2nd October 2026
Unfortunately, people do judge a book by its cover
You can have the best business in your industry. If your brand doesn't look it, most people will never find out.
In 2001, a researcher at the University of Bordeaux called Frédéric Brochet gave 54 wine students two glasses, one white and one red. They described the red exactly how you'd expect: dark fruit, rich, a bit of spice.
Both glasses were the same white wine, with one dyed red using a flavourless colouring.
Then he tried something else and poured the same average wine from two different bottles, one labelled grand cru and one labelled table wine. You guessed it, the grand cru was 'complex and rounded', whilst the table wine was 'weak and flat'.
It was exactly the same wine, just a different bottle.
These were people training to taste wine for a living, and they still tasted what they saw.
Your customers are no different. Before they've tried your product, read a case study or spoken to your team, they've already decided what you're worth based on how you look. If your brand looks like the cheaper option, they taste the cheaper option.
Unfortunately, people do judge a book by its cover, every single time.
When the outside doesn't match the inside
Most of the brilliant businesses we meet have the same problem: the inside has grown up but the outside hasn't.
What they sell is brilliant, the team is the best it's ever been, and the numbers keep going up. But the logo, the website and the pitch deck all still look like the business they were five or ten years ago.
When you look less impressive than you actually are, it costs you in three ways:
You get filtered out before you're considered. Whether it's a shopper scrolling past products or a buyer comparing suppliers, people cut the list down fast, and they do it on looks. If you don't look as trustworthy, professional or premium as you really are, you're gone before anyone's tried the product or met the team.
You get pushed on price. People expect to pay what you look like you're worth. Look cheap and every conversation starts with a discount.
You waste your marketing. Every bit of attention you earn sends people to a shop window that undersells you.
That last one is the one I care about most, because we spend our days getting brands noticed but fame only works if the brand can back it up. Getting people to look is half the job, but what they see when they get there decides whether they stay, and ultimately buy.
It works the other way too
Liquid Death sells water. In a can. That's it.
No new formula, no secret spring, nothing you couldn't get from a tap. But they wrapped it in a brand that looks like a heavy metal beer, and suddenly water was something people wanted to be seen holding. By 2024 the company was valued at $1.4bn.
If a cover can do that for water, imagine what it does for a business that's genuinely brilliant inside.
Judge your own cover
Here's how to check whether your brand is underselling you. Try these two things this week:
The line-up. Screenshot your homepage, LinkedIn page, Instagram grid, sales deck and packaging. Put them on one page and ask yourself whether they look like the same company. Now put the category leader's next to yours and ask yourself honestly which one you'd trust with your money.
The price guess. Ask five people outside the business to guess what you charge, based on the brand alone. If they guess low, your brand is discounting you before your sales team gets the chance.
You don't need to fix everything you find, but you do need to know where the gap is, because that's where you're losing people you've already paid to reach.
Want a second pair of eyes?
Send us your website url and the competitor you'd most like to beat. We'll tell you honestly where your brand is underselling you. Get in touch.
