Introducing
The Brand
Imperative
A new, invitation-only roundtable series designed to help upper mid-market companies use brand to drive greater trust, alignment, and growth.
Join us at the first session!
The Cost of Brand Misalignment
When:
September 24
8:30-9:30 AM
Light breakfast will be served
Where:
The Reserve
4951 W 77th Street
Edina, MN 55435
Free on-site parking
Attendance is complimentary and limited to invited guests. Didn't receive an invitation but are interested in future sessions? Contact us at hello@the brandimperative.com
Meet the Co-Hosts
Guided by people who know both sides of the equation
Developed and co-hosted by Penny Wise and Deb Fiorella. Penny is a former Fortune 100 Chief Brand Officer. Deb is co-founder, and Director of Brand Strategy and Insights at Franke+Fiorella, a Minneapolis-based brand consultancy.
Together, they created The Brand Imperative to bring strategic, enterprise-level brand thinking to the realities faced by growing upper mid-market organizations.
Penny Wise
Fortune 100 Executive, Former Chief Brand Officer, 3M Company
Penny is a former Fortune 100 Chief Brand Officer who has been operating at the C‑Suite level in many roles and understands what it takes to build brands and get things done inside complex organizations. She helps organizations clarify who they are and builds the systems, capabilities, and actions that create reputational and commercial impact. Her track record leading high-performing teams across brand, communications, policy, and corporate marketing, along with business/P+L leadership and marketing transformation, gives her a unique ability to integrate and bring it all together.
Deb Fiorella
Co-Founder Director of Brand Strategy & Insights, Franke+Fiorella
Deb is co-founder and Director of Brand Strategy and Insights at Franke+Fiorella, a Minneapolis-based brand consultancy. Deb brings 25+ years of experience building, repositioning, and evolving brands for Fortune 500, middle-market, and mission-driven organizations. She has successfully delivered brand transformation at scale, having led over 100 corporate rebrands, brand repositionings, and global brand launches. Her clients have included Cargill, 3M Company, The Mosaic Company, Medtronic, Syngenta, CHS Inc., Valspar, Edmentum, MacPhail Center for Music, Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts, the University of Minnesota, and many others.
A different kind of leadership conversation
Upper mid-market organizations are navigating many of the same market forces as their larger competitors, often without the same depth of brand expertise, internal resources or budgets.
That makes clarity and focus especially important. The Brand Imperative brings together trusted advisors and peers from noncompeting organizations for candid, confidential conversations about how brand can help address the business priorities already on leadership’s agenda.
No vendors. No sales pitches.
Instead, each session combines:
-
Candid peer discussion
-
Real-world executive and brand experience
-
Relevant research and data
-
Practical frameworks and expert guidance
-
A mission-driven perspective that connects purpose to business performance
The goal is not simply to talk about brand. It's to help leaders use it more effectively.
We want to help upper mid-market companies compete with the same brand strength as larger ones.
why attend
Brand is being asked to do more. And so are you. In our fragmented, fast-changing, low-trust world, brand has become more than a marketing tool.
Brand is the strategic system that connects everything in an organization. From purpose, strategy, culture, and leadership to reputation and the customer and employee experience, brand is what connects it all.
For upper mid-market organizations, getting those elements aligned, and keeping them aligned, can create real business leverage.
SESSION DETAILS
The Cost of Brand Misalignment
At the roundtable, we'll work through a focused set of questions to define what brand alignment really means, both inside and outside the organization.
-
We'll open with a discussion about where brand misalignment shows up. Whether it stems from internal behaviors, external experiences, and whether the issues are isolated moments or signs of deeper drift.
-
We'll explore how well strategic decisions reflect core values and share perspectives on what pulls teams out of alignment.
-
We'll close the session with a practical discussion on how to demonstrate brand value, strengthen alignment, and engage the C‑Suite in compelling, business-focused conversation.
You'll leave with:
-
Our "Brand Calculator" tool to help demonstrate potential impact
-
Tips for engaging with the C‑Suite
-
Brand Action Checklist
Future Roundtable Topics
Upcoming sessions will take a deeper look at key areas that influence brand value:
-
Brand and The Customer Experience
-
Consistency and Credibility: Strengthening Internal Brand Alignment
-
AI and Brand Authenticity
-
Creating Repeatable Experiences
What You'll Gain
Sharper thinking about the role brand can play across the business.
See brand more broadly, as a way to connect strategy, culture, leadership, reputation and experience.
Connections
Greater clarity about where to focus.
Gain a holistic view of where your organization is underinvesting in brand, and where you have leverage.
Focus
Practical frameworks you can apply.
Take away tangible tools and new ways of thinking, prioritizing and acting.
Frameworks
Better ways to engage senior leadership.
Explore how to have more meaningful conversations about brand with the C‑Suite and CFO.
Engagement
A stronger understanding of how brand supports growth.
Consider how greater brand alignment can build trust, strengthen reputation and support more resilient growth.
Growth
Insights
Perspective from peers.
Learn how other leaders are thinking about these issues in organizations with comparable realities and constraints.
"75% of brand equity growth comes from product & service experiences and word-of-mouth."
Source: Kantar BrandZ, 2024 Most Valuable Global Brands Report
Join us at the first session!
The Cost of Brand Misalignment
When:
September 24
8:30-9:30 AM
Light breakfast will be served
Where:
The Reserve
4951 W 77th Street
Edina, MN 55435
Free on-site parking
Attendance is by invitation and intentionally limited and curated to support an open, confidential peer-to-peer discussion. Didn't receive an invitation but are interested in future sessions? Contact us at hello@the brandimperative.com
questions?
Reach out via the email below with questions about the series or event details. We'd love for you to join us.
The Brand Imperative
4951 W 77th Street
Edina, MN 55435
© 2026 by The Brand Imperative.