Why Most Brand Strategies Fail

We’re not going to sugarcoat it. It’s true, a lot of brand strategies fail.

Not because branding doesn’t work. Not because the market’s too crowded. Not because of some cosmic alignment of bad luck.

But they fail because too many people treat brand strategy like a formality – something you do to say you did it, then bin off when it gets inconvenient. No wonder 60–90% of business strategies fall flat before they even launch. That’s not bad luck – that’s bad planning.

Here’s the truth: without a mega brand strategy behind you, you aren’t going to go far. You won’t be playing in the same league as the brands you admire – because you didn’t define your brand DNA, and you didn’t back it with the thinking it takes to actually get there.

The last thing you want is to have a brand that looks good on paper, but means f*ck all to people. If your branding doesn’t make sense, doesn’t connect, and doesn’t move people then you’re doing it wrong. You’ve basically created a brand that’s all icing, no cake. Yeah your colour palette might be on point – but now what? If no one gives a sh*t and you don’t stand for anything then you’ve completely missed the mark.

So, let’s get into why brand strategies flop – and what to do instead.

Common Mistakes That Kill Brand Strategy

Let’s call them out, shall we?

1. Jumping straight to visuals
The classic. Someone gets a whiff of a rebrand and suddenly everyone’s talking about colour palettes and moodboards before anyone’s asked who the brand is, why it exists, or what it actually stands for. No brand DNA, no direction, no strategy in sight.

2. Copy-paste positioning
“We want to be like [insert cool brand here].”
We see it all the time. Yes it’s okay to find brands that inspire you but if you’re building a brand by mimicking another, you’re not going far. Why? Because someone is already doing that - you’re not needed. Good brand positioning isn’t about blending in – it’s about owning your space. We always say: know what you are, own your sh*t, and lean into it.

3. No idea who the audience actually is
Too many brands try to speak to everyone, and end up connecting with no one. Strategy starts with research. Who are your people? What do they give a sh*t about? How do they talk? What makes them buy, click, leave, or stay? Don’t just take a guess.

4. Strategy written once, then ignored forever
If your brand strategy is an old PDF living in a Google Drive folder no one opens then don’t be surprised when sh*t starts falling apart. A good strategy isn’t static, it needs to grow with your brand. It should guide everything – from social media to team culture to your next product launch.

The co&co Framework

At co&co, we’re a no fluff, no bull agency – and yes, we will call you out if you come to us asking to “just make it look good.” That’s not how we work. Ever.

Sure, by the time we’re done, your brand will look mega. But it’s the strategy underneath that will carry you. It's a brand strategy that gets you seen, remembered, and bought. Looks grab attention. Strategy keeps it.

Our approach is built around one thing: clarity. Here's what that looks like:

1. Brand DNA
Before anything else — we define your mission, vision, values, proposition, and tone of voice. This is your foundation. It shapes everything. Without it, you’ve got a logo – not a brand.

2. Competitor & Industry Research
We go deep – not just on your direct competition, but brands across other industries targeting the same people. It shows us where you can punch through and where everyone else is playing it safe.

3. Positioning & Audience Insight
We define what makes you different and how to own that space with confidence. Who are your people? What do they care about? How do they make decisions? We find the gaps and build your edge.

4. Tone of Voice & Messaging
We build a full voice framework, with messaging that connects, converts, and cuts through across every channel so that your in-house team can work with it too.

5. Visual Identity That Means Something
Yeah, we’ll give you the sexy stuff – logos, colour palettes, and killer brand visuals. But it’s all rooted in strategy. This is where the brand identity comes to life visually, but it’s always grounded in your positioning, audience insight, and tone of voice.

6. Brand Guidelines & Application Tools
No guessing. No grey areas. You’ll know exactly how to apply your brand, whether that’s online, offline, in print, on socials, or on a f*cking billboard if needed. Your team won’t be emailing us every time they need a new PowerPoint slide. You’ll have everything you need.

7. Built Around Your Commercial Goals
This isn’t art for art’s sake. Your strategy needs to drive results. So we align every piece of it – the messaging to the visuals – with your business goals. More reach? More trust? More sales? We build for that.

Even the Big Dogs Got It Wrong (At First)

Not every brand nailed it out the gate. Some of the biggest, boldest names out there today had a messy start – confusing messaging, weak positioning, or no real brand DNA to speak of. But the ones that turned it around? They doubled down on strategy. Here's a few worth knowing:

➤ Airbnb
Their first brand identity didn’t go down well. It lacked clarity, emotional pull, and no one really knew what they stood for. The messaging was messy, the visuals forgettable. It wasn’t until they introduced the “Belong Anywhere” positioning and built their identity around the idea of global community and connection that it finally clicked.

This wasn’t just a logo swap. The Airbnb team travelled the world, staying with hosts across 13 cities to understand what people truly valued – and the answer was community. That insight drove everything: a new tone, photography style, colour palette, and the now-iconic Bélo symbol – a universal mark for people, love, places, and Airbnb.

Co-founder Brian Chesky said it best: they intended to build something 100 people would love, not something a million people would just tolerate. The result? A brand people actually feel a part of – not just use.

➤ Nike
Believe it or not, Nike started off as Blue Ribbon Sports — a running shoe distributor. The original brand? Pretty forgettable. It wasn’t until they defined their purpose and came out with “Just Do It” that the Nike we know today was born. That is the power of a clear brand proposition.

➤ Slack
Slack’s early brand was built around function, not feeling. It was smart software – but it looked techy, niche, and dry. The identity didn’t reflect what users loved most about it: how intuitive, human, and fun it made work feel.

That changed when they reimagined the brand from the ground up. The result? A refined visual identity built around a simplified, modernised version of their hashtag logo, reworked to scale better and show up consistently across platforms. The shapes in the new logo (a speech bubble and a lozenge) now double as flexible brand assets, reinforcing communication, connectivity, and clarity at every touchpoint.

Combined with a more focused colour palette and stronger tone of voice, Slack shifted from “tool you use” to “brand you trust.” Once they positioned themselves as the friendly, smart alternative to email hell – and backed it with visuals that actually felt like them – they exploded. Strategy gave them focus. Identity gave them presence. Culture did the rest.

Moral of the story? Even world-class brands get it wrong.

Most branding strategies fail because they’re just … noise. They don’t cut through it. They don’t connect. They’re fluffy, vague, and forgotten.

At co&co, we build brands that are unmissable, unshakeable, and unforgettable.
Not just pretty or polished. Strategic as fu*k

Ready to stop faking it and build something that works for your brand?
Let’s make it happen.