What Is a Brand Champion? Why the Definition Needs Updating

For more than ten years, I've used the phrase 'Brand Champion' to describe the kind of communicator organisations increasingly need. It wasn't something I consciously set out to invent and it certainly wasn't the name of a future training programme. Like many of the ideas that have stayed with me over the years, it came about quite naturally during a conversation with a client. 

We had been talking about external brand ambassadors and the role influencers were playing in promoting their products. As our conversation moved on to the people inside the organisation who regularly spoke to customers, journalists and other stakeholders, we briefly referred to them as 'internal ambassadors'. It didn't feel quite right. The word 'ambassador' seemed to belong to a different world, whereas these were people who genuinely understood the organisation, believed in what it was trying to achieve and wanted other people to believe in it too.

Almost instinctively, I described them as Brand Champions.

Years later, I discovered the phrase already existed, which was reassuring because I hadn't deliberately created a new term. Traditionally, Brand Champions are described as people who support an organisation's values, encourage others to embrace the brand and help bring its purpose to life from within. I think that's an important role and one every organisation should value.

The more I used the phrase in my own work, however, the more I realised I meant something slightly different. Not because the traditional definition was wrong, but because I felt it no longer captured the role so many people now play every day.

If you're new to the idea of Brand Champions, you may also enjoy my earlier article exploring why public communication skills have become such an important part of modern business. This article builds on that thinking by exploring what I believe the role has evolved into.

Communication has changed. So has the role.

When I first started delivering workshops nearly three decades ago, organisations tended to think about communication in separate disciplines. Someone might attend presentation skills training because they had an important conference coming up, while another colleague would receive media training before speaking to journalists. Executive coaching, message development and crisis communication were all viewed as different specialisms because they were delivered to different people at different times.

Those disciplines remain incredibly valuable, and I still spend much of my time helping people develop those skills because each one makes a genuine difference.

What has changed is the reality of the roles people now perform once they leave the training room.

The same person who presents to colleagues on Monday might be answering customers' questions next week, speaking on a podcast the following month and representing the organisation at an industry event later in the year.

A technical expert who once worked quietly behind the scenes may suddenly find themselves explaining complex ideas to journalists, partners or investors because organisations increasingly want their experts to become visible, trusted voices.

Communication no longer happens in neat little boxes. People are expected to move comfortably between audiences, platforms and situations, often with very little notice, which means organisations aren't simply looking for confident presenters or capable spokespeople anymore. They're looking for people who can represent the organisation consistently whenever communication matters.

For me, that's the evolution of the Brand Champion.

Why communication skills alone are no longer enough

One of the biggest misconceptions I come across is that communication is simply a collection of skills.

• Presentation skills.
• Media training.
• Public speaking.
• Storytelling.
• Handling difficult questions.

Each of these disciplines matters and I've built my own career helping people develop them. What I've gradually realised, however, is that they aren't the destination.

They're the tools.

The destination is helping someone become the very best representative of their organisation they can be, regardless of who they're speaking to or where the conversation takes place.

That's one of the reasons I eventually brought together presentation skills, media training, message development, executive communication and crisis communication into the Brand Champion Bootcamp. The name actually came last. What came first was the realisation that people were often investing in different types of communication training when, in reality, they were trying to develop one broader capability.

• Not becoming better presenters.
• Not becoming more confident.
• But becoming authentically themselves in a way their audiences will appreciate, remember and trust.

I've seen this happen countless times over the years. I remember working with one subject matter expert whose communications team could already see what she couldn't. They knew she had the potential to become a brilliant spokesperson because she was knowledgeable, engaging and genuinely passionate about her work. She wasn't convinced. She'd delivered very few presentations, had never appeared on a podcast and admitted that handling difficult questions worried her more than anything else.

She arrived believing the workshop was about learning how to answer those questions, so we spent time working through my Stepping Stone Technique and practising different scenarios until she became more comfortable. Along the way, however, we explored audience thinking, message clarity and several other practical frameworks that drew out her personal enthusiasm and natural storytelling ability because I wanted her to see that confidence rarely comes from having all the answers. More often, it comes from knowing how to prepare.

By the end of the session something had shifted. She smiled at the communications manager and said, 'Right... I get it now. Put me forward for anything.'

She hadn't become someone different.

She'd simply realised she already had the expertise. She now had practical ways to communicate it.

Why enthusiasm matters more than charisma

One of the things I say in almost every workshop is, 'If you don't care about what you're telling me about, then I won't.'

It usually raises a smile, but there's a serious point behind it because people often assume the most engaging communicators are naturally charismatic. They imagine the people who communicate brilliantly have some special talent that everyone else lacks.

I've never found that to be true.

The communicators people remember are usually those who genuinely care about what they're talking about because enthusiasm is contagious. When someone clearly believes in the value of their work, enjoys explaining it and wants other people to understand why it matters, audiences naturally lean in.

Professional doesn't mean passionless.

In fact, I often see people becoming less engaging because they're trying so hard to sound professional that they accidentally hide the very thing that would make people want to listen.

My role isn't to manufacture enthusiasm. It's to help people uncover it, shape it into a clear message and give them practical communication tools so it doesn't disappear beneath nerves, unnecessary detail or the feeling that they have to prove how much they know.

• Enthusiasm without structure quickly becomes waffle.
• Structure without enthusiasm rarely inspires anyone.
• The strongest Brand Champions combine both.

So, what is a Brand Champion?

For me, a Brand Champion is someone who communicates with such clarity, authenticity and genuine enthusiasm that they help other people understand, remember and care enough to become champions of the organisation themselves.

That last part is the important bit.

The purpose of communication isn't simply to share information.

It's to help people understand, remember and care enough to become champions themselves.

That's why I believe communication is ultimately about advocacy.

If people enjoy listening to you, understand what you're saying and remember it afterwards, the halo effect is that they leave with a more positive impression of the organisation you represent. They aren't simply remembering the presentation, the interview or the conversation. They're remembering the organisation behind it.

Every communication opportunity therefore becomes a brand opportunity.

Not because you're selling.

Because you're helping people experience the organisation through you.

Why organisations need Brand Champions

Looking back over nearly three decades, I don't think the organisations I've worked with have really been asking me for presentation skills, media training or message development.

Those have simply been the starting points.

What they've actually wanted is for their people to communicate with enough clarity, credibility and confidence that they strengthen relationships, build trust and leave audiences feeling more positively about the organisation afterwards.

That's a much bigger ambition than delivering a polished presentation.

It's about creating advocates.

People who don't just understand what your organisation does, but who remember it, trust it and want to champion it themselves.

For me, that's what Brand Champions do.

Continue the conversation 

If this article has prompted you to think differently about communication and the role people play in representing your organisation, I'd love you to join me at one of my free 'Create your Magnetic Message' Masterclasses.

Together we'll explore practical ways to communicate with greater clarity, confidence and impact, whether you're presenting, speaking to customers, answering questions or simply wanting your message to be remembered.

Find out more and reserve your free place: Create Your Magnetic Message