Uncover how brand ethos shapes a company’s core identity, aligning values with consumer and employee trust for lasting connections.
Shannon, as Chief Brand Officer at Terakeet, could you share what initially drew you to focus on brand ethos and its role in shaping a company’s identity?
To me, a brand is so much more than just a tagline or logo; it’s who an organization is at its core, where it’s going, and how its people fit into it. I’ve always valued a brand’s ability to create an emotional connection with its consumers or employees. Beyond what a company does, sells, and says, a strong brand ethos will create that strong sense of connection and purpose that is able to withstand the temporary highs and lows any organization or brand weathers. Brand ethos creates that connection mechanism by encompassing a company’s values, purpose, mission, and unique value proposition to consumers and employees alike.
Strengthening a brand’s ethos is what drives consumers and employees to believe in where a business is going and commit to it, either for a purchase or long-term loyalty. It’s that emotional tether that makes people feel connected to and empowered by a brand.
How would you define brand ethos, and why do you believe it is fundamental to building both client and employee trust?
Brand ethos is the soul of the brand—the guiding force that shapes its identity, guides its actions, and defines how it connects with its audience. When cultivated, it fosters trust and loyalty and builds a lasting, meaningful relationship with its audience. I feel like it’s the outward expression of the cumulative impact of every interaction and touchpoint—the ability for a brand to evoke a consistent, memorable impression that resonates deeply with people.
In light of Google’s antitrust lawsuit, what shifts in content strategy do you see as necessary to ensure brands reach the right audiences effectively?
Whether or not Google remains the market leader in search, two things are still true.
First, authoritative, helpful content will always be a critical element in a brand’s ability to connect with consumers and control its external story. To reach consumers across their journeys, brands must commit to building content that is informed and optimized based on consumer intent data.
And second, for quite some time now, consumers have been actively diversifying the ways they find information. Brands must understand how to optimize their owned brand assets (think: a brand’s website(s), blog, etc.— anywhere they own the content and domain) to influence the content that consumers are already moving to, like that produced by generative search engines or created on social networks like TikTok.
Could you walk us through how a strong brand ethos contributes to creating a memorable brand experience for clients?
A strong brand ethos is the foundation of a meaningful brand experience and a critical element to Terakeet’s digital brand management offering. The ethos should be weaved into every owned asset to inform a brand’s entire digital footprint, including managed and leveraged channels. It ensures consistency across every consumer interaction, reinforcing trust and familiarity and creating emotional connections that transform brand-consumer relationships from transactional to loyal partnerships.
At Terakeet, we spend a significant amount of time getting to know the brands we work with and understanding how they want to convey their ethos online. It’s critical that we become an extension of their team to create an aligned and effective strategy.
What role do company values play in forming a cohesive brand ethos that resonates with both employees and customers?
In my experience, communicating our values through storytelling allows us to build lasting and meaningful client partnerships by ensuring that every interaction reflects our experience, commitment, and beliefs. Our ability to put values into action and capture how we experience these company values allows us to transcend beyond just being a service and become a trusted and integrated part of our clients’ work.
But what’s even more important to me is that our employees feel connected to our values and the mission we’re all driving toward. Values should act as a compass that aligns the internal team and guides every element of our identity and operations. They clarify who we are, what we stand for, and why we matter. When our people can see our values come to life in themselves and their colleagues, it gives meaning to their work and creates a sense of partnership and purpose that fosters innovation and collaboration.
In your opinion, how does an organization’s brand ethos impact its approach to communication and marketing strategies?
An organization’s brand ethos should be the foundation of its communication and marketing strategies, guiding how it engages with audiences (whether they’re internal or external) and approaches every touchpoint. A clear ethos ensures that every message—from ads to product pages to CEO interviews—aligns with core values and resonates authentically. This consistency creates a genuine, relatable voice, enabling brands to craft narratives that highlight both their offerings and the impact they seek to create.
Ultimately, brand ethos transforms brand communications into trust-building tools that foster loyalty, deepen relationships, and set the brand apart in a crowded market.
