{"id":132277,"date":"2024-07-23T09:06:51","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T08:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/technation.io\/?p=132277"},"modified":"2025-06-23T17:03:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:03:48","slug":"startups-brand-building-bands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technation.io\/startups-brand-building-bands\/","title":{"rendered":"B(r)and Anthem: What Startups Can Learn About Brand Building From Hit-Making Bands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Charlie Holman, Strategy Director, Founders Makers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret that businesses grow from building brand fame, creating memorable hits, and connecting with new fans. So, as we delve into the depths of the UK festival season, what can we learn about building brands from the journey of successful bands?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, for starters the leap from startup to scale-up is like evolving from a scrappy garage band playing local pubs to headlining a major festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first there\u2019s wild experimentation to find your unique sound. But as you grow, you need to nail what works, create consistency, and craft that distinctive stage presence that makes you memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For brands, making that shift and balancing changing priorities is a wild ride. But it\u2019s the secret sauce to growing successfully, and at Founders Makers<\/a>, we love partnering with brands to make it happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding Your Sound: The Startup Stage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the startup stage, it’s all about experimenting and defining your uniqueness. Establish your mission, vision, and values to guide decisions through the inevitable ups, downs, and rejections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Investor vs Consumer Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention, startups: your investors are not your target market! Think of investors as record label executives\u2014they might fund your tour, but they\u2019re not buying tickets to your shows. Keep investors happy, but focus on real customers. Create niche communities, conduct focus groups, and gather feedback from initial fans. It\u2019s something you won\u2019t have the luxury of later down the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Capture the Founders\u2019 Gut Instincts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founders\u2019 gut feelings can shape brand success. Test founders’ hunches and hypotheses to uncover really unique positioning points you can use in messaging. These instincts can really create differences in your brand early on, but as you scale, replace those instincts with expertise and trusted specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think what would have happened if  Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie & Mick Jagger focussed group their sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Branding Your Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many don\u2019t, but it\u2019s important to invest early in your brand’s core foundations, I don\u2019t mean a visual identity. Solid mission, vision, and values build resilience and motivation. They help founders focus, ensure team alignment, and attract the right hires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hitting the Big Time: From Experimentation to Distinction, the Scale-Up Stage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you transition from startup to scale-up, the need for rock-solid consistency and distinctive branding grows. If you want to be playing the mainstage you need to maintain uniqueness while achieving broad recognition and appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Difference to Distinction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing your \u2018difference\u2019 won\u2019t sustain growth. Focus on building distinctive brand assets that people remember. The bank Monzo for example have painted London in their \u2018coral red\u2019 brand colour for their latest campaign and Little Moons, our own client, have made a super distinct visual world in order to really stand out and sustain their market presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. You\u2019ll need a Metric Makeover<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you reset growth ambitions at the scale-up stage you have to challenge and overhaul old benchmarks that won\u2019t work for you anymore. As you scale, the KPIs and signals you track will change. It\u2019s like shifting from counting pub gig bar takings  to measuring chart positions and streaming numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s at the scale up stage that CMOs need to educate founders on the delayed payoffs of campaigns and start hiring data scientists for better decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Stay Interesting: What\u2019s the Cost of Being Dull?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dullness costs economies billions annually. So avoid playing the same old setlist\u2014it might be perfect, but it won\u2019t win new fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly half of the ads and campaigns out there right now make no emotional impact with their audience (system 1 data); and bigger budgets often result in duller campaigns. In today’s digital landscape, being dull means being invisible. Prioritise creativity and engagement over a checklist of rational and functional messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re finding your rhythm or headlining your categories main stage, let\u2019s make some noise together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our work: Founders-makers.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s chat: hello@founders-makers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Charlie Holman, Strategy Director, Founders Makers It\u2019s no secret that businesses grow from building brand fame, creating memorable hits, and connecting with new fans. So, as we delve into the depths of the UK festival season, what can we learn about building brands from the journey of successful bands? Well, for starters the leap…","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":132278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nB(r)and Anthem: What Startups Can Learn About Brand Building From Hit-Making Bands | Tech Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fine-tuning your brand strategy? 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