Brand is the “glue” between Product and Marketing.
“We just need to grow fast, we’ll figure out Brand down the road.”
Sounds logical, until you realize every feature, every customer interaction, every ad is already shaping your brand, with or without your intervention.
“A well-defined ‘why’ lets Marketing experiment, Product evolve, and culture adapt, all while staying anchored to the same guiding principle.”
The misalignment tax
When you're building a company, speed feels like everything. Brand sounds like a luxury for later, but here's what actually happens:
Every feature you ship, every customer interaction, every ad you run is already shaping your brand. The question isn't should you deal with brand now, it's whether you'll let it drift or use it to keep product and marketing aligned.
Most founders learn this the expensive way: Marketing says one thing, Product delivers another, Sales tells a third story. Each team moves fast, but in different directions. The result isn't speed, it's friction disguised as momentum.
The myth: Brand slows you down
The fear: "Brand work will create bottlenecks. We'll lose flexibility."
The reality: Without brand, every choice becomes a debate. Should this feature feel playful or serious? Should the email be casual or professional?
When there's no shared understanding of who you are, every decision requires revisiting. Teams waste hours because there's no foundation to reference.
Brand doesn't lock you in; it gives you a direction. It helps you move faster because you're not reinventing the wheel with every decision.
Start with ‘why’ (but actually mean it)
Simon Sinek's "start with why" has become a cliché, but it remains the missing piece in most early-stage brand work. The problem isn't the concept; it's that most teams stop at the first, surface-level answer.
When the question “Why do you exist?” is asked, the first answer is usually functional: “We want to help people manage their health.”
Not bad, but too generic to guide decisions.
Ask why again: "Because the health system is broken."
And again: "Because it wasn't built for prevention, only treatment."
One more time, why do you care: "Because we believe health is about daily empowerment, not just doctor visits."
Now you're at a belief that can shape how you design, write, and show up.
This belief is one layer of your brand foundation, the core conviction that filters every decision. (For more on building complete foundations, see The architecture of kick-ass brands).
This isn't academic philosophy; this is practical decision-making infrastructure. This is your brand foundation at work. When the why is clear, it becomes a filter for every choice. People don't connect with products alone, they connect with stories and beliefs.
The Symbiosis: How Brand, Product, and Marketing actually work together
Unpopular opinion, but marketing isn’t just a sales engine, it’s more a revenue-driving extension of your brand.
Brand foundation defines the why, your core story, beliefs, and purpose that anchor every decision. A clear foundation lets marketing experiment and product evolve while staying aligned to the same principles.
Marketing translates the why into action, testing angles and trying approaches without losing consistency because brand provides the framework.
Product brings the brand to life, every feature and interaction reflects the same belief system. When aligned, the experience feels seamless.
Think of it like this, product, marketing, and sales are the peas. Brand is the pod. Without the pod, each pea rolls wherever gravity takes it.
Image from Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler
Case study: Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola. Brand vs short-term marketing
The contrast:
Pepsi has historically leaned into marketing campaigns aimed at immediate attention, youth appeal, celebrity endorsements, and promotional gimmicks. Each campaign is bold, but often disconnected from the last.
Coca-Cola has leaned into consistent brand storytelling for over a century: happiness, heritage, shared moments. Every campaign, from "Share a Coke" to holiday ads, reinforces the same emotional territory.
The impact:
Coca-Cola's consistency allowed campaigns to compound over decades, building loyalty across generations. Pepsi spent more on campaigns but couldn't build on previous equity because positioning kept shifting.
The lesson: This consistency isn't just about marketing, it's about building a brand where [product, marketing, and experience all tell the same story](link to Architecture article).
The pain of not aligning early
When brand, marketing, and product aren't aligned, you create active damage:
Campaigns feel inconsistent, and audiences can't figure out who you are
You attract the wrong users, and churn is high because expectations don't match reality
Teams feel tension, designers feel micromanaged, marketers feel stifled
You can't scale; everyone interprets the brand differently
Marketing budgets work harder for weaker results
The compound effect
When brand, product, and marketing align, every effort amplifies the others.
Marketing reinforces product value. Product validates marketing promises. Brand becomes recognisable, trusted, memorable.
This is how companies move from "we're spending a lot on marketing" to "our customers are our best marketers." It starts with a decision: stop letting your brand drift and start using it as the glue that holds everything together.
