Evolving your brand & business: a guide to the first 100 days

At inflection points, time compounds—either in your favor or against you. Every quarter without strategic clarity reduces valuation leverage, slows integration, and dilutes momentum. Yet true brand equity traditionally unfolds over years, not quarters.

This creates a painful paradox: the time when you most need strategic clarity on your brand’s next steps is when you have the least time to spare. You understand the urgency of your situation, but you can’t afford to waste time heading in the wrong direction.

But what if you could resolve this tension by gaining what your business needs in the short term—strategic foundation and directional clarity—at a velocity that suits your needs? In short, how much of a difference would it make to secure the right foundation in about 100 days?

A reality check

No matter the level of update your brand needs , the work won’t likely be complete in 100 days. Every engagement differs based on your company’s readiness, decision-making speed, and level of involvement. The framework outlined here isn’t a guarantee of exact timelines; it’s a proven process that unfolds in predictable phases. 

That said, after 100 days, your business should be in exceptional shape to move forward with confidence. The foundation will be solid, the direction will be clear, and your stakeholders will be fully aligned on what’s next. But refinement and implementation will go on beyond this initial sprint.

A snapshot: what we do in the first 100 days

Think of this 100-day framework as a way to build the critical infrastructure for a home renovation. You’re establishing a strategic foundation that enables everything else to come together. For PE leaders, founders, and CEOs who are more comfortable with spreadsheets than with creative tactics such as brand attributes or archetypes, this framework translates your brand’s visual and verbal work into a systematic problem-solving approach that defines what’s next for your business.

Phase 1: kick-off and information gathering (first week)

The sprint begins with an in-person kickoff, ideally at your location. Time and again, our experience has shown that forming in-person connections is crucial to delivering the best, most targeted solutions for your brand. 

This week involves stakeholder interviews across all levels, a comprehensive material review, and an organizational assessment that goes beyond formal agendas. A brand identity is so much more than a logo , and the context gathered during this phase informs every subsequent decision. You’re not just sharing information; you’re allowing us to understand the cultural nuances and dynamics that shape your company’s strategic reality.

Phase 2: alignment (first 30 days)

Whether your business has reached this point due to a change in leadership or as a private equity partner seeing untapped potential , you need everyone to be reading from the same strategic playbook. Your brand, operations, product, and financial teams need to move as one, with a single source of truth.

Effective alignment gets everyone pointed in the same direction on what your business will achieve and where it’s heading . You have to identify your company’s niche, mission, vision, values, and foundational strategy. Maybe you’ve done this work before, but now a new guard has come on to shake things up. Or maybe you have old-guard leadership members in place who may not be aligned with your vision for the future. Regardless, you can’t move forward unless everyone can move together.

For this phase to be effective, your CEO and executive leadership must be directly involved throughout the process. Alignment cannot be delegated. If your business were a ship, this is where you’re establishing coordinates before telling the crew to accelerate. If the CEO isn’t in the room, the coordinates won’t hold.

Some companies require 60-70 days to achieve alignment, especially when integrating new leadership. This extension often signals deeper organizational issues that, once resolved, will dramatically accelerate all subsequent work.  

Once everyone is aligned, every department—operations, product development, investor relations—can move forward with confidence, with a clear, documented strategic direction in place.

In a recent engagement, a portfolio business spent six months debating market positioning internally. Within 70 days of structured alignment work, leadership had a documented direction and product development accelerated immediately.

Phase 3: Positioning (Next 30 days)

The alignment phase works hand in hand with positioning. Positioning is the strategic angle you define for your business . What is the overarching story your brand is telling, and what is your competitive advantage? We’ll work together to identify your market position and differentiating factors, and to develop your messaging pillars and the strategic foundation for the creative executions ahead.

This phase acts as the connective tissue between internal alignment and messaging development . For this 100-day sprint to be effective, each stage must build and integrate with the others rather than operate in a strict sequence.

Phase 4: Creative identity and messaging (Last 30 days)

This phase brings strategy to life. We’ll come together to create multiple identity concepts for exploration, along with the development of a messaging framework, visual systems, brand standards, and creative direction for future applications.

By the end of 100 days, you’ll typically have been presented with multiple concepts, selected a direction, and begun refinement. Even as details about your brand require further creative work, the new direction of your business will be clear and focused. 

Core messaging pillars, brand voice, and your communication strategy will be established and documented. Though specific copy and applications will continue to evolve, you’ll have enough direction to begin using these assets in campaigns and communications while refinement continues.

100 days to the strong foundation your business needs

With this work in place, all the vital details about your brand and its future will be in order. No unsolved mysteries left to investigate. No dark and spooky closets left unopened.

This brand foundation is designed to identify and resolve all strategic uncertainties that have led to institutional paralysis. The questions that have kept you awake at night about market position and strategic direction will have clear, documented answers.

At the close of roughly 100 days, your internal conflicts and strategic disagreements have been replaced with clear, cohesive alignment. Leadership can now speak with one voice about your company’s vision, direction, and priorities.

The payoff: a robust brand platform ready for what’s next

Ultimately, you receive a comprehensive 50-90-page document that clearly communicates your new brand and positioning platform. This document provides clarity to anyone who needs to understand your identity and purpose—team members, partners, suppliers, vendors, investors, and other stakeholders.

Just as importantly, strategy no longer resides solely in leadership’s head, eliminating the bottleneck of constant executive involvement in tactical decisions. When everything depends on the CEO’s interpretation, every departmental choice becomes a delay. A clear brand platform frees your leadership to focus on strategy while empowering teams to execute confidently within clear parameters.

For PE partners and finance specialists, you’ll have a tangible, shareable asset that demonstrates the outcome of crucial strategic work. No more struggling to explain your brand's vision or hoping people “get it” by osmosis. The general trajectory of your brand will be clear, even as details continue to be refined.

Before we begin: don’t clean before the cleaners arrive

Many organizations delay brand engagement, believing they must resolve internal disagreements and address strategic questions before engaging a specialist like Parliament . This impulse is a little like the strange urge to tidy up your house before the house cleaners arrive. After all, what if the professionals think you’re disorganized?

At Parliament, we’re here for all the mess. Stakeholder conflicts, unresolved questions, and organizational chaos provide critical context for developing effective solutions. Rather than spending three to six months trying to achieve clarity before moving forward with an outside agency, wouldn’t you rather start working with professionals to guide you toward a resolution that much faster?

For organizations at critical inflection points—whether driven by new ownership, market shifts, or a PE partnership—the first 100 days should focus on building the infrastructure to enable everything else. Every subsequent campaign, product launch, and organizational decision will benefit from this clarity. 

If you’re ready to begin your 100-day strategic sprint, the conversation starts with acknowledging where you are. The next 100 days will happen whether you act or not. The question is whether they compound clarity—or confusion. Ready to get started? So are we.