A lot can change in a decade. After ten years as brand strategists in the digital infrastructure and technology space, The Brand Marquee has witnessed, and helped shape, brands that have outpaced even their own expectations, evolving beyond products and services to become trusted names with enduring value.
As, Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens expressed, the most powerful institutions endure because people collectively believe in their value.
In 2016, the digital landscape was already shifting, but it was still comparatively contained. Social media was leading the charge in communicating brands online, but a long way from the central role it plays today. Facebook led the pack with 1.6 – 1.7 billion monthly active users, far outpacing other platforms. Instagram and Twitter were well-established channels for engagement and awareness but largely viewed as campaign tools rather than strategic business infrastructure. LinkedIn, the professional network, had roughly 450 million members worldwide, undeniably valuable, but not yet the default arena for leadership visibility, investor signalling, or corporate credibility.
Did you know?
Before LinkedIn, there was Ryze. Launched two years earlier, it pioneered professional online networking but arrived before digital identity and reputation were understood as strategic assets. LinkedIn didn’t invent the category; it was there at the right time with a slightly different offering – creating an economic platform. This also highlights that enduring brands are not those that arrive first, but those that align timing, trust, and belief to become indispensable.
During this period of growth, the concept of brand tended to live on the edges of decision-making for leadership teams. It was often associated with logos, visual refreshes or marketing outputs, rather than treated as a strategic asset. Even today this approach still exists.
Investors quite rightly focused on financial fundamentals, revenue, EBITDA, margins and multiples, while brand was seen as something that sat beneath the numbers, not something that actively shaped them. Social platforms were influential, but few leaders viewed them as places where reputation was built in real time, or where commercial confidence and investor perception could be materially influenced.
Fast forward to today, and the evolution has been significant.
What has fundamentally changed over the past decade is not the importance of financial performance, but how that performance is interpreted.
In 2016, brand largely functioned as a communication layer. It helped explain what a business did and supported go-to-market activity, but it sat downstream of strategy. Value was created elsewhere and expressed through brand.
Today, brand has become an interpretive layer. It shapes how ambition is understood, how leadership credibility is assessed and how future potential is judged. In a world where information is abundant and reputation is formed continuously, brand no longer sits beneath the numbers; it frames them.
This shift is what quietly transformed brand from a marketing concern into an enterprise asset.
Going back to LinkedIn, the platform has grown to more than one billion professionals globally, with hundreds of millions of active users each month. Its vision was always clear, and its SMART goals consistently defined. In essence, its underlying objective was to grow its professional user base at global scale.
Today, LinkedIn has become a central forum where companies are assessed on how clearly they articulate their ambition, how credible their leadership appears and how consistently they show up in their market.
In today’s technology and data-centre environment, brand has become an integral part of growth. It has become the mechanism through which organisations build profile quickly, improve go-to-market presence and demonstrate maturity from the outset. Investors still focus on the numbers, but those numbers are now interpreted through a lens of brand credibility, clarity and confidence. The story behind the metrics matters more than ever.
Historically, this was an investor blind spot, partly because brand was seen as a marketing line on the budget rather than a contributor to future growth. When brand is done well, it accelerates trust, shortens sales cycles, strengthens commercial narratives and enhances belief in future potential. Investors may think they are investing in models or markets, but in reality, they are also investing in people and the story they tell about where the business is going.
Many of our own examples of success have seen business grown 7x in just three years – growing into new markets, new regions globally or expanding through M&A strategies. All of these strategies have required a game changing brand strategy.
Brand strategy becomes particularly critical when a company transitions from being founder-led to institutionally owned. What was once an entrepreneurial venture driven by personality and proximity must suddenly act and appear mature from day one. The business needs a clear sense of identity, ambition and coherence, internally and externally, to reassure stakeholders that it can scale, integrate and perform under scrutiny. Brand enables that transition to happen with confidence.
