Leadership Changes That Actually Grow Your Brand

A managing director appointment at a media company might sound like “inside baseball”. But leadership changes like The Stylist Group appointing a new managing director are a useful mirror for startups and scaleups trying to grow in the UK’s digital economy.

Because most companies get this wrong: they treat senior hires as an ops fix (“we need someone to run the day-to-day”) rather than a brand and growth decision. In reality, a managing director role is often where commercial strategy, product direction, content, and distribution meet. If those pieces don’t line up, marketing ends up pushing uphill—more spend, weaker results.

The original news (published 8 January 2026) notes that the responsibilities were previously held by Ella Dolphin, who has moved on to become deputy chief executive at DC Thomson. That small detail matters: it signals a leadership transition at a time when UK media brands—and plenty of B2B and B2C startups—are being forced to do the same hard thing: grow without relying on cheap reach.

In this post (part of our Technology, Innovation & Digital Economy series), I’ll break down what startup marketing teams can learn from managing director appointments, how to spot whether a leadership change will help or hurt brand positioning, and what to do in the first 90 days to turn a “people move” into measurable growth.

Why managing director hires affect marketing more than you think

A managing director hire changes marketing outcomes because it reshapes the company’s “operating logic”: what gets prioritised, funded, shipped, and measured.

In many organisations—especially media and digital businesses—the managing director acts as the practical owner of:

• Strategic focus (what we’ll say no to)
• Commercial model (how we make money, and from whom)
• Product and content priorities (what gets built/published and why)
• Distribution strategy (platform mix, partnerships, owned channels)
• Performance management (what “good” looks like)

If your marketing team is struggling to grow efficiently, it’s often not a “marketing problem”. It’s a leadership alignment problem.

Here’s the stance I’ll take: brand positioning is a leadership decision before it’s a marketing deliverable. When senior leadership changes, positioning often changes too—sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.

The hidden cost of leadership transition: inconsistency

The most common failure mode after a senior appointment is not chaos. It’s drift.

You’ll see it as:

• A new tone of voice in campaigns, but no explicit brand strategy update
• Conflicting priorities (“growth at all costs” vs “premium audience”)
• KPI churn (MQLs one quarter, pipeline the next, retention later)
• Channel whiplash (paid social ramped, then cut, then “we need community”)

For a media brand like The Stylist Group, drift shows up in audience loyalty and advertiser confidence. For a startup, it shows up in CAC volatility, longer sales cycles, and a fuzzy story that makes every pitch harder.

What startups can learn from media brand leadership appointments

Media businesses are a sharp case study because they live or die by attention economics. If your startup sells software, services, fintech, healthtech, or anything else in the UK innovation economy, you’re still playing the same underlying game: earning attention, building trust, and converting it into revenue.

A leadership change at a media company highlights three lessons that translate directly to startup marketing.

1) Distribution is strategy, not a tactic

Media brands obsess over distribution because content without distribution is just a cost centre.

Startups often treat distribution as a “marketing execution detail”, then wonder why growth stalls after early adoption.

A strong managing director will usually make distribution choices explicit:

• Which audiences are core vs adjacent
• Which channels are owned (email, community, SEO) vs rented (platform algorithms)
• Which partnerships are worth the operational complexity

Action for startup teams: write a one-page “distribution thesis” you can defend. If you can’t explain why your channel mix fits your commercial model, you’re exposed the moment leadership changes.

2) Brand positioning is the only durable growth lever

When budgets tighten (a common January reality in the UK), companies rediscover that brand is what reduces paid dependence.

A managing director appointment can signal an intent to:

• Reposition the brand for a different audience segment
• Expand into new formats/products (events, memberships, commerce, B2B)
• Increase commercial rigour (pricing, packaging, yield)

Action for startup teams: pressure-test your positioning against three questions:

1. Who is this for, exactly? (job title, stage, context)
2. Why now? (what changed in the market that makes you urgent)
3. Why you? (proof, not promises)

If leadership changes and your answers are vague, your story will change for you—and not in a good way.

3) Content marketing works when it’s treated like product

Media companies are forced to treat content like a product: it needs a clear audience, consistent quality, and a measurable feedback loop.

Startups say they do content marketing, but many run it like a random series of blog posts chasing keywords.

A managing director who understands modern media will typically push for:

• Clear editorial pillars (the “why us” in content form)
• Repeatable formats (series > one-offs)
• Audience retention metrics (return rate, email engagement)

Action for startup teams: pick 3 repeatable content formats you can maintain for 6 months. Consistency beats novelty.

The 90-day playbook: turning a leadership change into growth

The first 90 days after a senior hire is when narratives form and budgets get allocated. Marketing teams that treat this as a “wait and see” period usually lose momentum.

Here’s what works in practice.

Day 1–30: Align on the one-sentence strategy

Your goal is to create a shared sentence that connects brand and growth.

Use this structure:

We help [specific audience] achieve [measurable outcome] by [unique mechanism], and we win because [proof].

Then confirm three non-negotiables:

• Primary customer segment (and which segments you’re deprioritising)
• Primary growth constraint (awareness, activation, retention, sales capacity)
• Primary metric (one that doesn’t change every month)

This is especially important when the managing director role shifts from a previous leader (as it did from Ella Dolphin). Transition periods create ambiguity; ambiguity creates competing agendas.

Day 31–60: Fix your messaging architecture (not just copy)

Most companies rewrite copy when they should rebuild the structure underneath it.

A messaging architecture should include:

• Core positioning statement (short, specific)
• 3–5 value pillars (each with proof points)
• Objection handling (pricing, switching costs, trust)
• Persona-specific angles (CMO vs founder vs ops lead)

If your company is building in the UK’s technology and innovation space, make sure you cover the typical buyer concerns:

• Data security and compliance expectations
• Integration effort and time-to-value
• Risk reduction (especially in uncertain budgets)

Day 61–90: Build the “lead engine” around what leadership cares about

If the new managing director is commercially focused (many are), marketing needs to connect brand work to revenue without turning everything into low-intent lead capture.

A practical operating model:

1. Owned attention (SEO + email + LinkedIn distribution)
2. Credibility assets (case studies, benchmark reports, webinars)
3. Conversion paths (demo, consultation, trial, or pricing request)
4. Sales feedback loop (win/loss notes into content and messaging)

This keeps marketing credible in leadership conversations because you’re not just “making noise”—you’re building an engine the business can forecast.

People Also Ask: leadership changes and brand growth

Does a managing director influence brand strategy?

Yes. The managing director often sets priorities across product, commercial targets, and distribution. Those decisions determine what the brand can credibly promise and consistently deliver.

What should marketing teams do when senior leadership changes?

Clarify strategy early, document positioning, and agree on a stable primary metric. Marketing should proactively provide a 90-day plan tied to commercial outcomes and brand consistency.

How do leadership changes affect content marketing?

They affect content focus, publishing cadence, and measurement. Strong leadership treats content as a product: consistent formats, clear audiences, and feedback loops.

What this signals for UK startups in the digital economy

Leadership changes at established media brands are a reminder that the UK’s digital economy is maturing. Attention is harder to earn, trust is more expensive to build, and distribution risk (platform dependency) is real.

If you’re a startup or scaleup marketing lead, treat senior appointments—yours, your CEO’s, or your new MD’s—as moments to reset the operating system:

• Get crisp on who you’re for
• Make distribution a strategic choice
• Turn content into a repeatable product
• Connect brand positioning to pipeline without gutting your credibility

A final thought worth sitting with: a leadership change doesn’t automatically change your brand—but it always changes your odds. The question is whether you’re shaping the narrative, or reacting to it.