. This isn’t unusual. Research consistently shows that only around a third of leadership teams are genuinely aligned on their organisation’s

Feb 63 min read

Elevator Pitch Workshop 2026

In the Age of AI, Clarity Is Your Competitive Edge With AI increasingly shaping how customers find and choose brands, clarity is no longer optional. Algorithms — as much as people — need to recognise what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters. In a world of constant noise, that’s getting harder. Attention spans have dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to around 8 today, and consumers face more than 10,000 messages a day. Social media has given us endless opportunities to tell

Dec 2, 20252 min read

What Interbrand’s 2025 Report Tells Us About the Future of Brand

Interbrand’s Best Global Brands report puts a $3.6 trillion value on the world’s top 100 brands — but the real lessons lie in why some are accelerating their lead. Overall it’s straightforward - brands that deliver clarity, distinctiveness and focus win. The rest are being filtered out — by both people and algorithms. Here’s my review of five key insights every SME should take from this year’s findings — and how they reinforce what we already know. 1. The Age of AI Is Acce

Oct 15, 20252 min read

When Your Brand Lacks Definition, It Lacks Direction

Hard to believe, but research shows that most leadership teams struggle to articulate what their business stands for — and why customers should care. Without definition, your brand loses direction, leading to mixed messages and missed opportunities. That’s where the elevator pitch — or more formally, your value proposition — comes in. The elevator pitch was born out of necessity. The only time you might catch a senior decision-maker was in the lift, so you had thirty seconds

Oct 14, 20253 min read

6 Reasons a Strong Brand Drives Growth

Ask ten people what a brand is and you’ll get eleven answers. Some say it’s a logo. Others mention reputation or tone of voice. None are wrong—but none tell the whole story either. At its heart, a brand is a promise—the consistent delivery of a distinctive benefit. And behind that promise sits a brand strategy: a clear definition of purpose and character that helps your team make better decisions about how the brand shows up. Without that strategy, you're guessing. With it, y

Sep 4, 20252 min read