Brand clarity in an uncertain world

In an increasingly uncertain world, with unpredictable political upheaval and shifting consumer expectations, brand clarity has never been more essential.

The latest IBM report, AI Projects to Profits, surveyed 2,900 executives globally, and revealed that respondents expect AI-enabled workflows to grow from 3% today to 25% by the end of 2025.  Rapid technological change is now the norm.

These pressures have always brought market upheaval. The only difference today is the pace of that change.

And with the number of businesses entering administration in the UK in 2024 slightly higher than annual totals seen between 2015 and 2019, that number looks threatening. The need for clarity of purpose and proposition has never been higher.

The need for brand clarity

For organisations seeking to thrive and not just survive in this environment, it’s a strategic imperative to clearly articulate who you are, what you stand for, and why it matters. Clarity of purpose, a compelling value proposition, and the application of behavioural science are the foundations of building resilient, trusted brands.

For us, brand clarity is more than just visual consistency or a memorable logo. Brand clarity is about ensuring every aspect of your business, from purpose to promise to activation, is coherent and compelling. Achieving clarity is one of the biggest challenges of branding, but it’s also the most rewarding when done well.

In an uncertain world, a clear brand acts as a north star. It provides direction and reassurance to both internal teams and external audiences.

A brand is a promise of who you are, what you do, and why you do it. This clarity is vital for any businesses or organisation navigating ambiguity. It ensures that every decision, communication, and experience reinforces the core identity and value of the brand.

Take a look at Crimestoppers. Our work for the community charity and public service brand identified the importance of building emotional connections with communities to grow on the ground support. Crimestoppers’ clarity came from growing connections with all members of the local community. It worked to build community cohesion and not just report crime. By building that pride with the entire community, Crimestoppers saw an 11% increase in reports sent to the police and a 19% uplift in online forms submitted. These results proved that brand activation grounded in clear insight and behavioural science is irresistible.

But where does clarity start?

The power of a clear value proposition

A clear value proposition sits at the heart of brand clarity. It’s how you articulate what makes your brand unique and why customers should choose you over competitors. The Team’s work with RedStar illustrates this perfectly.

RedStar is a pioneer in tomato growing. With over 70-years of experience, RedStar sought to transform itself into a data-driven, sustainability-focused business.

As our Managing Director, Kevin MacKenzie says:

When RedStar first approached us, their brand was losing market share and relevance. They wanted to reinvigorate the brand and show RedStar to be the apple of the tomato world. It was kind of cringey, but it was true. The industry is highly technical and has to be sustainable. We identified this early on and wanted to bring it to the fore.

As a result, we helped RedStar bring together its strengths in quality, ethics, technology and sustainability to define a brand purpose – “Create Pure Joy”.

This resonated across all touch points, from packaging to communications.

By embedding “Create Pure Joy” at the core of its brand, RedStar was able to:

• Signal its ambition and supercharge a transformation: The purpose acted as a beacon for change, signalling to employees, partners, and customers that RedStar was evolving into a forward-thinking leader in the industry.
• Differentiate itself in the market: By focusing on joy, quality, and sustainability, RedStar stood out from competitors. The brand’s commitment to caring for people and the planet, while delivering consistently great-tasting tomatoes, made it a preferred partner for retailers and a trusted choice for consumers.
• Drive innovation and sustainability: The purpose inspired investments in cutting-edge growing methods, such as LED lighting and regenerative practices. It also encouraged continuous improvement in both product quality and environmental impact.
• Enhance customer loyalty: By consistently delivering on its promise of joy and quality, RedStar built long-term relationships with customers. Why? Because they valued the company’s reliability, flexibility, and commitment to meeting their needs.

Real results

Our work with RedStar demonstrated that a clear, purpose-driven brand like “Create Pure Joy” could be more than just a slogan. It could be a powerful tool for aligning an organisation, inspiring innovation, and building lasting trust with all stakeholders.

This clarity guides both internal decision-making and creates a strong, differentiated presence in the market, helping companies navigate uncertainty and achieve sustainable growth.

This clear value proposition positioned RedStar as a progressive, modern, and caring company, committed to people, planet, and profit.

The brand position has seen RedStar move back into the top performing brands in the industry. Its brand value has increased from €107m in 2019 (pre re-brand) to €124m in 2022 (one year post re-brand).

As industry bible Hillenraad100 said of the work:

Making a company great is an art in itself, but keeping it great is an even greater achievement. To do this, as a company you sometimes have to go back to basics: what do we stand for and where do our roots lie? RedStar has clearly been busy recalibrating its strategy. A new course has been set out to regain the reputation of an innovative and independent market leader as a goal-oriented pioneer with tasteful products and a recognisable brand.

