To bring these to life, let’s look at two common growth obstacles, and the Chief Marketing Objective that would unlock growth.
Obstacle 1: When your price point is not supported by consumer perception
According to Kantar BrandZ analysis, nearly one in 10 brands struggle to grow because consumers do not believe the product or service justifies its price. This is not an overnight occurrence. Often, brands in this predicament spent years relying too heavily on promotions and discounts: an all-too-common approach, but one that weakens perceived value over time.
In this case, your chief marketing objective must be to align price and value. You can do this in two ways:
- Reduce margins (e.g. cut prices) without reducing quality
- Build perceived value by strengthening what makes your brand Meaningful and Different.
Case study: Van Cleef & Arpels
Even heritage luxury brands can face challenges around price justification. Van Cleef & Arpels recognized the need to better support its price point among US consumers, and responded by intensifying its storytelling around craftsmanship, heritage, and its poetic Parisian universe. This was brought to life consistently across multiple channels, including PR, immersive retail experiences and digital storytelling. Today, Van Cleef & Arpels has strengthened its Meaningful connections with consumers and more effectively justified its price. According to Kantar BrandZ data, its next Chief Marketing Objective is to predispose more people, to build future demand and widen its potential customer base.
Case study: Volvic
In Belgium, water brand Volvic occupied a mid-price position, but was held back by low value perceptions. To overcome this, the brand invested in digital communications anchored in its volcanic heritage - bringing to life its purity, natural origins and emotional appeal. By reinforcing its Meaningful Difference, Volvic strengthened consumers’ perception of its worth, helping to remove a key barrier to purchase. While still a relatively smaller brand in Belgium, Volvic is now far better positioned to justify its price point, putting it in a stronger position to capitalize on future category growth.
Obstacle 2: When your brand has hit a steady state
Many well-established brands hold a healthy share, yet struggle to unlock further growth. In these cases, the chief marketing objective is to regain momentum. Representing one in six brands, this is the most common objective across Kantar BrandZ’s global database, typically signaling a shortfall in Future Power or a weak Meaningful Difference relative to brand size.
If this is your challenge, the task is to revitalize and expand your brand’s appeal. While you may have a strong core, your current proposition is no longer sufficient to drive penetration. The rewards of regaining momentum are significant, but hard-won: only one in five brands achieve this over a two-year period. Those that do, however, are almost twice as likely to grow penetration.
Case study: T-Mobile
A 2021 merger with Sprint gave T-Mobile the platform to reinvent its position in the US market. The brand repositioned itself as a leader in 5G, moving beyond its earlier perception as a value-only challenger.
At the same time, T-Mobile refreshed its brand identity and cultural presence, most notably through high-impact campaigns, such as its Super Bowl activation featuring Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus.
Today, T-Mobile has significantly strengthened its relevance: it is seen as more modern, more capable, and more attuned to evolving consumer needs.
Case study: adidas
Under CEO Bjørn Gulden’s leadership, adidas has rebuilt momentum in the US in recent years - driven by a renewed focus on brand building.
The brand has re-centerd itself on the power of athletes to inspire and engage communities, while also leaning into culture to stay relevant. This includes strategic collaborations across music: in 2025, adidas launched Original Forever with the reuniting British rock band Oasis, reigniting a culturally resonant partnership rooted in decades of shared history.
More recently, the adidas Bad Bunny 1.0 sneaker took center stage during the Super Bowl halftime show, as part of an ongoing collaboration with the global Latin music star. Together, these moves have helped adidas reconnect with culture and strengthen its contemporary relevance.
What can the right chief marketing objective do for you?
These examples show that growth begins with identifying your brand’s chief marketing objective. From there, the mandate may be to strengthen perceived value by reinforcing what makes your brand Meaningful and Different, or to refresh how your brand shows up in market to reignite momentum.
However, revitalization comes with its own risks. Move too far, too fast, and you can dilute what makes your brand distinctive. US restaurant chain Cracker Barrel’s 2024 redesign is a cautionary example: in trying to modernize, it stripped back the very elements that once set it apart. Instead of strengthening appeal, the brand became more generic.
Execution, of course, still matters. But getting the strategy wrong from the outset is an even more fundamental barrier to growth. Positive change begins with correctly diagnosing the challenge, whether that’s price-worth misalignment, declining momentum, or one of the other objectives identified by Kantar BrandZ.
The first step is diagnosis. Once you understand what’s holding your brand back, make that your chief marketing objective, and build your strategy around overcoming it.
Discover how the most valuable brands win in Kantar BrandZ’s 2026 Most Valuable Global Brands report now available at www.kantar.com/campaigns/brandz/global
