People are going to love this
Most weak brand strategies come from one root problem.
Businesses project their own tastes onto the customer.
They forget the simplest rule in marketing: You are not the customer.
The moment that happens, brands stop being built for the market and start being built for internal approval. They look good internally, but fail where it matters.
Brand only works when it reflects market reality, not personal preference.
This is where things usually go wrong:
- Founders assume what people will love, hate, or need.
- Marketers choose creative based on taste, not behaviour.
- Boards approve branding based on what they like, not what performs.
- Teams overweight one loud stakeholder or a single outlier opinion, often from friends or family rather than actual buyers.
The pattern is predictable.
Ego leads to aesthetic decisions → Aesthetic decisions lead to off-strategy brands.
Expert judgement is statistically no better than chance at predicting which creative will perform.
Good brand strategy doesn’t start with “what do we want to say?”
It starts with “what does the market need to know and remember about us?”
If your brand decisions are driven by opinion instead of evidence, the market will correct you.
It always does.
So next time you catch yourself, or your team, saying “people are going to love this”, take these words from our Head of Creative, John Wallace, and ask yourself:
Want this in your inbox?
This is taken from the weekly email written by one of our directors, Roberto Boi. Every Thursday he shares observations, ideas and perspectives from the work we’re doing day to day at Dilate. If you’d like to get it delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up here.
