For a CEO or CMO, this is a decision about commercial direction as much as creative quality. A new identity may be the visible output, but the value sits in the decisions beneath it: what the company stands for, whom it is for, how its portfolio is organised, and how that promise holds together across sales, product, digital and customer experience.
1. Test whether the agency understands the business transition
Start with the business event creating the need for change. An agency brief that says “we need a new brand” is too vague to evaluate against. A sharper brief identifies the tension: the company has outgrown its original market position; its offer has expanded beyond the name it is known for; a merger has created overlapping brands; or international customers do not understand its proposition.
The strongest agencies interrogate that tension rather than accepting the requested output. They should ask how growth is being constrained, which audiences matter most, what competitors are claiming and where the current brand creates friction in the sales process. In B2B markets, this often means understanding long buying cycles, multiple decision-makers and the role of technical proof. In premium consumer markets, it may mean protecting desirability while broadening reach.
Ask each agency to explain how it would translate the board-level ambition into a defined brand problem. If its answer begins and ends with visual differentiation, it is unlikely to address the full commercial task.
2. Examine the quality of positioning, not just the quality of presentation
Positioning is where an agency demonstrates whether it can create meaningful distinction. A compelling strategy should establish a choice: what the company will be known for, what it will not try to be, and why customers should believe the claim.
Mastercard offers a useful reference point. Its 2016 identity update, created with Pentagram, retained the familiar overlapping circles but simplified the system for a world of small screens, contactless payments and digital interfaces. In 2019, the company went further by using the symbol without the wordmark in many contexts. This was not a decorative refresh. It reflected a strategic shift from a card-centric business towards a broader digital payments brand that needed recognition across physical and digital environments.
During agency presentations, listen for the evidence behind the proposed position. A good partner can connect customer research, category conventions, competitor analysis and internal ambition. It can also explain the trade-off. A position that appeals equally to every audience is usually too generic to influence preference.
3. Look for systems thinking across identity, digital and experience
An identity has to work long after launch day. This is particularly significant for organisations with complex portfolios, regional operations, product teams and distributed marketing functions. The agency should show how a strategic idea becomes a repeatable system, not merely a set of polished examples.
Slack’s 2019 identity redesign illustrates the point. Pentagram replaced an earlier mark that was difficult to reproduce consistently with a more structured visual system built around a simplified octothorpe, a defined colour palette and flexible graphic components. The decision mattered because Slack was already used across products, campaigns, partnerships and a growing global organisation. Consistency was not an aesthetic preference. It was an operational requirement.
Ask to see brand guidelines, website components, presentation templates, social applications, product interfaces and campaign work. More importantly, ask who will use them. A system designed only for a central marketing team will fail if regional teams, sales functions and external partners cannot apply it accurately.
4. Assess digital capability as a strategic discipline
For many buyers, the website is the first serious encounter with the brand. It must make a complex offer understandable, give sales teams credible proof and support conversion without flattening the brand into generic corporate language. That requires more than web design. It requires information architecture, messaging discipline, content strategy and a clear understanding of user journeys.
Airbnb’s 2014 rebrand demonstrates how identity and digital behaviour can reinforce one another. The Bélo symbol and the Belong Anywhere platform gave the company a more human and participatory expression at a moment when it was expanding internationally. The identity was designed to be shared, recognised and used across digital touchpoints, rather than behaving like a static corporate stamp.
An agency should be able to explain how it will decide what belongs on the website, what content moves an audience towards enquiry and where the brand needs proof rather than promotion. For a specialist engineering firm, that may be technical capability, sector credentials and delivery confidence. For a climate technology business, it may be the ability to explain a new category without making claims that customers cannot verify.
5. Test for implementation realism
A strategy that cannot be implemented is an expensive document. Evaluate how the agency handles the difficult middle ground between approval and adoption: naming decisions, brand architecture, internal engagement, asset production, governance, launch planning and measurement.
IBM Plex is a strong example of design infrastructure rather than campaign decoration. Introduced by IBM in 2017 as a proprietary typeface, it gave the company a distinctive and practical typographic voice across a vast range of communications and digital products. Its value lies in repeatability. A shared type system can make a global organisation more coherent while reducing dependence on inconsistent local choices.
Ask prospective agencies to describe a launch that encountered resistance, competing priorities or organisational complexity. Their response will reveal whether they understand change management. The right answer is not that every stakeholder immediately agreed. It is that the agency had a credible process for building alignment, defining decision rights and protecting the strategic idea as work moved into delivery.
6. Separate commercial evidence from creative awards
Awards can signal craft and cultural relevance, but they are not proof that an agency can solve your commercial problem. Ask for cases with a clear before-and-after context: what was changing in the market, what decision the agency made and what the business was able to do differently afterwards.
The LEGO Group’s turnaround provides a useful caution against simplistic claims. From 2004 to 2015, group revenue grew from DKK 6.3 billion to DKK 35.8 billion. Brand revitalisation played a role, but so did product discipline, operational reform, licensing, retail development and a clearer focus on the core LEGO system. No credible agency would attribute that result to identity alone. The lesson is more valuable: brand work creates most value when it is integrated with the wider business model.
Agencies should be equally precise about their own contribution. Look for evidence that distinguishes strategy, identity, website, launch and ongoing implementation. If results are confidential, the agency can still explain the decision, the operating context and the indicators used to judge success. Vague claims of transformation should be treated with caution.
7. Evaluate the people who will actually do the work
Senior leaders are often persuaded by the principals in the room, then handed to a delivery team they have not met. Insist on meeting the strategy lead, design director and digital lead who will work on the account. Their ability to challenge constructively matters as much as their portfolio.
This is also where sector experience needs careful judgement. Familiarity with regulated energy, healthcare or financial services can shorten the learning curve and reduce risk. Yet an agency that only repeats conventions from the category may struggle to create distinction. The best fit combines relevant knowledge with an independent point of view.
Ask how the team will work with your executives, commercial teams and subject experts. Strong branding projects need informed disagreement. An agency that simply takes instructions may produce attractive work. A strategic partner should help leadership make clearer choices.
Make the decision on fit, not theatre
A disciplined evaluation usually combines a written response, working session, relevant case review and conversations with the delivery team. The working session is often more revealing than the pitch. It shows whether the agency can listen, frame ambiguity and create useful momentum under real conditions.
The final choice should not go to the agency with the most fashionable portfolio or the most elaborate presentation. Choose the partner that can identify the business decision hiding inside the branding brief, give it a distinctive market expression and build a system the organisation can use. That is where brand investment begins to compound: not at launch, but in every future decision that becomes easier because the company knows what it stands for.