Five ways to keep your brand relevant

Executive overview

As your business scales, staying visible and valuable requires a deliberate approach to brand relevance. The danger is drifting toward bland, inoffensive positioning that appeals to everyone but stands out to no one. This framework gives you five concrete ways to actively shape and maintain your brand—from taking clear positions to evolving how you tell your story, listening to customers, protecting brand identity, and leveraging partnerships. The core insight: brand relevance is dynamic. It requires constant intentionality about what you stand for and how you communicate it.

Touchstone one: Stick your neck out

Playing it safe slides your brand into irrelevance. The most memorable brands take clear positions that define who they are.

• Nike paired world-class athletes with iconic storytelling (McEnroe, Jordan) and used the Beatles' "Revolution" to signal irreverence and edge—the controversy reinforced the brand rather than harmed it
• Authentic brand stands work when they connect to your genuine history and values, not when you chase attention—Nike's Colin Kaepernick campaign succeeded because it was rooted in decades of athlete partnerships, not a reactive grab at relevance
• Avoid attaching your brand to causes just for publicity; the result is short-term gains that undermine long-term credibility
• A brand by definition holds strong opinions; this is the moment to express them, but do so only where it matters to your audience and your core mission

Touchstone two: Tell the same story in new ways

Telling the same message repeatedly in the same way triggers brand fatigue. Refresh your narrative for different audiences and stages while keeping the core mission intact.

• Charity: Water spent its first decade on one-time donations but pivoted to a subscription model (The Spring) that created predictable recurring revenue and let them plan beyond an annual reset
• Bring in new storytellers: Charity: Water invited partner organizations from Uganda, Madagascar, and India to share their perspectives, shifting narrative ownership and keeping the community engaged
• Adapt format to context: Charity: Water moved from galas to Zoom presentations during COVID but invested in production quality—they raised $5 million in the last five minutes of a single virtual event
• Different donor segments need different stories: Spring subscribers received small-dollar thank-yous and regular updates; major donors (The Well) received immersive, high-production galas
• Brand fatigue isn't just about losing customers; it's about failing your mission—every retelling needs to rekindle genuine interest and commitment

Touchstone three: Start and maintain a conversation

Insulating yourself from customer experience guarantees brand irrelevance. Build a real dialogue to learn what customers value, which informs your strategy.

• Warby Parker surveyed customers on pricing before launch: they found willingness to buy increased with price up to $100, then plateaued—this insight shifted them from a $45 price point to $95, signaling quality and accessibility
• Branding is a combination of art and science: use customer data to inform decisions, but let your own judgment on what feels right shape the final call
• Listen actively and ask thoughtful questions, especially as you scale—U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirschland restructured the organization around inclusiveness after deep conversations with athletes about what they needed
• Merging brands or strategies without listening to your community risks alienating the people who define your relevance
• A brand conversation is never complete; it's a lifelong journey, not a destination

Touchstone four: Stake out and maintain brand borders

When multiple brands operate under one roof, they can muddy each other unless you protect their distinct identities.

• Disney successfully manages Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Star Wars as separate brands while selectively bringing them together—you don't call an Avengers film a Disney film, but Marvel fits naturally in Disneyland
• Keep mature content separate: Disney directed Fox's adult programming to Hulu while reserving Disney Plus for family brands, protecting both platforms' identities
• Deploy multiple brands together only when they are mutually reinforcing; otherwise they create "an unappealing sludge"
• Technology can be the vehicle for keeping brands together without blurring them (streaming platforms, physical spaces, shared events)
• Clarity about where a property belongs gives both the brand and the customer a clear sense of what to expect

Touchstone five: Elevate your brand with partners

Partnerships accelerate brand relevance by associating you with trusted, complementary brands.

• Net-A-Porter entered a crowded, skeptical space by framing itself as a "shoppable fashion magazine" rather than a futuristic website—a familiar framing that helped luxury brands say yes to a risky platform
• Each major partner that joined (Chloé, Marc Jacobs, Fendi) became a proof point that the model worked, making it easier to sign the next partner
• AKQA scaled its brand relevance by deliberately courting high-profile clients (Nike, Coca-Cola, BMW) who shared its values around innovation and expansion into new channels
• A single breakthrough partnership (Virgin for AKQA) can cement your reputation and open doors to similar clients
• Partner selection matters: brands that share your values and goals create a multiplier effect; transactional partnerships add little value

Core principle

Brand relevance is not a one-time achievement. The brands that last are the ones that stay dynamic—actively staking positions, evolving their narratives, listening to their communities, protecting what's distinct about their identity, and choosing partners who elevate them. Relevance requires constant intentionality.