Snapdragon existed for years as a logo on a chip inside a tech-focused company that didn't know what to do with it. The brand's transformation began only when the CEO gave the CMO a clear, ambitious brief: turn Snapdragon into a consumer brand and a cultural icon. This top-down mandate was essential to unlock the necessary investment and organizational focus.

Don't underestimate the internal impact of refreshing a stale brand. A strong, clear identity boosts employee pride and excitement. When employees are proud of the brand they represent and can articulate its mission, they work harder, directly improving business performance.

Establishing a strong brand involves more than customer research. It's critical that the internal team and key partners are aligned on the brand's vision and messaging. This internal clarity serves as the stable foundation for all external marketing efforts.

To ensure their new brand strategy was practical, Ford required every department to articulate how they would activate it. This exercise revealed gaps and ensured the strategy would guide daily decisions on what to do and, crucially, what to stop doing.

Ford's CMO credits their rebrand's success to a two-year process of embedding the new strategy across all departments, from HR to product development. This ensured it was more than a marketing campaign by influencing core business operations and decision-making.

To ensure authenticity in its brand repositioning, AT&T focused on employee buy-in first. The new purpose was launched internally, allowing the team to live the values before they were communicated externally. This "live it before you launch it" approach prevented the new positioning from feeling disconnected.

Dan Schulman prioritized fixing Verizon's risk-averse, hierarchical, and inwardly-focused culture as the first step in its turnaround. He believed that fostering a "play to win" mindset was the necessary foundation before any strategic or operational changes could succeed, moving the focus from the network to the customer.

Instead of dictating change from headquarters, Zurich's leadership co-created its new brand framework and customer standards with business units. This involvement transformed potential resistors into advocates, creating an internal network to champion and drive the transformation locally.

To get a CEO fully invested, position the rebrand not as a marketing initiative but as foundational infrastructure that touches every part of the business, from HR and recruiting to sales and customer operations. This reframing elevates its importance and ensures cross-departmental adoption.