The search for new ways to boost earnings is now under way. For many CEOs, weathering the economic downturn demanded a focus on improving operations and supply chains and on reining in costs. But now that markets are starting to improve, companies are again looking to grow. For many, growth means breathing new life into existing brands.

Yet the environment for strengthening brand equity and growth has never been more demanding. Global brands in emerging markets confront low-cost local products and the rapid evolution of channels. In developed markets, the needs of aging baby boomers are changing, ethnic populations are growing, and products are increasingly aimed at ever-smaller customer segments.

Meanwhile, the consumer’s brand loyalties and relationships with brands are eroding because of an explosion in the number of product brands and in the number of touchpoints where consumers come into contact with them. More than three-quarters of all Fortune 1000 consumer goods companies carry 100 brands or more; on average, each of these US companies manages 240 of them. People in the United States see an average of twice as many advertising messages each day as they did in 1985. Marketing organizations find their workloads rising and their budgets shrinking after the media binge of the late 1990s. As a result of all this, marketing has become more complex and demanding just as it lost some of its former luster and energy.

How can companies overcome these challenges and get more from their brands? Part of the answer, say Nora A. Aufreiter, David Elzinga, and Jonathan W. Gordon in "Better branding," is to take a more rigorous approach to delivering brands. By strengthening the data used to plan and execute brand strategies and by adopting statistical techniques from the social sciences, marketers can develop and deliver better brand messages more quickly and precisely than ever. Tools such as pathway modeling now allow marketers to determine which tangible and intangible brand attributes consumers respond to and which combinations of touchpoints can reach specific segments most effectively. Forward-looking economic analysis can uncover the profit potential of specific customer groups and channels as well as enable marketers to use limited budgets in a smarter way.

Most companies already have market research specialists with the analytical skills to use these tools. For executives, the challenge will be to persuade marketing organizations to incorporate such approaches into their brand strategies and plans. Hard numbers will never replace creativity in marketing, but they can help clarify choices and eliminate guesswork.

This issue of The McKinsey Quarterly also takes a timely look at the way companies manage risk. Recent high-profile corporate scandals and failures have tempted many boards and executive teams to protect their companies—and their companies’ stock prices—by adopting a more risk-averse approach to business. But this is a mistake, argue Kevin S. Buehler and Gunnar Pritsch in "Running with risk." Taking and managing risk is what companies do to create shareholder value. By improving their risk-management practices and organizations, they can not only protect themselves from excessive risk but also become more entrepreneurial and, in the end, more profitable.

As the world economy edges toward recovery, growth is once again on the top of many CEO agendas. Achieving it will require a smarter approach both to marketing and to managing risk.