Marketing gets better the moment marketers accept one truth: we’re a custodian of the brand, not the owner of it. We’re not here to dictate, dominate, or leave a personal signature for the sake of it…
We’re here to protect and strengthen a commercial asset that belongs to a business and is shaped by the people who experience it. When ego creeps in, decisions happen based on taste and preference instead of clarity, consistency, and commercial impact.
A brand is the reputation a business earns through what it delivers, how it behaves, and how consistently it communicates. Marketing gives that reputation shape and language, but it shouldn’t become a personal creative project. Taking on the role of Custodian keeps your focus where it belongs: on what the brand needs to perform, not what the marketing team wants to prove.
The problem with “my brand” language
I hate it when I hear people say “my brand” because they might have designed the identity, wrote the copy, or led the work. It’s not harmless phrasing… In my opinion it reveals an unhelpful or at worst arrogant belief that the person who worked on the brand owns it. They don’t. They own their contribution, not the brand itself.
Strong brands are formed through synthesis, drawing on the business owner’s intent, the organisation’s culture and delivery, the customer’s expectations and language, and the commercial realities of the market.
A good marketer acts as a conduit: takes those inputs, tests them against evidence, and shapes them into something the business can actually use. That means a brand system that’s clear enough to apply, consistent enough to scale, and flexible enough to evolve. So it isn’t ownership, it’s stewardship, and it requires humility and rigour. To take an example from the sporting world, Sir Alex Ferguson put it best: “No player is bigger than Man United”.
“Putting your stamp on it” is selfish and shortsighted…
A predictable pattern shows up when a new marketer joins a business or a new agency wins an account… Very quickly, the focus shifts to changing things. A new logo, a new tone of voice, a new website, a new strapline. They think they’re building momentum, and think it’s a visible way to prove their value quickly. This couldn’t be further from the truth and more often than not negatively impacts long term strategy.
This is because brand change has a cost most businesses underestimate. It takes time, creates internal debate, introduces inconsistency in the market, and distracts teams from delivery. If there’s no clear commercial reason for the change, it’s rarely brave or strategic. It’s usually ego, insecurity, or impatience dressed up as ambition.
The best marketers build trust by protecting what should stay stable. We can spot what needs refinement, what needs clarity, and what needs consistent execution, and we’re willing to improve and streamline delivery without overhauling foundations for the sake of it.
When change is genuinely needed
Custodianship doesn’t mean resisting change, if anything it means futureproofing the brand. That requires a different outlook where change is based on evidence, intent, and restraint.
Brand work is needed when the business strategy has shifted, when the company has grown and the identity can’t scale, when the market consistently misunderstands what you do, or when you’re attracting the wrong kind of buyer. It can also be needed when differentiation has eroded, when competitors have caught up, or when the customer experience has improved but the messaging still reflects an older version of the business.
If none of those are true, you might not need a rebrand, you probably just need better marketing…
Too many organisations mistake an execution problem for a brand problem, then reach for visual change when what they really need is sharper positioning, better proof, stronger case studies, and consistency across the website, content, and sales materials.
What custodianship looks like in practice
Custodians start by defining what must stay true. They get clarity on the business priorities, the differentiators that matter, the promises that must be upheld in delivery, and the language customers use when they describe value. Once those anchors are in place, decisions become simpler and far less opinion-led.
They also earn the right to change things by making a commercial case. That means gathering customer insight, listening to sales, reviewing performance, understanding the competitive landscape, and being honest about what the business is ready to deliver consistently. When a change is proposed, it should be obvious what problem it solves or opportunity it creates and what outcome it’s expected to drive.
Custodians also talk openly about trade offs. You might choose clarity over cleverness, consistency over novelty, or specificity over a broad appeal. The job is to make those trade offs consciously, with long term trust and results in mind, rather than chasing short term sales or attention.
What this means for agencies and freelancers
If you’re an agency or a freelancer, custodianship is a marker of professionalism. It means you don’t recommend change because it’s more exciting, more visible, or more billable. You recommend it because it’s needed and because it will drive a clear commercial outcome.
It also means you speak about your work with respect…
You can be proud of what you created without claiming ownership; the brand belongs to the business. Your role is to bring coherence, clarity, and consistency to what’s already there, and to strengthen it in a way the organisation can maintain long after the project or your contract ends.
How we approach this at Big Reputation
One of our goals is to help create ‘lasting legacies’ so the ‘Brand Custodian’ belief sits at the centre of how we work. We partner with businesses in highly technical and complex sectors because custodianship matters most when there are multiple stakeholders, high risk buying decisions, and a real need for consistent communication.
We start with commercial strategy, then translate it into positioning, messaging, and a usable brand system teams can actually implement. We gather insight from leadership, teams, and customers so the brand reflects reality rather than assumptions. We recommend change only when there’s a clear need, and we’re just as happy refining what already works as we are creating something new.
If you want a marketing partner who treats your brand like the asset it is, and focuses on what will build long term trust and commercial momentum, that’s exactly what we do.