Brands need to really move

Marisol Ruiz and Patxi Fernandez are the heads of company and brands, and founders of strategic branding consultancy Move. Together, they explore when courage matters more than method.

Every company was born from intuition. Someone saw a different way of doing something and took a chance on it. That intuition is what really makes the difference. Growth, structures and processes are necessary for scaling up, but the problem arises when professionalisation only organises rather than amplifies.

Growth should not mean losing oneself. Sometimes, to move forward with strength, we must look back and rescue the original spark that excessive processing has dimmed. Success lies in stripping away the superficial to return to the root; because it is there, in the company’s naked truth, where the power to transform the market and unite the team under a single purpose resides. Listening to that truth, sharing it and internalising it as a team is essential to generating real impact.

Imagine you create a melody. It is born from your imagination, it grows, you add instruments, arrangements, complexity. You listen to it, you recognise it, you dance to it... but one day it no longer moves you. The best conductors return to the original score, to listen to it and perform it a cappella. They strip everything away to recover the essence. What really excites us is when that original melody resonates again.

Data informs, judgement decides. But if the brand doesn't move people, we have to ask ourselves why.

Everything is copied faster. Technology accelerates this convergence like never before. Your brand should be your sustainable advantage, but many are built using the same language and the same words. The feeling is that there are too many words and not enough to say.

The strategy is usually well thought out. The data is analysed, the insights are validated. Everything is methodologically flawless. But many brands end up sounding the same. “Innovation,” “excellence,” “commitment,” “disruption.” Correct words, completely indistinguishable. The problem is that by avoiding our own truth, we turn the company into a stage of appearances, where the script matters more than the intent. These are technically perfect speeches, yet devoid of conviction. When rigor is devoid of boldness, you produce brands that are forgotten."

Some companies have lost the ability to choose. Rigour has become attachment to method. Deciding with discernment means giving up comfortable consensus, validated formulas, trying to please everyone. Those that regain that ability change speed.

Brands that work permeate the entire business. Decisions are made faster, execution is consistent and the team feels proud. That consistency justifies price, facilitates sales, and generates real preference. The brand builds value that sustains the business beyond the tangible. Brands accelerate growth.

Here, creativity becomes critical. The ability to see territories that others do not see, to know what to say when everyone else is shouting the same thing. It requires understanding what really makes the company different and having the courage to be authentic.

Magnetic brands, those that hook you, those that transcend, do so because they have a point of view. Someone knew how to find what makes them unique and had the judgment to demonstrate it without asking permission.

But boldness alone is inspiration without direction. The real skill lies in integrating rigour and creativity from the outset, not in separate silos but in teams where strategy and creativity engage in dialogue from the very first decision. When a strategic consulting firm operates within a complete creative ecosystem, decisions are made with both perspectives active from the outset. Difference works best when it arises from integration.

The future belongs to brands built with both discipline and courage. Brands that move teams, that cut across businesses, that drive growth.

Building them requires professionals willing to bet on what is not guaranteed. Consultants who rediscover truths. Decision-makers, businesspeople and entrepreneurs with the courage to take sides. That professionalism that combines human talent, craftsmanship and audacity is the only thing that cannot be replicated.

When was the last time you heard your brand a cappella?