The person running the company
needs one version they can repeat

01Why executive branding turns into a persona

Most executive branding projects end up as a set of photographs and a handful of quotable lines. The photographs are handsome, the lines are polished, and engineers feel nothing, customers remember nothing, and HR cannot put any of it into a job description.

The problem is not the execution. It is where you start. A persona is applied from the outside; a point of view grows from the inside. The first thing we look for is what this person actually believes — where their judgment differs from their peers', and what they are willing to pay for it. Once that sentence exists, everything else has a root.

02One interview, four outputs

One long interview usually yields four things:

1. Executive profile A piece of roughly 3,000 characters for the financial or trade press.
2. Plant-floor footage Half a day of filming, cut to 60 seconds for pitches, hiring and trade shows.
3. Key messages A dozen or so, for WeChat, video and the opening of a speech.
4. Internal speeches For the annual meeting, the distributor conference, the listing ceremony.

All four share one set of facts and one line. What companies fear most is one version outside and another inside — three tellings, three different stories. One source is how you avoid it.

03When not to do it

Three situations where we suggest waiting:

• They do not believe it themselves, and it only sounds good to marketing — on camera it is empty.
• The company is in the middle of drastic change and strategy will shift within six months; fixing the tone now is wasted work.
• They want the profile to drive sales directly — it is a long-term asset, not media spend.