What it means to have brand judgement

Neither was bad. I simply think they lacked a point of view of their own.

I have been working in branding for over ten years, and I have come to realise that this word — judgement — is the hardest one to see from the outside before you start working with someone. But I also think there are ways to detect it. Here is what I would look for.

First: what judgement is (and what it is not)

Judgement is not having an opinion on everything. Nor is it being contrarian, or having worked with big brands.

Judgement is knowing why one brand decision is better than another for that specific business, and being able to explain it in a way that makes sense to the person who has to approve it.

A studio with genuine judgement does not always do what you imagine. Sometimes it proposes something different. Sometimes it tells you that what you have in mind is not going to work, or shows you a different perspective on your own sector. And that, even if it is slightly uncomfortable in the moment, is exactly what you need from someone you are paying to think.

A studio without judgement does what you ask. Always. And in the end, the work is yours, not theirs.

What the portfolio tells you (and what you need to ask)

The portfolio is the first place to look, but you need to know what to look for. Because a portfolio can be full of beautiful work and tell you very little about how that studio actually works.

I focus on three things.

The first is whether the standard holds across different projects. Not just the flagship ones, but the smaller ones, those in less glamorous sectors, the ones that probably had less budget. When the quality fluctuates significantly, it usually means the result depends more on the client than on the studio.

The second is how they present their case studies. Do they explain what problem the company had before they started? Do they explain why they took that direction and not another? If the cases are just images without context, there is probably not much of a story behind them.

The third — and this is the one most people overlook — is how the studio presents itself. Its website, its tone, the way it writes. If they have not applied to their own communications what they say they do for their clients, something does not add up.

The questions I would ask in the first meeting

Some questions feel uncomfortable but are actually the most useful ones. These are the ones I would use to understand whether there is genuine judgement behind what is being presented to me — and they are also the ones we tend to raise in conversations with potential new talent:

What would you do if the direction I have in mind is not the best option?

I am not looking for them to tell me they always do what the client wants. I want to hear how they arrive at a decision, how they make the case for it, and whether they are able to hold a position when they believe they are right.

Can you tell me about a project where you told the client something was not going to work?

This is the question I most like to ask. Studios with genuine judgement have those stories and tell them with pride. They demonstrate that their value lies in their judgement and in the full body of technical knowledge behind good execution — what works in digital and print and what does not, what is accessible and what is not, what is legible and what is not. There is a great deal of judgement in execution too. If the answer is vague or incomplete, I take note.

How do you know when a project has gone well?

If the only answer is “the client loved it”, the bar is set very low. What I want to hear is whether they talk about adoption, about consistency over time, about whether the company is now able to attract more and better leads, about whether the system held up once teams beyond the one who led the project started using it.

What kind of projects do you prefer not to take on?

This one makes people who want to please everyone uncomfortable. But a studio that knows what it does well also knows what it does not do well, or what it is not interested in doing. That is a sign of maturity, not arrogance.

One more thing

I am aware that writing this from a branding studio carries a certain irony. Is it not obvious that I am going to argue that judgement matters, when that is precisely what we sell?

Yes. But these are also the questions I would ask of any studio, including our own. And if someone comes to a first conversation with Cocota and shares their doubts, the conversation will be much better for it.

Not because it puts us on the spot. But because when someone knows what they are looking for, it is much easier for everyone to understand quickly whether it makes sense to work together. And that, in the end, is what makes a project start well and finish even better.