Sustainability and technology

Before we move on, let’s quickly underline a point. It may seem like sustainability is on the wane due to political leaders who are either sceptical or just not prioritising the issue. But business and brand leaders should not fall into this trap. We might, as a society, find ourselves solving sustainability issues. Or mitigating the outcome of inaction. Either way, businesses will have to change.

As the World Economic Foundation made clear in 2021:

Like the digital revolution before it, the sustainability revolution promises to change everything. Yet, just as with digital, many companies are moving too slowly, taking an incremental approach to a challenge that demands a radical rethink.

Understanding how sustainability affects your key audiences is as important as the technology challenge prevalent in discussions today.

Your audience must define your proposition

Understanding how audiences think and behave is at the core of all our work.

Moneyfarm, a digital wealth management platform, faced challenges with brand clarity as it scaled across regions.

When we approach any project, we are focused on establishing a clear, service-oriented value proposition, if one does not yet exist. For Moneyfarm, the brand shift we sought to make was from a product-focused brand to a lifestyle aligned-driven brand.

We seek to challenge assumptions before defining new truths. This helps us deepen relationships with customers and stand out in a crowded market. Making these challenges allowed us to identify audience motivations on a more aspirational level.

This work led to a better understanding of the science driving behaviour among these audiences when considering investment and financial decisions.

This meant we were able to settle on a revitalised brand campaign and ensure that every facet of the brand toolkit was simplified and tailored to their customer mindset. This made the value proposition unmistakable and actionable.

The result, a 91% increase in new investors. And an 86% increase in existing customers, adding more to their investments.

Activating brands with behavioural science

Brand clarity is not just about what you say – it’s about how you activate your brand in the real world. As our Brand Activation Director, Sally Tarbit says:

We recognise that behavioural science is a powerful tool for shaping perceptions, driving engagement, and motivating action. By understanding the psychological drivers of human behaviour, we can help brands design experiences and communications that resonate more deeply, inspire loyalty, and ultimately lead to behaviour change among customers.

Behavioural science brings a unique edge to our client’s work. It enables us to back up creative ideas with a solid understanding of human motivators. This expertise ensures that brand activation is not just creative, but also effective in driving behaviours that matter most for business success.

The work we’ve done for Gas Safe is a prime example in this space. We delivered carbon monoxide awareness campaigns that had cut-through. They demonstrate the importance of targeting harder-to-reach communities using clear, actionable messaging to inspire positive behaviour change.

Brand architecture and customer experience

Once a clear value proposition and understanding of human behaviour among audiences is understood, clarity must extend to brand architecture. How different initiatives, products, and services are structured and presented to customers matters. A monolithic approach will not work, and brand architecture should be considered from the customer’s perspective, not just the internal structure of the business. This ensures that the brand experience is intuitive and consistent across all channels.

NS&I is one of the UK’s largest savings organisations. Its mission is to create a nation of savers and deliver on government finance goals. It faced (and faces) the challenge of delivering a seamless customer experience while using a complex network of platforms and through outsourced partners. It’s a unique institution.

The brand clarity and consistency we have brought has helped NS&I improve efficiency and customer satisfaction by ensuring that every touchpoint reflects the brand’s values and promise.

By helping NS&I to focus on the customer journey and simplify its processes, NS&I has been able to reduce complaints and deliver financial results and increase its brand reputation.

What matters most is strategic execution

It’s your strategic coherence that matters most. That is far more valuable than rigid visual identity guidelines. While visual identity may flex within set parameters, your brand strategy must provide a coherent guiding light for all decisions and actions. This approach allows your brand to remain flexible and adaptive, without losing sight of its purpose and promise.

For example, RedStar’s brand strategy was not just about a new logo or visual identity, it was about embedding a clear purpose and set of principles across the entire organisation. As mentioned previously, this consistent approach enabled RedStar to signal its ambitions and differentiate itself, but only through the business decisions it was able to make.

Be human-centred

All our work revolves around a human-centred approach and recognising that brands are ultimately about people. Whether it’s employees, customers, or citizens, understanding their needs, motivations, and behaviours is key to building clarity and trust.

The blend of critical thinking, behavioural science, creative exploration, and collaborative design means we can ensure that brands are not only clear and compelling, but also deeply relevant to their audiences.

In an uncertain world, brand clarity is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. The Team’s work with RedStar, Moneyfarm, NS&I, Rightmove, IBM and Heathrow (yes, there are others) demonstrates that a clear value proposition, strategic discipline, and the application of behavioural science are essential when building trusted and lasting brands.

Brand clarity is the foundation upon which great brands are built, and in an era of uncertainty, it’s the key to standing out, staying relevant, and making a meaningful impact.