How Felix&Friends Repositions Luxury and Premium Brands to Change Market Perception
When a client first speaks with Felix&Friends about perception, the problem is usually described in commercial terms by comparing the brand with the market. Buyers or new clients compare brands mainly on scarcity of product, quality of service and price.
The causes of brand misperception in premium markets.
The cause usually sits in the layers that shape how a brand is perceived before any engagement takes place. A brand position set years ago may no longer reflect the business, while generic category design and language leave the brand lost in search results, with little to differentiate it within the sector. An identity or visual language that does not signal the premium price point, a narrative that has not evolved with the market or the buyer, and inconsistent descriptions across the website, press, agents and directory listings all add to the problem.
The effects are felt both inside and outside the business. Internal teams and partners describe the brand in generic language, while a newer competitor with a similar product attracts more attention by saying the same things more convincingly. The product itself has improved, yet the market is unaware of this and continues to perceive the brand as it was years before.
Felix&Friends works across these layers to find a position the brand can own and the market can recognise.
The commercial impact of precise brand positioning
When a brand's position is precise, the market, and both your new and existing clients know where to place it. Buyers understand what your brand offers and the inherent value it brings. A curated language shares the value of the brand, the services and the benefits the brand delivers. Internal teams, partners and clients repeat the same account of the business, because they have been given one clear story to tell. Enquiries come from people who already understand the brand and value proposition and will understand the value and price it can command.
When identity, imagery and language match the quality of the product, the commercial team has the confidence to hold price and the business can expand and compete in more markets.
A clear position also improves how the brand appears in AI-generated responses. Language models favour brands that are clearly defined and described consistently across credible sources, so precise positioning makes a brand easier to find, name and recommend.
If your brand no longer reflects the quality of your business, speak to Felix&Friends about a positioning review.
The Felix&Friends approach to brand positioning
The first phase is insight gathering. We listen to clients, lost prospects, agents, partners and staff, because the people closest to the buying decision explain most clearly what the brand is conveying today. Alongside this, we audit the language and visual codes of the category to see where competitors have converged and where there is space to stand apart.
Strategy and positioning follow. Each candidate position is tested against three questions: is it true and can it be evidenced, does the buyer value it, and could a competitor make the same claim with equal credibility? The position that passes all three becomes the foundation for the narrative, identity, tone of voice and the digital, sales and social assets that carry it into the market.
The Design Council's Design Value Framework (read here) recognises this commercial role, listing the ability to set a business apart from its competitors among the value design creates for an organisation.
The stages of a brand positioning framework
A positioning project with Felix&Friends follows the stages of our brand strategy process. Each stage builds on the insight gathered before it, and the client's leadership team is involved throughout.
Insight Gathering Interviews with clients, prospects, agents, partners and staff, alongside a review of sales data and enquiry quality
Auditing and Analysis A review of the category's language, visual codes and competitor positions, identifying the space no one has claimed
Workshops Sessions with leadership to test candidate positions and agree priorities
Brand Positioning A clear statement of where the brand competes, who it serves and why it is chosen
Brand Pillars The ideas that support the position and guide every decision that follows
Mission, Vision and Values What the business exists to do, where it is heading and how it behaves
Visual Narrative The direction for identity, imagery and design that expresses the position
Tone of VoiceHow the brand writes and speaks across every channel
The outcome is a positioning framework the whole business can use, from the website and sales materials to recruitment and investor presentations.
To see how each stage works in practice, explore our brand services
Project Timeline
The timeline depends on the scale of the business, the number of markets involved and the depth of research required. We agree at the outset and identify quick wins early, so the business sees progress while the positioning work continues.
Applying the Positioning
Once the position is agreed it is applied in stages. The website, sales materials and core brand assets usually come first, because they shape how the market reads the brand most directly. Further assets such as specialised brand presentations, newsletters, social media, signage, packaging, partner materials and campaign marketing communications follow.
Consistency matters
Applying the new position across the whole brand avoids confusing the market. We plan the sequence with the client and provide guidelines that keep every team, department and supplier aligned. When the market sees consistency across the brand at every touchpoint, the new position connects with audiences faster.
Measuring brand perception against a baseline and working to business objectives
Before work begins, we agree on the baseline with the client: where the brand currently stands and what the business objectives are for the years ahead. These objectives are set with the leadership team and the departments that will deliver them, so sales, marketing, operations and senior management work towards the same commercial goal from the outset.
Measuring brand perception against a baseline and working to business objectives. Typical business objectives for a positioning project include:
Moving into a higher price tier or protecting current pricing
Attracting new or desired audiences while retaining existing loyal clients
Improving the quality and conversion of enquiries
Preparing the brand for new markets, services or investment
Giving teams, agents and partners one clear account of the business
Each objective is then linked to measures that can be tracked. For positioning and perception this typically includes:
Perception research with a consistent sample and set of questions
Share of search against named competitors
Presence and accuracy in AI-generated answers to category questions
Quality of new business enquiries
Tone and accuracy of press, social and third-party coverage
Agreeing objectives and measures together gives the whole business a shared definition of success. Leadership knows what the brand is expected to achieve, teams understand how their work contributes, and every decision during the project can be tested against the same goal.
Perception is one of the earliest signals to move, often within weeks of a launch campaign. We report against each measure at agreed intervals and review progress with the leadership team against the original objectives. We are clear about where other factors, such as new products or market shifts, have played a part, and where the evidence suggests a change of direction, we adjust the plan together.
Luxury and premium businesses that benefit from repositioning
Positioning work applies across every sector we work in. A luxury house whose product has moved upmarket while its brand has stayed where it was. A developer whose latest scheme is far stronger than its first, still described in the language of the first. A hotel that has completed a refurbishment but is still presented with the photography of a decade ago. A financial services firm whose investment process is more rigorous than its website suggests.In each case the quality of the business has moved ahead of the way it presents itself.
Repositioning closes that gap so the market sees the business as it is today. When Felix&Friends repositioned Eversmiths, a prime residential construction company, the brand was benchmarked against luxury names such as Rolls-Royce, Sotheby's and Claridge's, moving it out of comparison with other contractors.
“Most premium businesses we meet have a better product than their brand suggests. Brand positioning closes that gap. When the market understands exactly where a business sits and why it costs what it does, perception changes quickly and the commercial results follow.”
Lee Barfield Executive Creative Director, Felix&Friends