Gold CityWealth Brand & Marketing Awards
Gold Transform Awards
Silver DBA Design Effectiveness Awards
Most organisations have strong opinions about their brand. They are also usually wrong, at least partly. What leadership thinks the brand communicates and what clients and employees actually experience are rarely the same thing.
A brand audit closes that gap. It replaces opinion with evidence: what clients really think, how competitors are positioned, where the brand is working and where it is letting you down. The result is a clear picture of where you are, and clear recommendations for what to do next.
We use brand audits both as a standalone diagnostic and as the starting point for a full rebrand. Either way, the findings change the conversation.
What makes a brand audit valuable
The value of a brand audit is not in what it confirms. It is in what it reveals.
Most leadership teams have assumptions about their brand that have never been tested. They believe clients choose them for one reason when the reality is another. They think their brand is distinctive when competitors look almost identical. They assume employees are aligned when the culture is more fragmented than anyone has admitted.
A good brand audit surfaces all of this. It gives leadership something more useful than their own instincts: evidence. And evidence changes decisions.
‘The findings in the brand audit surprised me. It was then down to us as the board to respond to those findings.’ Michael Thirkettle, CEO, McBains
Signs you need a brand audit
01 / Your brand no longer feels right
You have grown, changed direction or moved into new markets, and the brand has not kept up. Something feels off, but nobody can agree on what.
02 / You are losing ground to competitors
Clients who should choose you are choosing someone else. You are winning on price rather than preference. The brand may be part of the problem.
03 / You are planning a rebrand and want to de-risk it
A brand audit before a rebrand means the new brand is built on evidence, not assumption. It significantly increases the chances of getting it right first time.
04 / There is a gap between inside and outside
What you believe your brand says and what clients and employees actually experience are two different things. A brand audit tells you how wide that gap is.
What we look at
Client perception research
Direct interviews with current and past clients to understand how they really see you, what they value, what they do not, and why they chose you over the alternatives.
Employee and culture research
Workshops and surveys with your team to understand how the brand is experienced internally, and whether internal reality matches external promise.
Competitor audit
A structured review of how your key competitors position themselves, what they say, and how they look, so you can see clearly where the opportunities for differentiation are.
Brand and communications review
An audit of your existing brand across digital, print and physical touchpoints, assessing consistency, clarity and effectiveness.
Clear recommendations
Not a report that sits on a shelf. A set of prioritised, actionable recommendations for what to fix, what to build on, and what to do next.
A multidisciplinary construction consultancy that had outgrown its brand. Before we touched the identity, we conducted a full client perception study and employee research programme to understand what was genuinely true and different about McBains, not what they assumed. The findings surprised the board. They also gave us the brief for everything that followed: strategy, naming, identity, tone of voice and a bespoke typeface, all built around what the research revealed. Turnover grew 81% in five years, from £15.5m to £28m.
Hunters
“A masterclass in rebranding.” +33% growth. Website enquiries +224%.
A law firm founded in 1715 that needed to become relevant to a new generation of high net worth clients without losing the authority that comes with three centuries of history. We researched existing and target clients to understand what they valued and how they chose their legal advisors, and found the gap between how Hunters saw themselves and how the market saw them. The insights shaped every element of the rebrand.
The Story Museum
“A bold and exciting new identity.” | Footfall +329% | Gross income +79% | Ticket income +241% | Silver DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2026
Oxford’s museum of stories, with ambitious targets and a brand that was not doing justice to the building or the mission. We researched the museum’s audiences and the competitive landscape to understand what would make The Story Museum a destination rather than a local institution, and what the brand needed to communicate to get people through the door. The insights drove the identity, the language and the launch strategy. They hit every target set for opening.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a brand audit take?
A full brand audit, covering client interviews, employee research, competitor review and brand assessment, typically takes six to eight weeks. Programmes that focus on one or two areas can move faster. We work to your timeline and can prioritise the elements most relevant to your situation.
How many client interviews do you conduct?
It depends on the size and complexity of the organisation. For most clients, ten to fifteen in-depth interviews produce enough insight to identify clear patterns. We also use online surveys where a broader data set is useful alongside the qualitative findings.
Will the findings be difficult to hear?
Sometimes. The most valuable brand audits surface things that leadership had suspected but not said out loud, or things they had not considered at all. We present findings honestly and constructively, with recommendations for what to do about them. The point is not the diagnosis. It is what you do next.
Do you always recommend a rebrand after an audit?
No. Some audits reveal that the brand is fundamentally sound and the issue is elsewhere, in consistency, in tone of voice, in how the brand is applied rather than what it is. We give you an honest assessment. If a rebrand is not the right answer, we will say so.