For CMOs aiming to build lasting brand equity, what are some of the most impactful ways to leverage their owned assets effectively?
Brand equity is founded on trust, and trust is founded on consistent, visible messaging. Marketing leaders must ensure their intended brand message is seen, felt and understood.
To do so, they must build and update all owned assets to accurately reflect the brand ethos and optimize them for discoverability where consumers are looking (e.g., organic and generative search, social media, etc.). It’s these assets that inform brand descriptions and positioning across channels, including those that are not owned.
Start by reviewing your existing brand assets. Are there any opportunities to inject or update your brand story, mission, and values? How is the user experience within them? Do they solve audience problems?
Then, look to your consumer data to inform the creation of new assets. What is your target audience seeking and how can you provide an authoritative, helpful solution?
This work maximizes the impact of the assets the brand controls, building equity through consistent and accurate brand storytelling.
Could you provide examples of how companies with a well-established brand ethos have succeeded in nurturing strong customer relationships?
When brands consistently uphold their values and express a clear purpose through every action, they form powerful bonds with customers who share those values.
Take Apple, for example—a brand that has expertly crafted its identity around creativity, user-friendliness, and accessible innovation. Every part of Apple’s presence—its products, messaging, visual identity, employees and leadership, and the sleek, intuitive website—feeds into a unified brand experience that connects consumers to the brand ideals. Whether it’s their renowned, high-touch customer service, captivating live events, dominance in generative search engine results, or striking visual advertisements, each interaction with Apple reinforces its brand ethos.
At Terakeet, we’ve also worked to embed our brand’s foundational elements into everything we do so that it is clear in every interaction someone has with our organization. From external channels like our websites, client conversations, and educational webinars to internal channels like our company intranet, executive presentations, and daily agendas, we strive to keep our ethos at the core of our operations.
This consistency creates strong associations and emotional connections with consumers, fostering not just loyalty but advocacy. Ultimately, that’s the power of a brand with a well-defined purpose—it builds long-term relationships that turn customers into champions.
It’s also important to say that this is hard work that’s never “done”! It is a constant work in progress and one that requires the courage to change course, shift strategy, and maintain a mantra of not “being right” but wanting to “get it right.”
What steps can brands take to ensure their ethos remains authentic as they scale and adapt to changes in the market?
It’s no easy task to maintain brand connections and alignment with consumer expectations while growing in an ever-evolving digital landscape. At its core, a brand’s ethos is a combination of its identity and the experience it delivers. While the brand identity serves as a structural foundation, guiding an organization’s purpose and direction, the brand experience—encompassing positioning, iconography, and strategy—should remain adaptable.
As brand leaders, our first priority is to build an insights-driven brand by leveraging customer feedback and data. These insights allow us to align our actions closely with consumer needs and expectations, helping us stay agile without straying from our core values.
Brands must then clearly articulate their brand ethos and train their employees on it. When brand ethos is integrated into daily operations, it becomes embedded into the company culture, providing a strong foundation for consistent messaging and actions as the organization grows. Ensure that brand messages, tone, and values are consistent across all channels, whether digital, in-store, or through customer service.
Finally, innovate within the confines of your values. As new opportunities emerge, evaluate them based on the brand’s core tenets. Opportunities that don’t align can weaken authenticity and dilute customer trust.
Lastly, innovation should always stay true to our values. As new opportunities arise, we evaluate them against our brand’s core tenets, understanding that those that don’t align can dilute our authenticity and erode customer trust.
By anchoring their growth in these principles, brands can adapt to changing market dynamics without losing the authenticity that drives customer loyalty and brand trust.
Looking ahead, what trends do you foresee in brand ethos and experience that CMOs should prioritize to maintain relevance and engagement?
At Terakeet, we’re seeing a massive opportunity for brands to take control of their generative search engine visibility and experience. With the steadily growing use of generative search engines, the likelihood of audiences learning about your brand from GenAI outputs increases. Brands must be proactive with their messaging or risk losing consumer trust because of message inconsistency or inaccuracy. Luckily, we’re seeing proof that these outputs can be influenced by a strong digital brand management strategy.
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