Stronger brands.
Better business.
I help ambitious and private equity backed businesses build powerful brands that drive growth, attract investment and deliver value.
25+ years experience
Advisor to CEOs and boards
Private Equity specialist
WHAT I DO
Building brands that drive business.
Most businesses don’t think they have a brand problem. They think they have a commercial problem.
They want to grow faster, attract better people, stand out in competitive markets and build a stronger, more valuable business. But many don’t realise that their brand has more influence over achieving those ambitions than almost everything else they do.
Why? Because brands are amongst the most powerful influencers of human behaviour on the planet. Every day they influence what people buy, who they trust, where they choose to work and the businesses they believe in. Yet they’re still too often reduced to logos, marketing campaigns or communications exercises.
I develop brand strategies that do much more than make businesses look better. They make them act better and change how people think, feel and behave and deliver improved commercial performance.
Services
- Brand Strategy
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Brand Proposition
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Brand Positioning
- Brand Architecture
- Brand-led Growth
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Brand Manifesto
- Brand Naming
- Brand Innovation
- Brand Communication
Brand isn't about marketing. It's about building a better business.
Strategy
Brand strategy is business strategy
Brand strategy is your business strategy explained to the people who will make it happen – your customers, employees, partners and the market. Every business has a strategy, but not every business has a brand that’s capable of making that strategy succeed.
You can have the best products, the brightest people and the clearest growth plans, but if customers don’t understand why you’re different, talented people don’t want to work for you or investors don’t see your potential, you’ll always be working harder than you need to.
That’s because businesses don’t grow simply by making better decisions themselves. They grow by changing the decisions that other people make to buy, invest, join, stay and recommend.
Strong brands create belief that changes behaviour.
Approach
Simplicity
Over the years I’ve seen branding become increasingly complicated. More frameworks, more terminology and more methodologies.
Yet the strongest brands all have one thing in common. They’re simple. That doesn’t mean building a great brand is easy. It isn’t. But it does mean understanding the fundamentals, making clear strategic choices and having the discipline to stick to them.
That’s the thinking behind my own approach, Brand DNA. It’s not a complicated methodology designed to impress clients. It’s simply a practical framework, shaped by more than 25 years of experience, that helps leadership teams answer the questions that matter most.
In the end, it’s about three simple things: Discipline – making the clear strategic choices; Relevance – creating genuine preference; and Revenue – delivering commercial value.
Clients
I specialise in ambitious fast-growing SMEs.
Many are founder-led. Most are backed by private equity or preparing for investment. Some are expanding into new markets, integrating acquisitions or redefining their position as they grow. What they all have in common is a belief that brand should do more than support the business. It should help drive it.
I work directly with CEOs, founders and leadership teams, helping them build brands that support their commercial ambitions and become a genuine source of competitive advantage.
My perspective combines over 25 years advising some of the world’s leading brands with hands-on experience helping ambitious SMEs use brand to accelerate growth, strengthen market position and build stronger businesses.
SME experience
MNC experience
Testimonials
About
I'm an independent brand strategist.
I’ve been Managing Director of a global brand consultancy and a board director at award-winning agencies. I’ve also spent time client-side, as both Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Commercial Officer.
It means I’ve seen brand from both sides of the table. I’ve experienced the creativity, strategic thinking and global best practice of leading consultancies, but I’ve also sat in the SME boardroom, with responsibility for commercial performance, growth, budgets, difficult decisions and delivering results.
Today, I specialise in private equity backed businesses, working with CEOs, founders and leadership teams. I help them identify what makes their business distinctive, turn that into a compelling brand strategy and ensure it shapes how the organisation thinks, behaves and grows.
I’m known for asking straightforward questions, challenging assumptions and keeping things simple. I don’t believe in jargon, management speak or complicated frameworks. Just honest conversations, clear thinking and practical strategies.
