Conran Design Group’s CEO: Brand is an Assessment Tool

Brand management has moved from the purview of marketing departments to the boardroom agenda. In an environment where customers share experiences on social media and access to information is instant, companies face pressure to align internal operations with external messaging.

Thom Newton, Global CEO of Conran Design Group, has worked with companies including Aston Martin, Coca-Cola, Peugeot, McDonald's and Nokia for more than 25 years. He tells Marketing Chief how brand strategy has become a tool for organisational health and why marketing leaders must work with the C-suite to optimise brand frameworks.

Brand as strategic framework

The role of brand in business has changed in the last five to 10 years. A decade ago, brand was understood primarily as visual identity and logo design. Marketing teams managed these elements with limited input from senior leadership.

Today, C-suite executives use brand as a framework to assess business health and surface operational challenges. Newton's interactions with senior leaders show that brand can create common understanding across departments and help identify solutions to internal disconnects.

"It's changed hugely in the last five to 10 years. The understanding and leveraging of brand value was minimal even a decade ago, when the perception of brand focused on how you look, your logo or the way that you present yourself," Newton says.

"Now, CEO and C-suite-level understanding is more sophisticated. Our interactions with the C-suite show that the most useful lever for brand is actually as a framework to understand the current state of business health, or as a tool to surface challenges and to find common understanding and solutions to them."

Brand now functions as protection against market fluctuations and pricing pressures for larger organisations. Five to 10 years ago, board representation for brand was uncommon. Chief Marketing Officers and communications departments managed brand before presenting final work to CEOs for approval.

This structure has shifted. Leaders now use brand strategically to understand their current position and key challenges. The process creates a unifying force across business units.

"The beginning of any branding programme is about insight, understanding discontinuity across the business, gaps between current internal reality and how the business communicates externally, or how employees interpret brand and vision. It encourages leaders to put a ruler over business performance in a way that is often missing," Newton says.

Market pressures and information access

Two factors could explain why brand has become a boardroom priority. Companies operate in increasingly competitive environments where differentiation matters. Any organisation without clarity around its offering faces challenges in communicating value to audiences.

Customer access to information has transformed how brands must operate. When social media emerged, real-time information changed audience awareness. AI technology has amplified this effect.

Customers now have instant access to business histories, product information and comparative market data. This puts pressure on organisations to ensure internal operations match external communications.

"The fact that everyone has the history of businesses, products, services and comparative market information and data at their fingertips puts huge emphasis on organisations to get their house in order," Newton says.

AI creates both challenges and opportunities for marketing teams. While AI tools are widely used and perform many functions, they struggle to provide original content. This creates a role for brands as curators of information.

"Everyone uses AI now and it does fantastic things, but it still struggles to provide anything original. It means there is a role for brands as curators, evaluating and curating the information they are giving out. Originality is still a key currency for brands and AI cannot give you that," Newton says.

Continuous brand optimisation

Effective board ownership of brand varies depending on organisation size and structure. Historically, brand was viewed as a static element. This created reluctance from leaders to consider whether their brand remained fit for purpose or relevant to modern audiences.

Understanding has evolved. Brand is now seen as organic and requires continuous optimisation. Large organisations do not undertake major rebrand programmes regularly, particularly during market pressure or challenging conditions. Such moves could send concerning messages to shareholders seeking returns.

Continual tweaking allows organisations to leverage brand opportunities without impacting short-term growth. Marketing teams should assess whether brands operate effectively across the channels used to connect with audiences.

"The key question is whether a brand is operating as effectively as it might in the channels it uses to connect with audiences. Is it sending clear messages to consumers, employees and the market and showing up in a consistent way? There should be a real thread of DNA running through all communications to create a sense of value and trust for the audience," Newton says.

Good brand management treats the brand as organic. Brands exist in the minds of audiences who evolve, use different channels and respond to different reference points. Regular maintenance reduces the likelihood of requiring larger changes when brands fall out of step with audiences.

Brand health can only be built or evaluated when teams understand the context in which it operates and how it has been delivered. This typically requires stakeholder engagement, market comparator analysis and organisational examination to determine whether people align on purpose and vision.

CEOs and organisations use this evaluation to bring teams together and surface challenges or disconnects within the organisation. The process requires no complex methodology. Strong brands are delivered in a consistent way across touchpoints.

"There's no mystery to it. It is about having a strong brand delivered in a consistent way. And by consistent, I don't mean it becomes a straight jacket – there are great examples of brands with huge variety in how they're deployed, but with a coherence that means you always recognise their DNA," Newton says.

Consistency does not mean rigid application. Brands can show variety in deployment while maintaining coherence that makes them recognisable. Marketing teams must balance flexibility with the need for audiences to identify brand DNA across different channels and campaigns.

The evaluation process gives marketing leaders tools to demonstrate brand impact to the board. When brand strategy connects to business health metrics, marketing moves from a cost centre to a value driver in organisational strategy.