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Brand
Discovery

What it means, why it matters, and how to do it — without the jargon.

Rohit 5 min read

Narrative Asia founder, brand strategist, TEDx speaker, Rohit Varma brings over 25 years of experience in building powerful narratives that connect brands, people, and culture through meaningful storytelling.

I will avoid using jargon as much as possible and make this practical for anyone to use.
01

What is Discovery?

Discovery is the process of gathering relevant information by having conversations with founders, CEOs, Managing Directors — basically the leadership team. Some of them will be decision makers, some will be influencers, but their opinion matters.

This is not a briefing call. It is a deep, open conversation — and that distinction changes everything.

02

Why Discovery?

The information you are looking for does not exist in a briefing document, on the website, or in any published content. It simply does not exist yet. You can only surface it through conversation.

Discovery helps across all kinds of branding assignments — new brand development, rebranding, or brand refresh. It is the most important stage to create a brand strategy that works in reality, not just on paper.
04

How do you do Discovery?

Think and list every question that will make a difference when you work on brand strategy. To understand what you need to uncover, here are the core elements of brand strategy you are ultimately working towards:

Brand Core
Purpose, promise and practice
Brand Thought
The story
Brand Articulation
The tagline
Brand Personality
The character
Brand Expression
How you want to be felt, seen and heard
Brand Positioning
Your unique space

This is not a comprehensive list — it is a starting point to help you decide what information you need from stakeholders.

The first thing to remember: you are having a conversation, not conducting an interview. This is an art you need to learn.

From within that conversation, you will naturally surface the answers you need. Here are some questions to start from — more will come to you as the conversation unfolds:

Discovery Questions
— Why do they actually want to do a brand refresh or rebranding?
— What has changed in the organisation?
— What is not working currently?
— Which brands do they admire personally and professionally — and why?
— Which person has inspired them most?
— How do they see their organisation growing in the next 3 to 5 years?
— If they had to describe their organisation in one line, what would it be?
— How do they see their competition — and what do they respect about it?
— What drives them?
— What change do they want to bring to their organisation?

These answers will give you insights that become the foundation of your brand strategy.

Have questions about brand discovery?
Reach out — I am happy to help you think it through.

rohit@narrative.asia
Let’s make brand discovery meaningful.