This is where the distinction between brand and marketing becomes more than semantic. Brand is strategic. Marketing is tactical. Brand defines what a business stands for, where it is heading and why people should believe in it. Marketing is how that strategy is activated across channels and moments. In 2016, these concepts were often blurred, with marketing activity mistaken for brand strategy. Today, organisations that understand the difference treat brand as the foundation, because it provides direction, alignment and intent to everything that follows.
In crowded and complex markets, particularly in technology, energy and infrastructure, this distinction is decisive. Products and services are increasingly difficult to differentiate on capability alone. Buyers, partners and investors are overwhelmed with choice and noise. In that context, brand becomes the differentiator that cuts through uncertainty, not by being louder, but by being clearer.
Crucially, this does not require extravagant budgets or cosmetic rebrands. The most effective brand strategies focus on fundamentals: people, process and credibility. They clarify what a business genuinely does well, how it delivers value and why that value matters now and in the future. That clarity builds confidence, and confidence drives decisions.
Most leaders recognise this in principle, but acting on brand at the right time often proves difficult. Brand frequently sits too low in organisations, removed from those shaping long-term strategy. Without brand expertise at the table, investment decisions can be driven by instinct or spreadsheets alone, without fully accounting for long-term impact on culture, reputation and enterprise value.
In essence, when brand is treated as a strategic asset rather than a marketing task, its value becomes tangible. This is especially true in multi-asset or portfolio environments, where brand provides a unifying narrative that reduces friction, aligns teams and helps external audiences understand the logic of the portfolio as a whole.
Looking back across the last ten years, tools have changed, expectations have risen and pace has accelerated. AI and automation have increased output, but they have also raised the bar for judgement, consistency and trust. In a world where content is abundant, clarity has become the most valuable currency.
Top 5 things investors need to consider:
1. Brand as optics vs brand as infrastructure
2016
Brand was largely perceived as surface-level: identity, messaging, campaigns. It sat downstream of strategy and upstream of marketing execution.
2026
Brand functions as enterprise infrastructure. It shapes how strategy is understood, how leadership is perceived, and how confidence is formed across customers, partners, employees and investors. It is no longer decorative; it is directional.
Investor shift: from “Does it look credible?” to “Does it support scale, trust and resilience?”
2. Financial metrics alone vs metrics interpreted through narrative
2016
Revenue, EBITDA, margins and multiples dominated investment decisions. Brand sat beneath the numbers, rarely influencing how they were interpreted.
2026
The numbers still matter, but the story behind them matters more. Growth, margin and market opportunity are increasingly filtered through brand clarity, leadership credibility and belief in future potential.
Investor shift: from evaluating performance to evaluating conviction.
3. Marketing activity vs strategic brand capability
2016
Brand and marketing were often conflated. Tactical activity was mistaken for strategic positioning. Visibility was prioritised over clarity.
2026
Sophisticated investors recognise the distinction:
- Brand defines identity, ambition and belief
- Marketing activates that strategy
- Organisations that treat brand as a foundation move faster, integrate more smoothly and scale with less friction.
Investor shift: from campaign spend to strategic brand maturity.
4. Founder-led trust vs institutional confidence
2016
Trust was often personal. Founder presence, proximity and personality carried credibility, particularly in growth-stage businesses.
2026
As businesses transition to institutional ownership, trust must be systemic. Brand becomes the mechanism that enables a company to appear mature from day one; coherent, scalable and credible under scrutiny.
Investor shift: from belief in individuals to belief in the institution.
5. Differentiation by capability vs differentiation by clarity
2016
Competitive advantage was assumed to come from product, technology or service differentiation.
2026
In crowded technology, infrastructure and energy markets, capability parity is the norm. Brand is what cuts through uncertainty, not by being louder, but by being clearer, more consistent and more believable.
Investor shift: from “What do they do?” to “Why should the market believe them?”
The underlying truth
As Yuval Noah Harari observed, the most powerful institutions endure because people collectively believe in their value.
For investors in 2026, brand is no longer a peripheral consideration. It is the mechanism through which belief is built, confidence is sustained, and enterprise value is realised over time.