Most brand projects fail not because of bad creative work, but because of poor internal groundwork. In this episode, we sit down with Robert McKechnie, MD of Starrett Europe and a veteran of successful brand transformations at organisations including Core (Scottish Power) and Norbord.
Robert shares his powerful "torch and bridge" analogy that reframes how clients and agencies should work together. While agencies shine the torch to illuminate what's possible, it's the client's responsibility to build the bridge: doing the internal work, securing buy-in, and creating the cultural foundation that turns brand strategy into business results.
We explore why brand exercises fail when they're just "poster campaigns," the critical importance of bringing customers into the room during strategy development, and why you should never find yourself in a boardroom discussing fonts. Robert also tackles the eternal tension between marketing and sales, and shares hard-won advice for mid-level marketeers struggling to make an impact.
This is a conversation about the unglamorous but essential work that separates brand projects that deliver real commercial results from those that simply look pretty.
About Good, Brand Consultants
Good Brand Consultants helps B2B organisations turn brand strategy into commercial reality. Based in Scotland and working globally, we partner with clients to tackle everything from foundational brand positioning to practical implementation frameworks. If you're wrestling with brand challenges or want to explore how strategic brand work can deliver real business results, we'd love to hear from you. To learn more about us, visit goodbrandconsultants.com.
Something's coming over the hill! In this episode of The Good Brand Podcast, Stewart sits down with Chris and Julie to tackle a thorny question: what happens when “cheap imports” aren’t cheap or inferior anymore, just good enough, well-priced, and increasingly well-branded? Using BYD and others as jumping-off points, we dig into how the playbook has shifted (price → quality → brand) and what that means for Western B2B manufacturers and tech firms.
We talk trust as a real moat (warranties, service, local presence), why heritage helps but won’t save you, and the unsexy truth that brand-building is a continuous practice, not a one-and-done campaign. No silver bullets, just what it takes to be match-fit before market share slips “slowly, then quickly.”
Take a look at the original article.
About Good
Good is a brand consultancy, working with ambitious B2B businesses to overcome the problems that hold them back. We believe brand strategy is business strategy, helping companies sharpen their positioning, win customer loyalty, and unlock new opportunities for growth. Got a problem that’s keeping you up at night? We’d love to have a chat to see how we could help. Find out more at goodbrandconsultants.com.
In this episode of The Good Brand Podcast, we sit down with Catherine Connolly, Executive Chair of Prime Light Group, to explore how brand shapes boardroom decisions and business strategy. From her early career in B2B marketing to leading global and mid-sized companies, Catherine shares candid insights on using data to earn credibility at board level, why consistency beats trends, and how brand becomes the anchor for growth. It’s a practical, no-nonsense look at why brand truly belongs on the leadership agenda.
In this episode of the Good Brand Podcast, we sit down with Carolyn Jones (CJ), co-director of Anatomical Concepts, a Glasgow-based company providing rehabilitation technology and personalised services for people following life-changing illness or injury.
Five years after working together on a comprehensive rebrand, CJ shares how brand strategy has become the backbone of their business decisions, recruitment process, and daily operations. From using brand values as a strategic filter for new projects to embedding their mission into every client conversation, this conversation reveals how a well-crafted brand can transform not just external perception, but internal culture and business growth.
CJ discusses the vulnerability required in the brand process, how they've maintained authenticity while scaling, and why their brand guidelines live on the front page of every official document rather than gathering dust in a drawer. We love this, a case study in how small businesses can leverage brand as a practical tool for sustainable growth and meaningful impact.
Want to talk? Have a look at our website, Good Brand Consultants.
In this episode of the Good Brand Podcast, we unpack the findings from our latest B2B brand survey — and they’re telling. While most businesses invest in defining their brand, too often the strategy gets shelved after launch. Brand is left to play second fiddle to product marketing, rarely given the space or investment to shape business decisions. We discuss why belief in brand fades so quickly, why true brand campaigns are almost non-existent in B2B, and how better measurement, from quick wins to long-term impact, can help brand earn its place at the top table.
Take a look at our article, You Don’t Have a Brand Problem. You Have a Brand Belief Problem.
Have a look at our results.
Why do so many professional services firms, full of smart, capable people, sound like they’re trying to confuse you?
In this episode, the Good team dives into the five hard truths that explain why professional services branding so often misses the mark. From overcomplicated language to legacy baggage, inside-out thinking to same-same design, we unpack the traps firms fall into and why clarity is braver than complexity.
Expect straight-talking, zero-fluff takes on:
Whether you're in B2B tech, law, consultancy, or finance, this one’s for anyone tired of jargon, vague mission statements, and forgettable brands.
A trillion-dollar value gap. A C-suite that doesn’t get it. And why “brand” still feels like a dirty word in B2B. Stewart, Chris, and guest Teri Nicklin get real about why brand is misunderstood, underfunded, and harder than ever to prove. Expect honest takes, stupid questions worth asking, and a push for braver brand thinking.
You can find out more about Teri as well as Teri's LinkedIn post that kicked off this whole chat.
Good is a brand consultancy that helps complex organisations solve business problems through brand. We don’t do fluff, vanity metrics, or vague strategies. We align brand with business to drive real-world impact, building stronger positioning, clearer messaging, and better commercial outcomes.
In this episode of the Good Brand Podcast, Stewart, Julie and Chris get stuck into the real reason your best work isn’t cutting through. It’s not a branding problem, it’s a business problem. From product-led blind spots to muddled messaging, they unpack the "recognition gap" between what companies think they’re selling and what customers actually value. Expect plain talk on why brand is often misunderstood, why internal bias wrecks clarity, and how to close the gap with positioning that drives real, measurable value. If you’re still leading with technical specs and calling it strategy, this one’s for you.
