Scaling Fast Is Easy. Building a Brand Is Not.

Do small or new brands really need research?

If the answer is yes—why?

This is a question I hear often, especially from founders of local brands that are doing well. And to be fair, many of these brands are impressive. Some succeed because their products resonate strongly with younger consumers. Others grow fast thanks to smart social media strategies, viral moments, or simply because they are highly relevant to today’s lifestyle.

Many of them are already successful. But then comes the next question: “What should we do next?”

Most answers point in the same direction—expand. Open more outlets. Scale distribution. Build franchises. Grow faster.

Nothing wrong with that. What often doesn’t become a priority, however, is something far more fundamental: building the brand’s DNA.

Growth Is Not the Same as Brand Building

Brand DNA is the foundation. It defines who you are, what you stand for, and how consumers should experience you—consistently. It becomes the reference point for every effort to get closer to your target audience.

Without this foundation, brands often end up competing on purely functional grounds:

• Being the cheapest option
• Being the easiest to access
• Being the most convenient

The question is: how long can that last? How long can a brand survive by being the cheapest? Or the easiest? Or the fastest? At some point, those advantages are easy to copy.

The Part That’s Harder to Copy: Emotional Connection

There are many other essential elements a brand needs to build. And yes—the most critical one is emotional connection.

It’s not wrong to believe that “if we are the best, people will come.” But the real challenge lies in defining what “the best” actually means—from the consumer’s point of view. Being “the best” is not something a brand can assume. It needs to be defined, reflected, and felt by consumers—through communication, experience, and every interaction they have with the brand.

This is where research plays a role—not as a luxury, and not as a formality—but as a tool to help brands:

• Understand how consumers truly see them
• Clarify what makes them meaningfully different
• Build connections that go beyond function

Before You Scale, Build the Foundation

Growth is exciting. Expansion is tempting. But without a clear brand DNA, growth can become fragile.

Before scaling faster, brands need to ask: Do we truly know who we are in the eyes of our consumers?

Because that foundation—the emotional connection, the clarity of meaning, the consistency of experience—is what allows a brand not just to grow, but to last.

Consumer research doesn’t magically make a brand great.

And no, it won’t fix everything overnight. But it does one very useful thing: it humbles us—just enough. It reminds us that the brand we are so proud of in meeting rooms may live slightly differently in consumers’ minds. And that small gap, when ignored, often becomes a big problem at scale.

Listening early is usually cheaper than fixing things later -especially at the moment a brand decides to grow

Over the years, through my work at Upsize, I’ve seen many brands come to this exact moment—not because they’re struggling, but because they’re ready for what’s next. The most meaningful work often starts with a simple willingness to listen: to let consumers reflect the brand back to us, honestly.

Not to slow growth, but to make it more intentional. Because scaling a brand is easier when its meaning is already clear—both inside the company and in the minds of the people it hopes to serve.

Riko Rahman - Founder & CCO  (riko@upsresearch.com)