How much is a brand actually worth?
Everyone asks about the price. Here’s what they should be asking instead.
If I had a dollar for every time someone gasped at brand project costs, I could probably afford to hire Pentagram myself. This is the piece I'll send every potential client when they ask about pricing. Feel free to forward it to anyone who needs to see the math.
Everyone loves to hate on expensive brand projects. "They paid how much for a logo?"
But here's what those people miss: nobody actually pays for a logo. They pay for the promise behind it. One that's ownable, differentiated, and desirable.
Most people ask "How much does branding cost?" like they're comparing office furniture or shopping for a SaaS subscription. The spreadsheet comes out, the boxes get checked, and the decision gets made on price.
But treating brand like a line item is exactly what keeps it from driving real growth.
How much would you pay to get people (i.e. employees, prospective talent, customers) to care?
So let's talk about what brand is actually worth when it matters most.
The Real Numbers, By Stage
Seed / Pre-launch
What brand helps with:
Cutting through the noise when everyone sounds the same
Building trust before you have social proof
Attracting people who want to be part of something bigger
What it unlocks:
Accelerates your journey to product-market fit
Stronger conversion from day one
Higher valuations in early funding rounds
The Transformation: You stop being just another SaaS tool in a sea of identical solutions. You go from "neat idea" to "why haven't I heard of this already?" Investors remember you. Customers care. Designers apply to work with you. You’re on the map.
Cost: $30K–$100K
Estimated ROI: $1M–$3M+*
*ROI estimates based on client case studies and industry benchmarks from agencies like Pentagram, Wolff Olins, and brand consultancies tracking post-rebrand performance.
Series A/B
What brand helps with:
Getting your entire team to sound like one company
Crossing the chasm from early adopters to the mainstream market
Challenging the category with a strong point of view
What it unlocks:
Higher conversion rates across all channels
Smoother fundraising conversations
Become a hiring magnet
The Transformation: You stop selling features and start selling a future. Your story finally clicks—consistent, confident, and easy to repeat. The attention follows: in the media, on social, and most importantly, with your customers.
Cost: $80K–$250K
Estimated ROI: $2M–$10M+*
Later-stage / Enterprise
What brand helps with:
Escaping the legacy trap when the market has moved on
Rallying a scattered team around something they can be proud of
Refreshing your brand to reflect who you are now, not who you were
What it unlocks:
Higher win rates in enterprise deals
Better employee retention and team clarity
Stronger BD, PR, and recruiting pipelines
The Transformation: You stop explaining why you're still relevant. You stop apologizing for being established. You start acting like the category leader you already are—sharp, modern, and back in the cultural conversation.
Cost: $200K–$750K+
Estimated ROI: $10M–$100M+*
What Brand Actually Fixes
Why are you spending $500K a month on growth but still struggling to explain what you do?
Why do customers need three demos and a PDF just to understand the homepage?
Why can’t you attract the kind of talent your competitors are closing?
We've worked with companies stuck at every stage and 9 times out of 10, the drag wasn't product or people. It was brand.
Brand scales belief.
You're buying:
Clarity that compresses sales cycles and sharpens hiring pitches.
Alignment that saves months of second-guessing and scattered execution.
Magnetism that draws the right people toward you.
It pays off in quieter ways too. Fewer second thoughts. Shorter meetings. Faster yeses. And when it's working, everything else starts to move.
The Bottom Line
When people fixate on brand costs, they're asking the wrong question. They see the invoice for creative work and miss the operational machine behind it—the one that shapes perception, accelerates decisions, and moves markets.
Most companies wait until brand becomes an emergency, then complain about the price. The smart ones invest early, when the stakes are lower and the solutions are simpler.
If your brand isn't helping you grow faster, hire better, raise easier, or sell more clearly, it's falling short. The best companies treat brand as part of their infrastructure. Everyone else treats it like an afterthought.
Next time someone asks, "How much did that brand cost?" You can tell them it cost far less than staying invisible.