Powering the Brand Forward
There are many approaches to brand growth, including those popularized by Kantar’s Blueprint or Byron Sharp’s “How Brands Grow.” Interconnected elements to drive growth include expanding the brand’s reach and mental availability; creating strong and unique brand assets; a meaningful brand difference over competitors; and efforts in terms of customer retention and advocacy.
For its part, insights remain a key cog in the brand marketing machine. Insights bridge the gap between business objectives and human realities. Instead of just tracking demographic data, they illuminate the motivations, frustrations, and unmet needs of the consumer. Insights lead to improved pathways to drive positioning, guide innovation, shape messaging, and track brand growth and health.
In Emotive Brand’s “The Role of Insights in Brand Strategy,” the brand strategy and design agency makes some key points about insights that remain relevant in today’s business environment. The power of insights remains important to understanding the customer and creating a resonant and meaningful brand strategy. “In branding, insights inform the core truths of your brand strategy and work as the foundation on which everything else is built,” observes Emotive Brand.
The goal of a strategist in making brand strategy is to find those core consumer insights. These core truths could be about the brand itself, the target audience, the competitive landscape, and the broader cultural context of the marketplace. Emotive notes, “The role of the strategist is to figure out which ones are the most important to the brand itself and at the same time resonant with its stakeholders. Good insights make sense both intellectually and emotionally. Once you find a powerful insight, you’re playing in very rich territory for the brand.”
The data storytelling capability of the insights profession is key to this brand growth strategy approach. Once data is analyzed and insights are gleaned, it is often up to the insights professional to communicate those insights to the marketing and brand strategy team. Insights can truly change how teams inside the brand see their business.
Emotive adds, “When we present clients’ brand story to them, it’s like we’ve articulated something that maybe has always felt true, but has never been fully expressed. It suddenly crystalizes what really matters about their brand and business—and this clarity can inspire action, excitement, a unified vision, and really power the brand forward.”
LIONS Insights & Strategy Summit
The LIONS Insights & Strategy Summit will be held Tuesday, June 23, at The Majestic Hotel Cannes. The summit is part of Cannes Lions, which will be held June 22-26, 2026, in Cannes, France.
Join insights and marketing leaders for a day focused on how consumer understanding fuels stronger marketing and business strategy. Co-hosted by TMRE and WARC, this summit brings together insights leaders, strategists, and marketing decision-makers to explore how insights drive brand growth, innovation, and creative effectiveness. Through case studies, debates, and expert discussions, you’ll see how organizations turn insights into strategic action.
In addition, The TMRE Executive Retreat invites a curated group of senior insights and marketing leaders to take part in a day-long think tank on Monday, June 22. Designed as an intimate peer exchange, the invitation-only retreat creates space for candid discussion on the evolving role of insights in shaping strategy, innovation, and business decisions.
Click here for more information on the LIONS Insights & Strategy Summit
A Healthy Dose of Brand Tracking
All Things Insights recently looked at brand growth and strategy through the lens of brand health tracking, in “The New Era of Brand Tracking: From Static Surveys to Predictive Intelligence.” Brand tracking concepts and tools have been evolving in the marketplace for quite some time to meet marketing and brand needs more effectively. While traditionally an annual or quarterly survey was used, there has been a shift to generating signals at the speed of today’s fast-paced business environment to gain strategic decision-making advantages.
Shaping Brand Positioning
The emphasis on insights-driven marketing campaigns has correspondingly supported the role of brand growth strategists as well. Understanding the consumer is key and deep brand insights help shape that positioning. It’s also important to have consumer empathy as well as analytical skills to derive relevant insights.
“When you strike that balance between empathy and analysis, you can create rich and compelling brand strategies that are absolutely game changing,” says Emotive.
Video: “Elevating Brand Strategy Through Insight-Driven Research,” courtesy of Paradigm Sample.
