Part one is an exploratory, discussion-based methodology, honed and tweaked over decades, to inform my brand work.

Brand Forensics Workshop takes the form of a good old-fashioned, full-day, face-to-face meeting, facilitated by me and involving a carefully chosen mix of 8–10 of your people.

A blend of business owners, senior staff, interns, clients, suppliers and trusted advisers — from new starters to old timers — always delivers the richest outcome.

The framework digs deep into the workings of your organisation, beyond briefing documents and corporate party lines to uncover the real truth.

It brings your people into the branding journey from the start, building their sense of ownership — so the brand that follows feels like theirs, not something inflicted upon them.

The second component is relatively new. An AI  thinking tool I've trained to examine organisations from the outside looking in. 

Brand Forensics X gives an immediate picture of likely perception by customers and prospects of a given organisation, working exclusively with publicly available material — websites, open social channels, accessible reviews and non-paywalled media coverage.

The tool reads that material against my own curated observation and intelligence gathered over decades, looking for patterns that have repeated across similar organisations.

It focuses on evidence, not opinion, setting out what is visible, what is consistent and where the picture isn’t clear, breaking down into two tiers of investigation:

• On The Surface (BFX Tier 1) is a concise, tightly defined outside observation — what comes across and what isn’t clear. All tier 1 outputs are checked and verified (by me) and are also absolutely FREE.

• In The Deep (BFX Tier 2) is a more thorough examination of what sits beneath the surface — and how it holds up against the visible reality. This tier contains a human-made observation element (i.e.: me) and is PAID-FOR.

Brand Forensics X is NOT agentic and deliberately restrained. It first came into being to help me set off on an informed path on brand projects but could also help any organisation to instantly see what others are likely to see — before deciding what, if anything, to do about it.