Rethinking brand, in an age of opportunity
If media, content, creative and production are all moving to free, the possibilities for brands are limitless.
What you can expect if you ask us to help with your brand
BRAND
Into this maelstrom, Bridge F61 can provide much needed advice and marketing services.
We can take your brand back to first principles, and then rebuild it, fit for the modern age. Our approach has always been solution agnostic; if you sell logos (for example) then every problem a client presents with can only be solved with a new brand logo.
Our brand solutions over the years have included creating films, social media memes, House of Commons Select Committee appearances, new brand categories, public exhibitions, petitions, photography, sponsorships, website, e-books and of course the occasional logo refresh.
We work with B2C, B2B and DTC to reinvent, reposition or rejuvenate your brand such that it acts as a lever of growth for you. We do that quickly and without fuss, for this modern brand age.
Brand in the modern age is enjoying something of a renaissance
BRAND
After the self-indulgences of the 1990s, ‘brand’ - where the word was associated with eyewatering fees paid by large corporates for often insubstantial makeovers - became something of a dirty word. Marketers started thinking of brand as an end in itself, rather than a means to a commercial end, and no investment plan based on those principles will survive contact with the CFO. Brand was relegated in importance beneath practices like marketing, digital and omnichannel.
Then two things happened.
Firstly, the stud walls between how a corporate behaved (typically the domain of PR or Corporate Affairs, so a non-marketing bailiwick) and how the brand behaved was torn down in a series of corporate scandals. (Think Dieselgate in 2015 or Tesla from 2024). Warren Buffett's famous maxim "it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it" signalled quite how high brand had risen once again in the mind of investors.
The second thing was the collapse in the cost of media, and the consequent proliferation of consumer messaging. If media channels are no longer the preserve of wealthy incumbents, then having something to say that is distinctive, engaging and meaningful once again has pride of place. Brand narrative and a series of marketing messages that flow from that single point of truth is now table stakes for any business intent on growth.
We now see this imperative deepening in front of our eyes with the next seismic shift in marketing; the collapse in the cost of creativity, thanks to AI.
If every competitor has equal access to media channels and high-quality creative and production facilities, then brand is the only differentiating hook a business can use to connect customer eyeballs to their product or product proposition.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What PE and brand owners ask us about brand
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Brand strategy defines the single point of truth about what a business stands for, from which its brand narrative and marketing messages flow. It matters for growth because, with media and creative now cheap and widely available, being distinctive, engaging and meaningful is what sets one business apart from another. Bridge F61 treats brand as a lever of commercial growth, not an end in itself.
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AI has collapsed the cost of creativity, following the earlier collapse in the cost of media. When every competitor has equal access to media channels and to high-quality creative and production, brand becomes the differentiating hook that connects a customer to a product or proposition. That is why Bridge F61 sees brand as more important, not less, as AI spreads.
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Brand lost standing after the 1990s, when it became associated with expensive makeovers that delivered little commercial substance and marketers began to treat it as an end in itself. It has returned for two reasons: how a corporate behaves and how its brand behaves are now judged together - as a series of corporate scandals showed - and the falling cost of media has put a premium on having something distinctive to say.
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Bridge F61 takes a brand back to first principles and rebuilds it for the modern age, quickly and without fuss. The approach is solution agnostic, so the answer is never assumed to be a new logo. Past work has included films, social media memes, House of Commons Select Committee appearances, new brand categories, public exhibitions, petitions, photography, sponsorships, websites, e-books and - occasionally - a logo refresh.
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Yes. Bridge F61 works with B2C, B2B and DTC businesses to reinvent, reposition or rejuvenate a brand so that it acts as a lever of growth. Since 2018 that has included dozens of clients in the UK and further afield, including 40 PE-owned turnarounds.
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By treating brand as a means to a commercial end, which is the test any investment plan has to pass with a CFO. Bridge F61 builds a single brand narrative and the marketing messages that flow from it, so every audience hears a consistent story that serves the growth objective. REMI's Marketing System Efficiency diagnostic can also benchmark where a brand's marketing sits against its competitors, so the case for investment rests on evidence.
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REMI can produce messaging frameworks and messaging houses, which turn a brand narrative into consistent messages for each audience. Deciding what a brand should stand for in the first place benefits from human judgement, and that is where the Bridge F61 team works with clients.