Question 1

What is brand identity?

Accepted Answer

Brand identity is the phase in which your brand takes shape and finds its voice. We translate your positioning into a concept, a verbal identity with tone of voice and tagline, a visual identity covering logo, typography, colour and visual language, and a system for motion. The result is a brand that looks, sounds and feels consistent everywhere, supported by a brand guide your team can use independently.

Question 2

What's the difference between brand strategy and brand identity?

Accepted Answer

Brand strategy defines what you stand for, your position and your story. Brand identity makes that visible and felt: how your brand looks, sounds, and feels. The strategy is the direction, the identity is the form that follows from it. That's why we do them in that order, not the other way around.

Question 3

Can you just design a logo or visual identity?

Accepted Answer

We design a complete identity, not a standalone logo. A logo that does not grow from your positioning is decoration, and decoration may attract attention for a moment before fading away. What stays with people is a brand that evokes the same feeling everywhere. That is the work, and we deliver it as one cohesive whole.

Question 4

Does brand identity work in B2B too?

Accepted Answer

Especially in B2B. Buyers often compare companies that look similar on paper and form a preference early. An identity that consistently evokes the same feeling helps people recognise and take you seriously before the conversation even begins. The idea that a polished identity is only for consumer brands costs B2B companies precisely that advantage.

Question 5

Do we need to do the strategy with you too?

Accepted Answer

Preferably, because the identity follows from the positioning. If you already have a sharp, shared strategy in place, we first assess whether it is strong enough to build on. If not, we start there, because an identity built on a weak foundation will not hold up.

Question 6

Who is this for?

Accepted Answer

For B2B companies whose identity has fallen behind the value of the business. There is often a turning point involved: an acquisition, a spin-off, a new product or a new market. At moments like these, your brand needs to show who you are now, not who you were three years ago.

Question 7

What does a brand identity cost?

Accepted Answer

That depends on the scope and size of your organisation. We always create a tailored proposal, usually as a continuation of the strategy phase.

Question 8

What is brand culture?

Accepted Answer

Brand culture is your brand as it is lived on the inside and expressed through the behaviour of your people. We sharpen your core values, translate them into concrete behaviour, embed them in your onboarding and leadership and show how the culture comes across through your employer brand. The result is a culture you can actively shape and that feels consistent from the outside.

Question 9

What's the difference between brand culture and employer branding?

Accepted Answer

Employer branding is how you present your brand culture to the outside world as an employer. First, we make sure the culture is genuine and visible in everyday behaviour. Only then do you have something real to communicate and use to attract the right talent. Employer branding without a culture to support it is a promise you cannot keep on day one.

Question 10

Does this also work for attracting technical talent?

Accepted Answer

Especially there. In a region where the biggest names are competing for the same technical talent, you are unlikely to win on salary alone. What does work is a brand that lets people feel what you offer that a larger employer cannot: ownership, direct communication and a culture they can genuinely be part of. That starts on the inside and becomes visible on the outside.

Question 11

We already have core values. What do you add?

Accepted Answer

Core values are often appealing words that do not guide behaviour. We translate them into concrete actions: what does a value mean in a conversation with a client, in how you say no or in how colleagues address each other? That is how a value moves from the wall into the workplace.

Question 12

Who is this for?

Accepted Answer

For B2B companies with a strong culture that remains invisible from the outside or is at risk of fading as the organisation grows. There is often a turning point involved: a change in leadership where the story lives in one person's head, rapid growth that makes it harder for new people to understand the intention or a fight for talent you are losing on reputation.

Question 13

Do you do this once, or as a process?

Accepted Answer

Usually as an ongoing process or retainer, because embedding a culture takes more than a one-off workshop. We lay the foundation and stay involved while it becomes part of everyday behaviour and grows with your organisation.

Question 14

What does brand culture cost?

Accepted Answer

That depends on the scope and size of your organisation. We always create a tailored proposal.

Question 15

What is brand experience?