Read the original article: https://goodbrandconsultants.com/articles/why-your-best-work-isnt-winning
Good is a brand consultancy that helps complex organisations solve business problems through brand. We don’t do fluff, vanity metrics, or vague strategies. We align brand with business to drive real-world impact, building stronger positioning, clearer messaging, and better commercial outcomes.
https://goodbrandconsultants.com
B2B tech is booming. But most of the branding? Dull, confused, and disconnected from what actually drives growth. In this episode, Stewart, Chris, and Julie dig into Brand Dynamics in B2B Tech: The Current Landscape - our new report that finally puts it all in one place.
We call out the common traps tech brands fall into, from undervaluing brand to putting creativity in a box. We explain why branding isn’t just about logos and how poor positioning undermines even the best products. Whether you’re trying to launch something new or make sense of stagnation, this one’s for you.
Download the report. But start here.
Join the Good Brand Consultants team as they tackle the challenging intersection of AI and brand positioning. The episode dives into why companies rush to label their products as "AI-powered" and examines more effective ways to communicate technological innovation to customers.
Through practical examples and industry insights, we explore how brands can move beyond superficial tech trends to deliver real customer value. They share experiences from their consulting work, discuss the evolution from Web 2.0 to AI, and highlight successful approaches like Notion's "talk to your notes" that effectively communicate complex technology's benefits.
Part of the Good Brand Podcast series, this episode offers essential insights for marketers, brand strategists, and business leaders navigating the AI landscape. Featuring Julie Murdoch and Chris Lumsden alongside Stewart Steel.
In this episode, we're tackling a common challenge faced by B2B companies: why sales prospects often miss the full value of what's being offered. We break down how to move beyond feature lists to communicate real business value, sharing practical insights into brand positioning and sales effectiveness. Whether you're in tech, services, or manufacturing, this discussion will help you sharpen your value proposition and connect with decision-makers more effectively. No problem.
Chris, Julie and Stewart dive into one of the most common challenges businesses face: how to communicate their brand consistently across different channels, regions, and markets. If you’re struggling with presenting a cohesive brand image across various platforms and regions, this episode offers pragmatic advice on navigating these challenges without losing sight of your brand’s core identity. We cover:
1. Inconsistencies in Branding: How inconsistency in messaging and visuals can confuse customers and dilute brand trust.
2. Challenges with Guidelines: Exploring why brand guidelines often get overlooked and how businesses can maintain discipline to stay consistent.
3. The Impact of Growing Business Complexity: Discussing how brands can adapt to changing landscapes while still maintaining a unified image, especially as they expand into different markets and channels.
4. Centralised vs. Regional Control: How the degree of autonomy given to regional teams impacts brand consistency.
5. Practical Solutions: Tips on investing in high-quality assets, setting up effective guidelines, and revisiting them regularly to reflect current realities.
Have a read at our original article on Good’s Website.
In this episode of The Good Brand Podcast, hosts, Chris Lumsden, and Julie Murdoch and Stewart Steel dive into the challenges of managing complex product portfolios in B2B businesses. They running through:
We share insights on how businesses can bring their expanding product ranges under control, improve customer navigation, and optimise their offerings for better sales outcomes. This episode is part of a series discussing common branding challenges, with a focus on B2B tech companies and product-led organisations. You can read the original article at on the Good website.
Going through a brand refresh is fraught with challenges. We talk about what you should and shouldn't do. This is based on an article that is on our website that talks about some of the enquiries that we get in to the business. You can read more at:
https://www.wearegood.com/articles/digging-business-trends
The theory around brand architecture is well documented. What's missing in those discussions is what happens in practice. When you decide that it's time to restructure your product portfolio, how can you avoid the big mistakes and bring your colleagues with you on the brand architecture journey?
We chat with Mike Hunter, our associate design director here at Good, about the dos and don'ts when it comes to what many businesses see as the end of the brand process, the brand guidelines.
Mike wrote an article on brand guidelines that you can read through at your leisure on the Good website.
Stewart's in the US! Chris is at home! Julie is at home! Using the power of cables and satellites, the team got together to talk about product positioning, the value that it brings to businesses and how brand helps bring it together.
A blog post for you that goes into more detail on positioning: Perfect Your Product Positioning
We're not playing around, we're diving deep into the trenches of practical brand strategy. Forget leads and ops; we're talking about the meaty stuff that keeps CMOs up at night. From the pitfalls of short-term gains to the seismic shifts in business models, we explore why some companies are winning battles but losing the war. And we've got a guest to share these war stories. Ryan Schultz, a seasoned marketer and friend of Good, shares tales of brand triumphs and tragedies and why it takes a special kind of leadership to truly make an impact and lead in today's crazy brand landscape. If you're tired of marketing automation and yearn for brand strategy with substance, come on in.
Yes, we've changed the name of the podcast. We're being more descriptive. We'll talk about it a wee bit on the next podcast. But in this barnstormer, Chris researched the brand values on B2B websites. He was underwhelmed. So, what's the point of having them? And can we make them better? We chat it through. It gets deep.
Here's the article that Chris wrote with all the facts and figures:
In this episode, we tackle the issue of 'brand confusion' and its impact on sales. We discuss how an overly complex product portfolio can create hurdles for both customers and sales teams. We delve into the importance of simplifying your product architecture to enhance customer understanding and expedite the sales process. All in 28 minutes. Boom!
Here’s a link to the original article: What to do when your sales team stop selling