"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." – Henry Ford

Surely he was talking about branding.

We see companies do this all the time. As they gear up for their rebrand, they're eager to run surveys and schedule a slew of customer interviews to inform their direction. They assume that customers hold the key to their new brand yet to be discovered.

If they overindex on that assumption, they land a shinier version of what they already had: a faster horse.

Here's the thing. Your customers can be great at telling you what's working and what's broken. That perspective is valuable. But they cannot see the strategic pivots on your roadmap. They don't know the internal ambition that hasn't yet hit the market. They're only reflecting your past and present back to you. They are not equipped to define your future.

So get those customers' perspectives, but understand their limitations. Instead of speaking to a wide swath of customers, find a few who match your desired future state and go in-depth with them. More voices never add clarity; they slip into consensus. And consensus is where brands go to die.

The strongest brand clarity actually comes from within your business. That's where real brands take root. Your vision. Your conviction. The thing that makes you different that no survey is going to surface.

Don't optimize the horse. Consider what comes after it.

Bill Kenney

ROI OF BRAND

Since 2022, Brand Trust Outpaces Institutional Trust. Trust in institutions remain stagnant, while trust in brands has been increasing.

Source: 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer

According to the 15,000+ global respondents of the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, brands have filled the trust void, earning trust while institutions (government, media, NGOs) have stayed stagnant. People trust the brands they use more (80%), slightly ahead of even their own employer (79%). We've discussed the importance of trust in this newsletter before, but the stakes keep rising. As AI skepticism deepens, trust is becoming a sharper competitive edge — and the brands building it now will be hardest to displace later.

NOTEWORTHY

1. Getting Effectiveness Wrong Has Cost B2B Marketing Its Influence

"In many B2B categories, a purchase cycle can last five years, with a buying process stretching over 12 months. And yet success is routinely judged on what happened in the last quarter. [...] Brand is dismissed as 'unprovable' simply because it refuses to operate on a quarterly timetable."

2. How B2B Marketing Leaders Prioritize When Everything Is Critical

"In markets where competitors share similar data, intent signals and platforms, differentiation increasingly comes down to narrative, identity and coherence." A well-differentiated brand is the multiplier for everything else.

3. Putting The Market Back In Marketing

Really knowing your audience, instead of casting a wide net with a watered-down brand, is the key that "reduces organizational blind spots, improves capital allocation, and unlocks superior growth outcomes and resilience in turbulent environments."

4. How To Ace B2B Brand Storytelling Through Thought Leadership

As AI content only grows more ubiquitous, differentiation comes from real people. Leaders often get the spotlight, but employee-led content can carry just as much weight.