Certain aspects of the world come naturally to certain personality types. While some people can recreate Bach’s Cello Suite after hearing it once, others can taste a sauce and know exactly what it needs.
Marketers have always had a different kind of attunement. We were the kids who knew what brand you had to wear in high school, which album mattered, which logo signaled status. We were attuned to cultural signals the way other students were attuned to algebra.
Brand is one of the most powerful tools a business has—and also one of the most misunderstood, especially by finance. But rather than lament that finance leaders “don’t get it,” marketers need to learn their language. A brand doesn’t need to be defended. It needs to be translated.
Here are three translations every marketer should master.
No. 1
Brand Is an Asset Class, Not an Expense
Brand is an investment. You don’t just spend on brand, you invest in it, the same way you wouldn’t “spend” on RRSPs, but invest in them. Sustained brand investment has been associated with ROI multiples exceeding 10:1. In CFO terms: brand creates pricing power; pricing power expands margins; and margin expansion lifts EBITDA. When a company can charge 5–10% more than a functionally equivalent competitor, that premium becomes a long term drive or enterprise value.
No. 2
Brand is Always Measurable
No serious public company treats their brand as immeasurable. The best brands in the world use a multitude of diagnostic tools to measure their impact. Companies are constantly measuring the value of their brand, because for many, it’s their most valuable asset. The idea that if we can’t measure it, we shouldn’t invest in it, stops too many businesses from reaching maturity. If you look at any form of measurement too closely, the data will fall apart. Pharmaceutical studies, political polling, the weather—there are no perfect measurement tools. But that doesn’t mean the phenomenon they measure doesn’t exist.
No. 3
Brand Reduces Risk
Marketers tend to sell brand as a growth engine. But CFOs care just as much about downside protection. Consider Maersk. The global shipping giant invested in building a visible, human brand presence across social platforms—an unconventional move for a B2B logistics company. Then a Maersk container was involved in the death of a blue whale. Rather than retreat into corporate silence, Maersk used these channels to communicate with clarity and accountability.
Brand affinity did not collapse; it strengthened. The social equity built prior to the crisis functioned as reputational insurance, since the organization had accumulated enough goodwill for that goodwill to absorb shock.
This is what great brands do at scale. It creates a reservoir of trust before you need it—reputational insurance that absorbs shock when a crisis hits. Strong brands recover faster, maintain pricing during turbulence and retain customers when competitors discount. The CFO translation: lower revenue volatility = more predictable earnings = stronger enterprise value. That’s a language they understand.
Stephanie Kochorek is the founder and CEO of Daughter Creative Inc., an independent brand consultancy that works with organizations across Canada.
