Signs your brand has lost its edge. And how to reignite it.

In business, few things are more dangerous than irrelevance. Whether you're a high-growth B2B platform or a once-coveted consumer favourite, the moment your brand stops resonating is the moment you're on the back foot. Brand equity is earned - and eroded - faster than ever. And the warning signs rarely arrive with a siren.

So how do you know when your brand has lost its edge? And more importantly, how do you get it back?

1. You’re not part of the conversation anymore

Once the undisputed leader in mobile phones, Nokia lost ground as smartphones shifted from hardware-first to software-first experiences. While their product quality remained solid, the brand narrative didn’t keep up with a world increasingly driven by ecosystems and app-based convenience. Relevance faded, even as awareness remained high.

Flickr was once synonymous with online photo sharing. But it stagnated while Instagram and Google Photos evolved rapidly around mobile-first experiences, community features, and AI-powered convenience. Flickr remained a good product, but it no longer felt central to the conversation around photography.

In B2B, the same can happen to brands that fail to evolve their narrative. If you're not being referenced, recommended, or discussed in the same breath as category leaders, it’s not a cue to shout louder - it’s a prompt to rethink your story.

Ask yourself: Are we shaping the agenda? Or simply reacting to it?

2. Customers can’t explain what makes you different

Differentiation isn’t about being different for the sake of it. It’s about being meaningfully different. We recently worked with a mid-size B2B software firm whose messaging had become so generic, prospects couldn’t distinguish them from a dozen competitors. The fix wasn’t cosmetic. It was strategic: a shift from product-first language to a focus on the transformation they enabled - smarter decision-making at speed.

Reignite by finding the latent value your customers feel but struggle to articulate. That’s often where your brand's edge lives.

3. Internal energy is low

When a brand starts to drift, the earliest signs are usually internal. Enthusiasm drops. Teams become more siloed. People struggle to articulate what the company stands for. This isn’t just a culture issue - it’s a brand issue. Because brand, when done well, galvanises.

Take Zendesk. Internally loved but externally misunderstood, the company recently redefined its brand to centre around delivering exceptional experiences - not just customer service software. That alignment reenergised teams and sharpened storytelling.

Reignite by creating a brand direction that your people can believe in - and get behind.

4. Growth has stalled, but your competitors are thriving

If you're flatlining while others in your space are growing, it’s time to reframe. Often, the product isn’t the problem, it’s the positioning. Are you speaking to today’s challenges or yesterday’s logic? Are you selling features, or showing how you help people move forward?

One client - a global logistics company - had spent years championing size and infrastructure. Meanwhile, buyers were crying out for transparency and agility. We helped reposition them as orchestrators of responsive supply chains. The product didn’t change. The brand lens did. And the growth returned.

Reignite by tuning into how your customers are evolving - and adjusting your positioning to match.

5. Your visual identity belongs to another era

This one’s visible, but often ignored. If your logo, colour palette or typography feels stuck in another decade, it sends a subconscious signal that you are too. This doesn’t mean chasing trends - but it does mean staying current.

Take Wise (formerly TransferWise). Their recent visual update wasn’t radical - but it was deliberate. Sharper type, confident layouts, bolder use of space. A constantly moving visual identity. Built for multi-channel. It said: we’ve grown up, but we’re still distinct. That kind of evolution doesn’t just attract attention - it reinforces momentum.

Reignite by ensuring your brand expression reflects who you are today - not who you were at launch.

The path back to edge

Regaining your edge isn’t about reinvention. It’s about rediscovery. The brands that bounce back are the ones that stay curious, listen hard, and act decisively when the signs are clear.

At Propellant, we help ambitious organisations reconnect with what made them potent in the first place - and evolve it for what’s next. Because the edge isn’t a fixed point. It’s a frontier. And the best brands are always moving toward it.