Accepted Answer

The phase where your brand gets made real in every moment someone encounters it: in sales, in your marketing, on your site, in your operations, in your employer brand and at your locations. We carry your brand through the entire organisation, so a customer and a new colleague experience the same thing everywhere. You end up with a brand that doesn't stay on paper, but that people actually experience.

Question 16

What's the difference between brand experience, brand activation and brand implementation?

Accepted Answer

Brand experience is what the customer experiences. Brand activation and brand implementation are how you get there: bringing the brand out into the world and building it into your organisation and your materials.

Question 17

Why doesn't it stop at a new website?

Accepted Answer

Because a customer doesn't only encounter your brand on your homepage. If the site is refreshed but sales still tells the old story and the rest of the organisation lags behind, a customer feels the difference. A rebrand that stops at the website is exactly where most brand projects fail.

Question 18

Do you also handle execution, like the site and campaigns?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We make the brand real with our own team, together with your people and, where needed, with partners. From the sales story to the site to the launch, always from the same position.

Question 19

Do the other phases need to come first?

Accepted Answer

Brand experience builds on your strategy, identity and culture. If those are already sharp and well established, we can start here. If not, we first check whether the foundation is solid enough, because you can't make a brand real that isn't firmly established yet.

Question 20

Is this a one-time project or ongoing?

Accepted Answer

Usually ongoing, in a retainer or in projects. Making a brand real isn't a one-time action: it needs guarding while your company changes, so the brand doesn't peak at launch and fade after.

Question 21

What does brand experience cost?

Accepted Answer

That depends on the scope and the size of your organisation. We always create a tailored proposal.

Question 22

What is brand strategy?

Accepted Answer

The first phase of a branding process. We define your position in the market and write your brand narrative, based on what's already true in your organisation. You come out of it with a sharp positioning, a brand narrative that holds up, and a leadership team that agrees on who you are.

Question 23

Does brand strategy work in B2B too?

Accepted Answer

Especially in B2B. The purchases are big, the decision sits with multiple people, and the process takes a long time. The best proposal doesn't automatically win; the company that's clearest upfront about what it stands for does. A sharp brand gets you on the shortlist before the conversation even starts, and means you compete less on price. The idea that branding is only for consumer brands costs B2B companies exactly that head start.

Question 24

How long does the strategic phase take?

Accepted Answer

Seven to nine weeks. We need that time to go into the organisation, talk to clients, and sharpen the choices.

Question 25

Can't we just start with a new logo or a website?

Accepted Answer

You can, but then you're building on sand. Form without direction collapses fast and is expensive to fix. That's why we always start with strategy. The identity and the website come after, and then they actually hold up.

Question 26

Is brand strategy a one-time thing, or something ongoing?

Accepted Answer

Both. You lay the foundation thoroughly in the strategic phase. After that it's your guideline, one you adjust every time your company enters a new phase.

Question 27

Who is this for?

Accepted Answer

For B2B companies that deliver good work, but whose brand has fallen behind what they're now worth. Often there's a turning point: an acquisition, a succession, a new market, or fast growth. Usually it's the marketer or the commercial lead who first sees the brand no longer fits and brings us in. We involve leadership from the start, because the choices we make together affect the whole organisation, from sales to the people you hire.

Question 28

What does a brand strategy cost?

Accepted Answer

That depends on the scope and the size of your organisation. We always build a proposal tailored to you. The strategic phase can also stand alone as a starting point, if you want to lay the foundation first before moving on.

A brand that wants to be everything becomes nothing.

What is brand strategy

Sound familiar?

Sound familiar?

"We sound like everyone else, even though we do things differently."

"Ask five people who we are and you get five answers."

"Our brand tells the story of three years ago."

"We lose deals to competitors who are objectively worse."

Why we always start here

What we do

The phase takes seven to nine weeks. We work from the inside, in four steps.

What you're left with

Your positioning

Alignment at leadership level

Your brand promise

Your brand narrative

Your brand character

A strategic framework

How it continues

Cases

Worth reading

Contact with Stuurmen

Ready to decide what you really stand for?

Frequently asked questions about brand strategy